As I mentioned in my post about my issues with following microwave directions, I was recently sent a bunch of Amy's products to sample. The first ones I'm going to review are the hot breakfast cereals - because breakfast comes first!

I am a cold cereal person. I eat it every single morning and also the occasional afternoon and evening. I like hot cereals, but I find cold milk (or soy milk in my case) is a refreshing way to start the day. I did, however, approach the Amy's hot cereals with an open mind.

After the jump, my overall review and my review of each cereal.

One of my goals this year is to eat more oatmeal, so I'd like to thank the Official Food Holiday Naming Gods for making the very first month of the year National Oatmeal Month.

Quaker has a bunch of great recipes, including Banana Bread Oatmeal and Berry Almond Crumble. Alton Brown has a couple of recipes, Steel Cut Oatmeal and Overnight Oatmeal. Or how about trying this Crockpot Apple Oatmeal?

Of course, you could put the oatmeal in cookies, as in these Black and White Oatmeal Cookies, these Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies, and The Best Cookies in the Galaxy.

If there's one big dietary change I'm making this year (other than not eating a whole pizza by myself in one sitting) it's to eat more oatmeal. Besides being very filling and a versatile food, it can be a great way to start off the day so you're not eating other stuff all day long (though I'd try not to eat too much of the store bought stuff that's filled with sugar). It's good for you too (it can help lower bad cholesterol). A nice bowl of oatmeal on a cold morning (or night) can be a wonderful thing.

Today is National Oatmeal Day, a good day to go to the store and stock up on some oats. Here's Alton Brown's recipe for Steel Cut Oatmeal. WedMD.com has some ideas for getting the most out of oats. And Quaker has a lot of recipes too (including oatmeal cookies, which might not be the healthiest thing for you but they're so good).

Odwalla is launching a new line of juices at the Sundance Film Festival, called the "PomaGrand" varieties ("Uniquely combining the wonders of the red spectrum from nature's harvest, PomaGrand combines the goodness of pomegranate juice with wild berry extract"). Quaker Oats is sponsoring the "Steel Cut Oatmeal Power Breakfast" [pdf link], "where Hollywood's dealmakers will be invited to the Premiere [magazine] lounge to find both the next big deal from the Festival as well as a healthy breakfast."

They both seem a little, well, ridiculous. Quaker Steel Cut Oatmeal has (as far as I know) nothing to do with movie dealmakers. Pomegranate, while good for you, is so over. Hollywood is now doing the Acai thing. The hip health nuts have moved on. Yes, the attendees of this festival are truly hip (after all, some of our favorite people are going!). But are they really a mainstream grocery store food audience? Do you really think Robert Redford shops at Safeway?