Just the sound of it makes you want to stay in bed. But I've had a series of liaisons with defendant, and I'd like to speak a few words on its behalf. That's right, I come not to praise mush, but to bury it... wait, its the other way around. Damn.

Let's try this again.

I, along with just about everyone else, has a story about visiting Grandma, and how she would force me to eat oatmeal that had less flavor than the cardboard container it came in. But my first affair started in college … let's just say I was slightly odd back in those days … not that I'm exactly the bastion of normalcy now.

But back in my college days, I was on this health kick, and the thought intrigued me of buying whole grains and eating them as a cooked cereal. I bought just about everything I could find at the health store in succession and attempted to make it palatable... actually, I was really just trying to make it swallowable.

Some things I did quite well with... wheat with lots of fruits like diced apples, dates and raisins with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, became a staple for me. Barley, on the other hand, was just too slimy and off tasting. Sure, it works in soups, but didn't work as a cereal.

But with a real job that came after graduation, I didn't have the luxury of spending an hour in the morning cooking my grains... it was also around this time that I fell in love with tea, and normally had a cup of that with some toast for breakfast.

Until my last physical examination.

Now, I've decided to revisit cooked cereal for breakfast. And I've become quite creative in my serving suggestions, and yes, I did think that you'd be interested.

Grains

Nowadays, you can get quite a selection "breakfast blends," and it seems that even the local grocery stores up here in Oregon, carry a selection from Bob's Red Mill. Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Don't bother with rolled oats … go for either the steel-cut or Scottish-style. Oats have a particularly hard shell (bran), and to make them cook quicker, the oat seeds are pressed and make them flat. Well, cooking them this way gives them the consistency of glue, so use the steel-cut style if you can spare two more minutes of cooking time. You'll be rewarded with texture.

• Have you tried millet? Yes, that is what we also call "bird seed," but it is an older grain that it really tasty. Talk about texture... it really pops.

• Surely you've heard of quinoa. If you are really going for the health, this is the grain to eat. It has a complete protein... that's right, grains do have proteins, but they normally aren't complete. However, I'm not that crazy for the taste, and don't like it as much. But I'm still experimenting.

Fruits

Its just not about raisins. Try grabbing a bag of trail mix (the stuff without all the chocolate candy in it) and throw that in your hot cereal. But it is actually cheaper just to get the ingredients... plus you can get the ones you like. Couple of ideas:

• You don't have to settle for a container simply labeled "raisins" … you can get specialty kinds like Thomspon, Monukka or good ol' Flame raisins.

• Cranberries are tart, not sweet. So good ol' American know-how fixed that problem, so now you can get cranberries that have been pre-dipped in sugar. Keep that in mind if you feel that is an issue.

• You can get diced, dried dates in a package that are quite good. If you don't like the texture (that is what my wife doesn't like about them), just cook them with your cereal and they basically dissolve.

• Diced apples are heavenly, but I find them even better if I cook the apples with my cereal. Sure, they loose their texture, but it enhances the taste.

• Have you thought about dried blueberries? How about dried cherries? You can get just about every fruit in a dried form that works great in cereal. Although dried bananas don't seem to work too well and papayas are just too sweet.

Spices

Oh sure, Quaker has mush with cinnamon and deconstituted apples, but just because you are making it at home from scratch doesn't mean you can make it as zippy... So go ahead and shake some cinnamon, nutmeg and/or allspice to your pot. If I don't add some other spice, I always add this one. But here are a couple of other ideas that normal people wouldn't consider:

• You can grab a bottle of dried fennel seeds in the spice section of a store, and throw a pinch or two (a few seeds goes a looong way) into the boiling water before adding your grains. Yes, I do prefer fennel-flavored toothpaste, why?

• If sweetness isn't something you insist on, try cooking your grains with a few coriander seeds. This is the main ingredient in chai, and I don't see why you couldn't do any of the spices typically found in chai, like cardamom, cloves, coriander, cumin...

Recipes

Kim over at Convivial was wanting some recipes, well, that’s the problem. Don’t got none. Actually I follow the recipe that is printed on the package of grains that you pick up. For larger cut or rolled grains, like steel-cut oats, it is usually a 4-to-1 ratio. So, I boil a cup of water, and then add ¼ cup of oats. Other smaller, whole-grains, like Millet, the proportion is 3-to-1.

But once the goop is cook, your adding fruit, nuts and whatnot according to your own taste and preference that morning. I know, its morning, and you shouldn’t have to think or have opinions at that hour, but look at it this way… here is the first decision you are making… so seize the grain by the hull and experiment.