[Flickr: renaissancechambara]

"I had been transported back to the '80s, the era where no party was complete without Chex Mix and Rice Krispies!"

I tend eat oatmeal for breakfast, or fruit and vegetarian sausages. But several mornings ago, when opening up a box of Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins, something very strange happened. Suddenly the room began to swirl. Bright lights flashed before my eyes—Smurf blue, Pac-Man yellow, and You Can't Do That on Television slime green. I woke up, face down on a shag carpet.

A plywood television blared in the background. Michael Jackson's Thriller was playing on MTV. Three little girls, all wearing rubber neon bracelets and t-shirts with the necks cut out were having a moonwalk competition. An abandoned My Little Pony stable lay in the corner, along with a pile of Transformers. I looked down at myself. I was wearing tight jeans with zippers at the ankles and my t-shirt was emblazoned with a silk-screened unicorn.

I was hungry, perhaps because I had spent most of the night awake, secretly peeling the stickers off my Rubix Cube, to try to make it look like I had solved the puzzle. I headed to the kitchen where the breakfast was laid out for the slumber party: as everyone knew from watching commercials in-between Fraggle and Schoolhouse Rock, part of a nutritious breakfast was orange juice, a big glass of whole milk, some white toast with large pats of butter on each slice, and cereal. Cereal is always healthy! I could also see there was a half-empty bowl of Chex Mix and some Rice Krispies treats left over from dinner.

Suddenly, I realized what had happened. I had been transported back to the 1980s, the era where no party was complete without Chex Mix and Rice Krispies! Then the room began to spin again, and I was transported back to my kitchen, stocked with plain rolled oats, almond milk, vegetables, fruit, and soy sausage.

I wouldn't want to go back to the 80s: food-wise or life-wise.

However, every now and then, I like looking back—with a twist. So I'm making Peanut Butter cereal balls—for a treat—although this time I'm using Peanut Butter Puffins. Any non-crumbly cereal with a rice or corn base can work well with this very forgiving recipe. It is freely adapted from the Chex website.

About the author: Mary Pagones (known as HeartofGlass) eats food, mostly plants, but still worries far too much what she is eating in New Jersey.