$$$ Rice cereal treats $$$

Ezra asked yesterday if we could make "those cereal things with marshmallows".  I had no idea what he was talking about.  After some questions and his sisters chiming in, I figured out what they wanted.  This is not a regular food item in our house.  We actually eat very little packaged cereal; grain must be extremely processed to become cereal, so even "organic, natural" cereals are questionable in my mind.  Then, a marshmallow cannot really be called food; we eat them more often than cereal, like when we camp, but it's a definite treat.

I mulled all this over as the children began talking about the wonders of these rice cookies (Ah! the trials of being perfect!), and I decided we could make them if we planned on sharing them and if we bought the more natural options for cereal and marshmallows.

We had friends coming this afternoon, so I tried to buy my ingredients yesterday at our tiny little food coop.  Apparently, there is too little shelf space for things like marshmallows, so I went to the larger coop while in the big city today.  I bought a $4.39 box of organic, extruded brown rice cereal (Gluten Free!) and 2 packages of $3.25 natural marshmallows (Fat Free!) that had corn syrup instead of HFCS.  I seriously debated just buying the less "healthy" ingredients, but that would have involved another stop at a different grocery store with a smelly meat department.

I managed to make the treats; they were yummy.  But, they will remain a rare treat at our house- I just cannot afford the mental and monetary anguish necessary.