Summertime Recipes with Honey Bunches of Oats! {Sweet and Savory Mango Spears Recipe}

Around here, unanimous decisions are hard to come by.

Picking a movie to watch? The kids want something animated, my husband wants action, and I want comedy (or a chick flick). Not exactly a match.

Heading outdoors? Big Sister E wants to go to the park, Little Sister B wants to play in the yard, I want to go for a walk, and my husband wants us all to go downtown to the latest festival or event.

Planning dinner? Oh, don't even get me started. Is there some sort of meal that can combine pizza, macaroni & cheese, chicken, salad and pigs in a blanket all into one? If there is, it would probably be pretty gross... not to mention that someone here would still object.

Fortunately, even if my family doesn't always readily agree to much else, we are always 100% unanimous in our love for Honey Bunches of Oats!

What started back with the original Honey Bunches of Oats, the collection of flavors has grown to now include 16 different varieties such as Strawberry, Vanilla Bunches, Whole Grain Almond, Greek Honey Crunch, Morning Energy Chocolatey Almond Crunch, and more.

No matter what your preferences, there is a box that is sure to provide the crispy flakes and tasty, crunchy granola clusters with just a touch of honey that the whole family will enjoy! After all, who can resist the delicious crunch that comes along with so many whole grains?

However, as much as we have always enjoyed a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats to start our day (and as an occasional snack), I have never considered trying anything more creative with them. But then Honey Bunches of Oats debuted unique new summertime recipes and I knew that I would have to try using our favorite cereal as an ingredient in something tasty!

You're telling me that I could have been making "Fried" Ice Cream with Cinnamon-Chocolate Sauce, Crab Cakes with Sriracha-Lime Mayo, Crunchy Sweet Potato Fries with Harissa Aioli or Crunchy Monkey Bread (and many more) all this time and I didn't know it?

While each of those "out-of-the-bowl" recipes definitely show the versatility of using this tasty cereal in classic recipes, once I came across the Sweet and Savory Mango Spears, I knew that they would be just the thing to try out this summer.

Opting to try this recipe on a smaller scale for our first attempt, I decided to try it with just one mango instead of four. Let the fruity, salty, spiciness begin!

Sweet and Savory Mango Spears

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Serves 4, 4 pieces each

Ingredients

⅓ cup Honey Bunches of Oats Honey Roasted cereal
4 mangoes
2 limes, zest and juice
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

In a food processor, ground cereal into a fine powder. Set aside.

Slice each mango lengthwise into 4 equal size pieces and remove outer skin. Insert a wooden stick into one end of each mango piece.

In a small bowl, zest the limes. Add chili powder, salt and prepared ground cereal. Stir to combine.

Slice limes and squeeze juice over the mango pieces. Sprinkle each mango piece with the chili and cereal blend. Serve immediately.

My first realization was that I don't have skills when it comes to cutting a mango and need to definitely work on getting the slices longer, smoother and less hack-it-off-the-pit looking. Second, although my resulting Sweet and Savory Mango Spears didn't look nearly as nice as those made by Honey Bunches of Oats, the flavor was great!

I was a little concerned that the combination of the lime and chili powder with the sweetness of the mango wouldn't blend, but they in fact are perfect complements to one another — YUM! I can definitely see bringing these to any number of summer occasions such as backyard barbeques or family picnics as soon as I can make them look a little more appealing!

When it comes to starting off the day in a healthy, delicious way, Honey Bunches of Oats has always been the first box that we reach for in the cupboard. Now that they have given us the ability to stretch our imaginations and take our cereal love into all sorts of other dishes, there's no doubt that we'll be returning to their recipe page time and again to try out even more new, tasty ways to enjoy it!

Find out more about the nutrition, varieties and delicious recipes utilizing Honey Bunches of Oats by visiting HoneyBunchesOfOats.com and connecting with them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

I was provided with samples and compensation for my time in writing this post, however, all opinions shared are completely honest and my own.