Please take note: For the first time, I'm recommending an oat-based breakfast food. Quaker's new Breakfast Squares are good. Really. Healthy, too, with about 4 grams of fat, 220 calories and 2 grams of fiber.

These squares (that's "square" as opposed to "rectangular" as in Pop Tarts) are honest about their oats, offering a mouthful of chewy whole grains that keep you reasonably full and satisfied, without trying to fool you with gooey sugar or phony fruit flavor. They don't taste fortified, like a vitamin pill. And, they're moist enough to eat on the run without having to guzzle a pint of orange juice.

Bottom line: Quaker Breakfast Squares don't taste as good as a warm Krispy Kreme donut fresh from the fryer, but they're just as convenient to eat (even microwaveable) and much better for you

Think that last phrase is another first for me.

Available in three eminently palatable flavors - oatmeal raisin, brown sugar-cinnamon and baked apple - for $3.29 per six squares.

Chuck Martin