23.12.13

DIY: Homemade Muesli

Muesli is sort of raw granola with less sugar.  Sorry; how else does one describe it?  It's fairly versatile as it can be eaten in milk, with honey over the top, soaked in yogurt, or heated and turned into fantastic oatmeal. There's also no limit to the variations in recipes that can be created.  I tend to make mine in big batches and it lasts for a month or more.

Recipe: 
Oats
Dried Blueberries
Sunflower seeds
Almonds
Hazelnuts
Cinnamon to taste

Mix in a bowl.
Store in something air tight. 


There's about a million ways this can be prepared.
As a cereal: 1 part muesli to 1 part milk/almond milk/whatever, and let sit for 5 minutes.  Trust me.  Let it sit.  Optional: add a banana or fresh fruit.
With yogurt: 1 part muesli to 1 part yogurt.  Mix evenly and let sit for 5 minutes. 
As oatmeal: 1 part muesli to 1 part almond milk (trust me), and heat evenly.  Optional: add a banana or blueberries on top.

I tend to eat 1/2 cup or 2/3 cup of muesli at a time, depending on how much breakfast I want.  Before Twin Cities Marathon, I had a whole cup of muesli.  It really sticks to my ribs.

About the ingredients:
Oats: I use regular rolled oats, purchased in bulk at my grocery store.  It's possible to use thick rolled oats, just involves more time to let the milk or yogurt soak in.  I've never seen it recommended to use quick cooking oats, nor steel cut oats.  And I've never dared try myself.
Dried fruit: The basic thinking is not to put in too much dried fruit, or anything that won't be as good if it sits a month in a glass jar.  A lot of recipes use dates.  I'm not a fan.  I tend to go easy on the dried fruit because I almost always add fresh fruit to each serving.  My favorite fruits for this are a banana or blueberries or strawberries. 
Nuts and seeds: Add what you like.  I used salted sunflower seeds because I like the salt with the sweet of the fruit.  I've also used pecans, pumpkin seeds, almonds, and sometimes peanuts. 
Other stuff: Some other ingredients will go well in your breakfast.  For a muesli heavy on blueberries and light on salted nuts, I've seen people add nondairy creamer powder to the mix.  When breakfast is ready it's like a blueberries and cream situation going on in the bowl.  Other stuff I've tried includes flax seeds (be careful), chia seeds, and shredded coconut.

Additional recipes: 
The vintage mixer gets fancy and adds rye flakes and wheat bran in addition to oats.  Also, dried cranberries.  That looks like a good idea.
Joy the Baker using the toasted coconut.  Everyone has glass jars in their pictures.  Me thinks I need to purchase more of those?
Eating Well has a whole situation that involves toasting the oats and adding honey. 
Eating Vibrantly doesn't like oats, and found something to do about it.  Hemp huh?  I've heard that's really good for me too.

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