Making Homemade Muesli - A great breakfast!

I just finished a great bowl of muesli after fasting since Sunday evening - and a couple of good workouts. It tasted heavenly! I love our muesli for a few reasons, mostly because I make it myself, but also because it is so easy to make! 

The kids love it, and I always feel like they have something substantial in their stomachs when they are heading off for sailing or rock climbing - activities that require some fuel in the system. A bowl of homemade muesli eats like a meal, filling, hearty and balanced.

I have included my recipe below, which will be included in my new recipe book Eat Like A Pagan - however there are a couple of things to point out - I use a very large mixing bowl and just start adding ingredients. Basically whatever I have on hand that might taste good in muesli, goes in. I also do not measure anything, a handful of this, a cup of that - just pour it in to your desired amount.

That way no two mueslis are alike, I use different nuts, seeds and dried fruit each time, but some such as coconut, raisins, sunflower seeds and oats form the backbone of this cereal.

Muesli

Sultanas

Shredded Coconut

Seeds (Pumpkin, Sesame, Sunflower)

Slivered Almonds, chopped walnuts, hazelnuts or cashews 

Oat flakes or Millet flakes (or both)

Chopped dates, apricots, figs or raisins

Dried blueberries or Cherries

Ground linseeds, ground almonds 

Maple Syrup and Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (less if making less)

Mix all dry ingredients together in the quantities desired (use a little or a lot) then pour over 2-3 tablespoons (or more to taste) of Maple Syrup and about 2-3 tsp of Olive Oil. Adjust the quantities of spices to match the quantity of muesli - use more or less as desired. 

When thoroughly mixed, scoop out enough to cover a flat baking sheet or other dish that can be easily placed under a grill. Grill or toast the muesli until you can smell it (should smell sweet) and it turns a golden brown.  Careful to not leave it too long - it will burn.

Take it out and stir to turn the cereal over and put back in for another few minutes. Once done enough, take out and enjoy with Almond milk or goat's milk as a great wholesome breakfast or as a snack for extra energy.

If you make too much you can store Muesli in an airtight glass jar for a few days to weeks (we have eaten after a month and still great!) as you eat it. This is great for traveling as well, my hubby takes it to work for a snack...

Muesli in jars 

There is nothing as good as a lovely breakfast to get your day started! Have a healthy day,

April

making Muesli 

Cooking while fasting....

To be honest with you, I get asked this all the time - don't you find it hard to cook and be around food when you are fasting? All I can say right now is that perhaps I am so used to it that it no longer bothers me, however I am not sure that it ever did.

Of course I can smell the food, I can see it and I would love to have some. However, once I start a cleanse, I am single minded enough to follow it through no matter what is happening on the outside. It's as if my body goes into the 'detox mode' that I talk about in my book The Pagan Diet© and until this is finished, nothing deters me from my goal. I find that I am especially creative and want to cook and research recipes during my cleanses.

Yesterday was a productive day in many ways, I made lots of muesli for our post cleanse meals - I have been making my own muesli for years (my recipe is in The Way to Heal Body Mind & Soul) and if you have not tried making this yet, please do. You will not ever go back to buying anything from a shop - I like the fact that I can put anything into it that I want and I am the only one who handles it.

When I make it, I try to make enough to last about a month - it is not something that we would eat every day, but usually on the weekends or when my son comes home for sailing absolutely famished, it is an easy ready snack.

Muesli is packed with concentrated energy, which is a fantastic way to start a food day or even to end it as a final meal. I like toasted muesli that is not too sweet, with a variety of dried fruits, nuts, seeds and anything else in the cupboard!

Then late last night, because I had more fruit to be used up (local organic strawberries) I made some more jam, but not with the same results that I had the night before. My strawberry/apple jam turned out wonderfully and the jars sealed. Then I made some ginger/peach jam in a bigger batch - and 2 of the jars did not seal.

I was doing some trouble shooting when looking at the lids, they had been used previously for storing fruit, so this might be the problem with the lids, or it was just too late at night and I was tired. However, the other jars did seal and they were poured later... I did find that I preferred to make smaller batches at one time as this was easier to handle, at least right now when I don't have all of the equipment that I would like to have. 

But, all is not lost because I simply put the jam from the unsealed jars into the freezer to be used as freezer jam. Fruit is fruit and nothing need be wasted here - it will all be eaten. I am figuring that for  a family of 4 who loves jam ( and use it in everything) we would most likely go through about 1 big jar each week. That means I have to make at least 50 jars to last until next summer.

I still have work to do here! (smile) Now, I want to find more creative and tasty combinations for these fruits and will do some apple sauce as well. So, back to my research on fruit, jam and canning.

Have a homemade day everyone!

April

Muesli - raw in first bowl, then finished in middle bowl and ready to be toasted in oven tray. Finally in the jars once cool.