Adventures in Muesli

As part of my healthifying thing at the moment, I am trying to make sure I eat a proper breakfast. I am a breakfast person, but I am also a struggling-to-get-up person at the moment, and it's too easy for me to let it slide until I get to work then grab a toasted sandwich with my coffee - white bread, lots of salt, lots of cheese, not much nutritional value, and not even very filling. And frankly, not even that good. Sorry Bean Bar, but it has to be said - you could do better.

Noodles has been slack with breakfast too - unlike me, she is not a breakfast person, but she doesn't have recess at her school until 11:15 (don't get me started), and it's too long a time to be going without food, so I make her have something at home, even if it's just a piece of toast and Vegemite. So we decided to make some muesli, and since we both like different things, we though we'd each make our own tailored version. I used to make muesli all the time, working from a recipe Harriet Archer devised. But as in all things, I got lazy and just stopped doing it. I have to admit, I'm a starter, not a finisher.



The mueslis we made on the weekend are loosely based on this recipe, though we deviated from it quite a bit - I just wanted a starting point.

My muesli:

• about 325g rolled oats, dry toasted as in the linked recipe
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds, dry toasted
• 1/3 cup almond flakes, dry toasted
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut, dry toasted
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup sultanas
• 1/4 cup pepitas
• 1/4 cup sunflower kernels

 
I wasn't going to put coconut in mine at all - it's so high in saturated fat and I don't particularly have a sweet tooth so I don't need something sweet in my muesli to make it palatable, but I made Noodle Arms' first and the smell of her toasted coconut swayed me. However, I only added the smallest amount to mine.

Noodles' muesli:

• about 325g rolled oats, dry toasted
• bran flakes (didn't measure, somewhere between 1-2 cups)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut, dry toasted
• 2 cups chopped dried fruit - apple and nectarine 
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup flaked almonds

She doesn't like seeds in her cereal so she skipped those. The bran flakes were a special request - she has an odd affinity for things she considers to be 'old lady' products, primarily bran and cardigans. 

Most of the ingredients for these were pretty cheap - I just picked them up at the local hippie shop in the Adelaide Market. The amount we made will last about two or three weeks each, and I have enough of most of the ingredients left to make at least another two or three weeks' worth, if not more.