Dear Oatmeal,
Please don’t be offended, but I have found a new breakfast to enjoy in your place. Not that you weren’t good to me - you were always inexpensive, easy to prepare and good for my health; but to be honest, I always thought you were a little… mushy… and bland. Don’t worry, I’ll still rely on your oaty goodness, just in a different way. We can still be friends! I hope you don’t mind…
Sincerely,
Me
Why, yes, friends, I have found a delicious new alternative to hot oatmeal. Well, new to me, it’s actually been around since the early 1900s, where it began in European health spas. So I’m a century behind the times, but that’s OK. It was worth the wait.
I’m speaking, of course, about muesli. My only exposure to muesli until recently was kind of vague memories of boxed and bagged cereals that seemed just like granola. In fact, I always thought muesli and granola were pretty much the same thing.
Wrong.
Granola is a baked oatmeal product, whereas muesli is eaten raw. Sound gross? I was skeptical at first, until I tried it. And then I was hooked! It’s a delicious combination of textures and flavors: the soft and just barely chewy oatmeal, crisp sweet apples, crunchy nuts, with delicate notes of sweet cinnamon and honey.
This breakfast meets all my requirements and more, which is why I’ve been enjoying it on a regular basis the last few weeks… and haven’t had oatmeal once!
Better-than-Oatmeal Muesli
1/2 cup oats
1/4-1/2 apple, chopped
1/4 cup grapes, chopped
1 TBSP dried cranberries
1 TBSP chopped almonds
1/2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
Place the oats, cinnamon and honey in a cereal bowl. Pour milk over it and stir well until evenly combined and honey is thoroughly distributed. Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes. Add chopped fruits and nuts; stir well. Enjoy!
The milk softens the oats while it sits so it’s not really like eating raw oats straight from the box. Some people actually eat it right away and don’t let it soak, but I like to give it a good ten minutes. You can also let it soak overnight; and if you use yogurt instead of milk, it will be extra healthy and doubly nutritious! (The original recipe, in fact, called for lemon juice and cream before soaking, which would be similar to yogurt.)
This recipe lends itself well to all kinds of variations depending on what you have on hand. Of course, you can use different fruits (berries or pears for example), dried fruits (raisins or chopped apricots), nuts ( walnuts or pecans would be delicious), and spices (ginger or cardamom, yum!). You can even use different grains, like quinoa, wheat or barley flakes. (And you can even add chopped chocolate!)
This is a very QUICK recipe, no matter how long you soak it. If you soak it overnight, then it’s ready to eat in the morning right away. Or if you only soak it for 10-15 minutes in the morning, you can use that time to check your email or get dressed or put a load in the laundry… and then boom! Breakfast is ready without any wasted time! A delicious healthy breakfast in less than 20 minutes.
It’s super EASY - even a bachelor hockey player could figure it out (no offense to any bachelor hockey players who might actually be reading this).
It’s just as CHEAP as regular oatmeal, which has long been a frugal healthy breakfast standby.
No one can argue that this is indeed very HEALTHY! It’s a great balance of healthy carbs and protein to energize you and get you through your morning (although I personally find that I need a lot of protein in the morning to last me until lunch, so I might add a boiled egg or cheese to eat on the side).
Nothing quite like making your own homemade muesli.I followed you from the foodieblogroll and I’d love to guide Foodista readers to your site. I hope you could add this homemade muesli widget at the end of this post so we could add you in our list of food bloggers who blogged about recipes for muesli,Thanks!
Alisa recently posted..Brain Building Finger Food
Now that is one delicious muesli recipe! I love all the delicious fruit you have used and the cinnamon too. Thank you for sharing this healthy recipe with Let’s Do Brunch. The linky is up now for this week, so I would love it if you would come along and join in again!
Thanks! I’d love to join in; let me go see what I’ve got…
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. I always wanted to try this, but didn’t realize it was that easy. So excited about having this for breakfast! I do have a quick question…how do you make your chocolate sunbutter smoothies? I have a child who will not drink smoothies at all, but this one sounds like he may just have a sip! Thanks, again for sharing. Have a great day!
One of these days I should post a recipe, but that would require measuring the ingredients, lol. For both of my boys (one 3yo, one 1yo), I blend together 1 banana, 1-2 large spoonfuls non-dairy yogurt, 1 big scoop sunbutter, 1 small spoonful raw honey, and a dash of cocoa (probably 1-2 tsp). It’s their absolute favorite smoothie! My older son won’t drink anything but “chocolate” smoothies, so I get creative:)
Thank you for the chocolate smoothie ideas! Will try tomorrow