Makin' Muesli

Apologies for my unexpected absence.  We have had a few long weekends in a row, and I have been getting up to exciting things.  And some less exciting things -- like marking essays -- but all of these things mean I am spending less time on teh internets and thus, blogging suffers.  However, I enjoy being a part of the blogging community so I will endeavour to be a bit less slacky (for my sake more than anyone else's).  I do have some cool things to post about, but to avoid posting adventure post after adventure post, I will intersperse with some food posts.  Like this one.

Although breakfast has long been my favourite meal, on the weekdays Andy and I have a fairly boring routine of cereal + soymilk.  It is quick, filling, and easy.  My cereal of choice is muesli, which I used to purchase before realising that it is ridiculously simple to make, and cheap to boot.

These are some of the ingredients that I use in my muesli.  Oats make up most of the volume, but I also throw in quinoa flakes, puffed rice, processed bran sticks, oat bran, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pepitas, almonds, dried fruit and cinnamon.  Other batches have had walnuts, dried apples, and roasted buckwheat as well.

My method is laughably simple.  I take my empty muesli container and fill it nearly full with all of the grains and nuts I want to use.  I don't measure beyond that -- as long as I have a full jar, that's all I care about.  Then I dump them into a bowl to mix thoroughly.  I dump that into a skillet and toast over medium heat until I can just smell it, and then it goes into the bowl with a handful of dried fruit for further mixing.  At this stage, it's best to let the muesli cool fully in the bowl, stirring every 10 minutes or so -- to stop the condensation mushifying the toasting you have just done.

Once it's cool, store it in an airtight container for a few weeks as you use it up.  Easy peasy.

Of course, there are other ways to have muesli.  When Andy goes away, I like to get fancy with the breadmaker and keep a Muesli Loaf on hand.  Wholemeal bread with oats, cinnamon, dried fruit and nuts, it is heavy and chewy and perfect for toast.