Homemade Muesli

About a week ago, I encountered something that changed my life - muesli.

I was rushing through Penn Station from the LIRR to the subway and needed to get breakfast on the way. I stopped in Au Bon Pain and saw nothing but high-calorie pastries and breakfast sandwiches. Then I saw a refrigerated section with yogurt parfaits and muesli. Mildly intrigued, I grabbed the muesli - and it rocked my world. Sweet, raw, filling goodness!!! I ate it three days in a row, even when I wasn't in such a rush and had the option to have breakfast at home. I felt slightly guilty about the packaging I was throwing away and the money I was spending. I also wished it wasn't quite as sweet. So then I thought, "Hmmm, this certainly seems like something I could make at home." It required a bit of preparation, which I can be really lazy about for planning to-go meals in advance, but I couldn't bear to keep buying something so simple and to keep throwing out plastic cups.

Thus began my adventure in muesli-making. I made it this morning and sent my lovely wife off to work with it, a little anxious about how she would like it because I knew it would be mushy and she has issues with textures. She LOVED it. She came home pleading with me to make more for tomorrow. SCORE for cheap, healthy, and yummy!!

Here is my recipe:

Soak a serving size of plain rolled oats in 1/2 cup of milk overnight. Make sure non-citrus fruits of your choice are prepared the night before, cut up and ready to go in. (I used apple and banana.) In the morning, mix in the sliced fruits, dried fruits (we used a craisin, golden raisin, and dried cherry blend from Trader Joe's) for sweetness, nuts (such as almond slivers) for protein if you have them, and brown sugar. Be sparing with the dried fruits, nuts, and sugar, as they are high-calorie; the mixture should be mostly oats and fresh fruit. Use less sugar if you use dried fruits, as they will sweeten it too. Most of the milk will be soaked up, so add more if you prefer the mixture to be more liquidy.

You can change it up (and I just may) by using different fruits (peaches, berries, pears), seeds instead of nuts, honey instead of brown sugar, juice instead of milk. You can really put in anything you think will taste good. The only crucial element is soaking the oats overnight. I think tonight I will also try mixing in the dried fruits ahead of time so that they have time to rehydrate. In the muesli from Au Bon Pain, I had actually thought the cranberries were fresh because they were round and plump, and was surprised to read on the ingredient list that they were dried. I'm hoping a good overnight soak will give them this effect.