Ma-ma-ma-ma-marvelous Museli!

I am a huge proponent of starting the day with a healthy breakfast. Weekends are a time when I sometimes indulge in big, old fashioned breakfasts of bacon and eggs or crepes at the market. But on weekdays I usually just grab a yogurt and granola.  

And like the hobbit I am (complete with hairy toes), 2nd breakfast happens at 10 am at work with more yogurt or peanut butter rice cakes.

In my house, we also have a favorite breakfast recipe that I found from some ancient library cookbook when the children were young. The recipe was simply called "Muesli". But it's not the dry, dusty can-be-tasteless stuff I once bought at the supermarket. That was a miss; this was a big hit. We loved the stuff! 

What's the difference between granola and museli?  Well both are yummy; but whereas granola is baked, museli is a raw food.  You can eat it dry with added milk; lots of people like it that way.  But soaking overnight makes the grain more digestible. This also allows for better absorption of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc as it neutralizes the phytic acid that's found in the outer layer of the oat; this phytic acid can block absorption of those valuable nutrients; and too much phytic acid in the diet can lead to mineral deficiencies and poor bone density -- something extra important to us more "mature" women.  (Mature in years, anyway!) And even though it's also delicious, granola usually contains added fat and sweetener which equals more calories than museli. 

With my renewed drive towards health and eating well, I made some for myself last night; and that just reminded me of how wonderfully delicious it is!  And so, I share with you. 

You can be as creative as you like with this recipe; I've found others that have slight differences.  

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Because I'm so excited to eat in the morning, I never remember to take a picture first; so, this photo is compliments of Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muesli)

Museli (for 1)

2 Tbsp rolled oats

3 Tbsp water

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 medium apples

1 Tbsp grated almonds or hazelnuts

Optional:  Yogurt, honey, other fruit, nuts/seeds

Soak the oats overnight in water.  Next morning, add the lemon juice and grate the apples into the mixture.  Sprinkle with grated nuts and serve immediately with plain yogurt to the taste and consistency desired.  You can also add a little honey and top with blueberries or any other fruit you desire and sprinkle on nuts and/or seeds.