A RECIPE: Museli without raisins

After years of watching my mother pick through her Alpen to remove each and every iniquitous raisin, I decided that it was high time for me to introduce her to a revolutionary concept. Homemade museli- sans raisins. I do this out of love and with a hope that I won’t have to see a little mound of raisins on the kitchen table anymore. I grew out of picking onion out of everything- it’s high time she learned how to deal with raisins. Even if that does mean going to the effort of making your own museli.

To me, making your own museli just makes sense. Gone will be the days when you will open up a bag of museli to discover that it’s too sweet for your taste, too floury, too bland, too plain, too stingy on the nuts, too full of raisins! Making museli is just about the easiest thing you could possibly dream of making in the kitchen- and it will give you so much less stress in the morning. Waking up is hard enough. If making meringues were like completing brain surgery, then making museli is the equivalent of putting a Bandaid on a scraped knee. And if making porridge was too trying for you, then this, I assure you, will be a breeze- after a little ground work.

Museli always reminds me a tad of squirrels and this was certainly not far in the back of my mind as I worked on this recipe. Did I say worked? Well, I did have to get out my scales and cups for you people- so if you consider that work then, I guess it does involve a touch of work. About five minutes should suffice. It’s full of all those things that we’re told to eat but are never quite sure where to fit them into our diet- oats, flax seeds, wheat germ, almonds, seeds. You’re thinking about squirrels now too, aren’t you? If you’re not now then you certainly will be once you sit down to your first bowl. Well, either a squirrel or a cow- because there’s an awful lot of chewing that you’ll be doing. I recommend eating about 1/3 cups worth as a serving- Don opts for the 1- 1/2 cup option and then clutches what he refers to as his ‘museli belly’. Nobody needs that much fibre in one sitting.

Museli without raisins

You can change any of the quantities here- nothing is set in stone! Add sugar if you need it, raisins too! Don calls my jar the never ending jar as I just keep adding to it as I feel like it.

Makes: as much as you want

Difficulty: There’s no point stressing over spilled milk, or raisins in your cereal, for that matter.

Diet facts: high energy, high carb

225g/1 cup chopped dried apricots

100g/ 2/3 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

100g/ 2/3 cup sunflower seeds

125g/ 1 cup chopped walnuts

150g/ 1 cup almonds

80g/ 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut (flakes, dessicated or shredded)

200g/ 2 cups oats (quick cooking or rolled)

50g/1/2 cup flax meal (or flax seeds)

50g/ 1/2 cup unsweetened wheat germ

50g/ 1/2 cup cocoa nibs

1/ Mix together all the ingredients and store in an airtight container. If you want to make a bigger batch, using wheat germ and flax seed then I would advise storing in the fridge.

Tagged as: Breakfast, museli, Recipe