My three men eat a lot of cereal.
They all breakfast on large bowls of Weetbix – Small Man has brown sugar on his, while Pete and Big Boy add muesli to theirs.
Pete doesn’t make his own muesli from scratch, but he does “enhance” it with a whole swag of add-ins. He uses Uncle Toby’s Natural Style Muesli as his base – he’s very happy with this brand, as the oats are soft, there’s a little bran included, and it’s actually cheaper than buying straight rolled oats.
To every one kilo packet, he adds:
- 200g rolled spelt
- 100g whole almonds, halved lengthwise
- 50g roasted peeled hazelnuts, halved
- 50g pepitas
- 100g sunflower kernels
- 50g dried blueberries
- 100g dried figs, cut into small pieces
- 100g dried cranberries
- 50g sultanas
It makes for a very luxurious breakfast indeed. Do you make your own muesli mix? We’d love to know what you put in yours!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Phil makes his own every once in a while – his recipe is what he calls “Hippie Granola” and I’ve been meaning to blog on it for… 2 years! Shame on me, I should probably quit food blogging and stick with my day job only ;-)
it makes a gigantic batch, he bakes for a whole afternoon, and for the most part I’m not allowed in the kitchen while he is doing it, and that is a wise thing
I gotta send you the recipe by email, if I don’t blog soon enough
Pete only eats untoasted muesli, which is a shame, as I find the crunchy sugary stuff very addictive! :)
Haven’t made my own museli mix for years and when we do have cereal, usually for visitors, we buy the fabulous Dorset brand which as we don’t eat a lot of cereal works out cheaper than buying lots of bits and pieces and mixing it in. Brian likes apricot, toasted spelt flakes, hazelnuts and that’s about it, so I’m not very motivated to mix. I still prefer toast to chomping my way through dried fruits and nuts and cold milk.
I’m not a cold cereal girl either (although I’d happily eat a warm bowl of Chinese jook). Change today for the kids – sourdough pancakes and bacon! :)
I only eat my own granola – I have been making it for years and it gets a little bit of everything in it – fruits, nuts, seeds, oats etc. Have a lovely weekend Celia :)
Tandy, do you toast yours? I found a wonderful recipe once that was all toasted and had little choc chips in it. Pete wouldn’t have a bar of it.. ;-)
mine is toasted, but not with the chocolate (which I would love!)
I make my own – and use it in a lot of bar cookies as well as for cereal! Actually, I eat it on top of Greek yogurt for breakfast and ice cream for a snack!
Here’s my recipe:
http://heidiannie.com/2010/08/babies-and-oatmeal-2/
Heidi, yours looks wonderful! :)
Looks so delicious! I love making my own granola…never eat it with milk though, just yogurt and fruit. Only challenge is making one that makes everyone happy: hubby likes everything in it, little girl doesn’t like dried fruit, little guy loves dried fruit but not nuts, etc, etc. So sometimes I just make it for me! ;)
Pete has his muesli with milk, homemade greek yoghurt and sometimes fruit. All that on top of Weetbix. It’s a massive breakfast, but he rarely eats lunch!
Good choice of add-ins for the muesli! His has a lot more fruit than mine does. I would put more fruit in mine, but the organic dried fruit can be quite expensive. I’ve been making my own for several months now and I just eat it with cold milk. I love milk and can’t give it up for breakfast. Into my muesli goes rye flakes, organic rolled oats, unsweetened coconut, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, sometimes wheat germ, dried cherries, cranberries, raisins and sometimes blueberries. I toss with warmed canola oil/honey mixture and bake. Yum!
Mel, we have access to very reasonably priced dried fruit from Harkola, and Pete prefers his muesli without the oil (although I definitely prefer it toasted!).
Oh i make my own muesli, i will add those add-ins to mine then we can LIVE off it! c
C, Pete has his muesli figured out to exactly how he likes it – the dried blueberries are a gourmet touch and a new addition since we just found them at a price we could afford! ($28/kg rather than $60!!)
Ah pepitas are a new one on me, what are they? I do make my own muesli, but don’t eat a lot of it, so it lasts quite a while. It’s different every time though, depending on what I’ve got around in the way of dried fruit, nuts and seeds. I usually put dates in, but really like the sound of Pete’s figs. I also often put in pollen, my mother’s dried and ground orange peel and cocoa nibs. I still haven’t made granola though – it’s on the list. I’ve just made a load of apple puree and that is great to have with muesli and yogurt. Just off on a week’s holiday and that is what I’m taking for breakfast – special treat!
Choc, pepitas are shelled pumpkin seeds, and I toss them over loaves before baking as well. They’re very delish. Pete’s muesli has no added oil, whereas granola has quite a lot – and also I can’t stop eating granola with yoghurt. So we don’t make it. ;-)
Ahh, thank you for the enlightenment. I use pepitas all the time (just didn’t know that’s what they were called). They are a really good source of zinc, so I always put them in muesli, in my bread and I also buy pumpkin seed butter which I have on toast. Interesting about the oil in grenola – I think that’s one of the reasons I haven’t got around to making it – oil doesn’t seem quite right for breakfast somehow.
Choc, I think if you make your own toasted muesli/granola then you can control how much oil goes into it, but some of the commercial stuff is massively high in fat! I’ve never heard of pumpkin seed butter, I’ll have to look out for it, thank you!
i find breakfast a really difficult meal..in fact i prefer not to have any but i force myself to have something..lately i’ve found my sourdough bread toasted with a bit of jam is quite pleasant..
I have trouble eating anything sweet at breakfast, so an egg on toast is my preference! :)
I don’t like dried fruit. There aren’t very many fruit free brands so I usually make my own. I mix rolled oats with bran and whatever nuts and seeds I have at home. Then I stir through some cinnamon and a tbs of brown sugar, spread it on a tray and toast it in a very low oven until crunchy. It saves on using oil and I get the crunch. Delish!
Claire, that’s a very low fat toasted muesli! Most recipes use heaps more oil!
I love making my own cereal. I use a Nigella recipe which she got from a place in the U.S. which has little to no added fat (but errm let’s ignore the fact that it is high in sugar and honey :P ). But it’s delicious and crunchy and versatile :)
Sounds delicious, Lorraine, have you posted it? No fat is unusual for Nigella.. ;-)
I’ve a couple of recipes for muesli that I have made in the past, but they are toasted – I really prefer the toasted kind, with the extra bit of sweetness. We call muesli ‘chaff’ in our house. ;-)
We don’t keep it in the house because I find it a bit irresistible and keep sneaking bowlfuls after dinner as dessert. Untoasted muesli is Pete and Big Boy’s preference, so it works out really well for all of us. :)
What a great mix, can I just have a big bowl of this- without the spelt, or oats, or weetbix? Just the fruit and nuts… and maybe some of your chcolate buds. Dessert for breakfast!
I make a glutenfree muesli and eat it with my warm coffee shot poured on it instead of milk- it really wakes me up in a hurry and saves time too!
Muesli with coffee! I’ve never heard of that before, but it sounds surprisingly appealing, Becca.. :)
I make my own using any homebrand rolled oats (because they’re cheap!), raw almonds, dried fruit (usualy currants or sultanas), pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and some chia seeds. I mix the blend (without the fruit) with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and toast at 180 C for 20 mins. Not to toasty or oily and no added sugar apart from the fruit. You can add whatever you like to the base depending on who is eating it – different/more fruit, coconut, flaked quinoa etc. The only limits are cost as the 3 men in this house eat vast quantities of cereal – 12 weetbix for breakfast anyone?!
Bronwyn, I can so relate – Pete has four WITH a cup of muesli, and Small Man has SIX. You can imagine how many boxes of the stuff we keep, especially since we only go to the supermarket about once a month.. ;-)
I do like muesli – preferably untoasted and not sweetened ‘cos I have a suspicion that what I eat might be causing my clothes to shrink. I like Pete’s mix but I did have to laugh when I read he has this gorgeous mix on top of weetbix – that’s mound-muesli-man!
Jan, as I was saying to Bronwyn above, it’s amazing how much weetbix my men go through. I’ve finally convinced them all to use half full cream milk and half skim, which has made a big difference to the overall fat of the meal. :)
I love muesli but it rarely gets a look in for breakfast (can’t compete with sourdough) lunch, and cereal o’clock (9pm) however and I adore the stuff. Raw, toasted, fruity, nutty… love it all.
Brydie, I like toasted muesli with yoghurt! :)
Oh wow his additions sound like a fabulous muesli all on their own!
Thanks Mrs Bok – it’s taken him a while to figure out exactly what he likes in his mix!
Pete’s enhanced muesli sounds fantastic! I am such a boring breakfast eater – most mornings is plain oats or sometimes a slice of buttered toast. Creature of habit I guess. My Pete usually has cereal for pudding in the evenings.
Have a happy weekend.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, so many people seem to enjoy cereal for dessert! :) Hope your weekend is shaping up well too!
That looks divine! Though as good as it looks I couldn’t bring myself to eat it – it’s the dried fruit (sultanas especially) – I just can’t do it!!! I’m fussy with my breakfast – plain old porridge with a dash of milk is it for me since I gave up the lashings of brown sugar (oh brown sugar how I miss you!) or toast and vegemite. Boring schmoring compared to Pete’s menu :)
Sourdough toast and vegemite is one of my fave all-time breakfasts too, Shelley!
As soon as I’m back from hols, I’m going to make this! Mr Misky needs low GI foods, particularly in the morning, and the price of Alpine (with no sugar added) is approached numbers you’d expect to see on a Lotto win. Thanks for this one, Celia! xx
Misk, it works best if you’ve got a really good base muesli to start with, like the Uncle Toby’s. Just makes it easier. I’ve never heard of Alpine, I’ll have a google.. ;-)
Mmmmmm, I adore Mueslie, will totally have to check out Petes additions. So dang tasty. :)
Oops. Misspelt that. Should read “Alpen”.
Thanks Anna and Misk! :)
Hi Celia,
Yes we make our own muesli. In fact I made some this past weekend. We use homebrand oats (either Coles or Woolworths), rolled barley, oat bran, sunflower seeds roasted, linseeds, flaked almonds, sultanas, currants and dried apricots. It’s the only cereal I like. I roast all the dry ingredients for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees C. With the oats only costing about $1 for 900g it’s very economical.
Heather, it sounds delicious! :)
Mm dried blueberries. I’ll have to put them in my next batch! I just made some yesterday actually :) Rolled oats, toasted hazlenuts and almonds, linseed, pepitas and sunflower seeds, dried apricots and currants. I’m not a huge milk fan so I have mine with juice and yoghurt (sounds weird but it tastes good to me!) It’s the roasting and skinning the hazlenuts that gets me. Always makes a mess!
Kat, I found a place in Sydney that sells skinned roasted hazelnuts, so they might be available as well wherever you’re based? In Sydney, you can buy them in bulk from Southern Cross Supplies in Marrickville (details on my suppliers page).
Hi Celia, What a great topic – to read about Pete’s creation and to hear so many other unique ideas. Pete’s sounds great – I grew up on Weet-Bix and love the idea of adding muesli. I usually have a “sort-of” muesli that I soak the night before in warm water with a dollop of yoghurt and (since being in the U.S) – a dollop of organic peanut butter. As for the mix, I go for mainly rolled oats with coconut, pepitas, sunflower seeds and dried cherries. Craig
Dried cherries! That’s a great idea, Craig! I’ll look out for those next time we’re at Harkola..thanks for the suggestion! :)
I love homemade muesli, and for years I’ve been making a mix of oats, all bran and fruits and nuts (pecans, almonds, currants and dried cherries being my fave add-ins). The beauty though goes beyond the mix – it lies in an overnight soak of cereal, milk and yogurt with fresh apple chunks (or grated apple) which turns the chunky cereal into velvet. See my swiss bircher post http://www.kitchenbutterfly.com/2009/11/20/thanksgiving-breakfast-ideas/.
And if you ever see Oatibix, give it a go. Its like Weetabix (and made by the same company) but made from oats. It is my fave store bought cereal (when I buy, which isn’t often!). It doesnt mush as quickly as weetabix does and has a nice flavour
Oz, thanks for the tip, I’ve never seen Oatibix here, but I’ll look out for them! :)
The thing that’s different that I add is lecithin granules – gives a lovely creaminess.
I’ll suggest it to Pete, Cosmo, thank you!
My best homemade toasted muesli included rolled oats and equal volume of grated apple – to use up a glut of very sweet tree-ripened granny smiths, plus other fruits, nuts etc and honey. The apple juice soaked through the oats and the whole lot caramelised during long slow oven cooking to leave the threads of apple crispy brown holding the clumps of cereal together. It was delicious with yoghurt and fresh fruit (esp blueberries from the freezer stash). I haven’t been able to repeat this serendipitous result and suspect it might only be possible in Tas anyway.