Muesli makes breakfast, lunch, or dinner healthy!

MUESLI...

Muesli is often called a breakfast cereal because of its fruity ingredients.  However, for years, my family has been eating it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner during the summer.  It's healthy, but sweet and delicious!!!  Sometimes we would mix it up a bit.  Salads and grains for breakfast, muesli for lunch, and a smoothie for dinner.  It works!  On Saturday night, my dad requested this dish; and so I obliged him.  I was at my sister's house and so I went out to get the ingredients and decided not to waste a possible blog post; so I took pictures.  

Now, muesli is a one-pot wonder, which means you can mix it up in the same pot you store it in.  Not only that, but it is also a complete meal.  However, I mixed it up in a large stainless steel bowl before I transferred it to a beautiful large glass pot with a glass cover.  I'm also a lover of beautiful ceramic/glass storage bowls, and I have a few of these just for my muesli.

Muesli reminds me of my childhood in Connecticut and the group of family friends we had who all ate a vegan diet.  Matter of fact, a friend of the family, Jurea Dawson, has created her own cookbooks (see below) with great information, tips, and vegan recipes.  I have given these cookbooks as graduation gifts to various former students who expressed a desire to go vegan/vegetarian.  If you are interested in checking them out or purchasing them, they can be found on Amazon.com:

1. Real Food Recipes:

• http://www.amazon.com/Real-Food-Recipes-Jurea-Dawson/dp/157258498X

2. More Real Food Recipes

• http://www.amazon.com/More-Real-Recipes-Jurea-Dawson/dp/1572584505

Anyway, Jurea's cookbook gives a muesli recipe and some suggestions on how to change it up to make it your own.  I've only made a slight variation on Jurea's recipe, which is to substitute fresh or frozen pineapple for the canned pineapple.  At times, chopped dates find their way into my bowl.  I even sprinkle chia seeds on a serving of muesli for added nutrition.  In truth, any cook will tell you, you can mix it up ANY WAY you like if the ingredients do not appeal to you.  Though I'm fond of apples, you may want to throw in crunchy Bosc pears in their place.  I love the coconut (and I cannot imagine the dish without it), but you may decide not to add it for whatever reason (I could not begin to comprehend why).  It's YOUR taste buds; so you may experiment with a recipe any way you choose.  However, if you want to keep it vegan, leave out the animal products and by-products -- meat, dairy, and eggs.

MY MUESLI

Ingredients: 

• 4 cups of rolled whole oats
• 3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1 cup of raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 16 ozs of pineapple, crushed (I use fresh pinappled crushed in food processor)
• 2 large or 3 small organic red delicious apples (or any kind you want)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 46 ozs of unsweetened pineapple juice (juiced, frozen concentrate, bottled, or canned)

Instructions: 

1. In a large pot with lid (glass/ceramic), layer first four ingredients.  
2. Then peel one medium ripe pineapple, core, and crush in food processor  (This should be about 12-16 ozs) and layer chopped walnuts on top.  
3. Dice apples into cubes (a potato/onion dicer works great for this) and add on top of crushed pineapple.  
4. If you really want to keep it fresh, you may juice the core of the crushed pineapple and juice other ripe pineapples for the juice, and add water if not 46 ozs, but not too much water.  However, I usually use frozen pineapple juice from concentrate or pineapple in a bottle...it's faster than juicing.  Canned pineapple juice would be my last option because it leave a hint of a metal taste.  
5. Mix vanilla in pineapple juice and pour over the rest of the ingredients and combine all ingredients. 
6. Cover with lid and let sit 12-24 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator.  The raw oats will absorb the most of the liquid during this period... I usually make it 24 hours in advance because it just tastes better once everything is all absorbed.  Enjoy! 

Dry mixture of the muesli

Adding pineapple juice.

Muesli ready to go in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

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Let me know what you think about my muesli. I know there are tons of dry varieties in the grocery stores, let me know if you've tried those and how those compare to this simple recipe.  Also, let me know how you make your own muesli.