I Promised You Muesli

I adapted the muesli recipe so that it called for fewer ingredients (I omitted the flax seed and wheat germ). I also wanted to make single servings and not all 8 at once.

For the muesli mix, there may be a few ingredients that you don't already have in your pantry. I purchased small amounts from the bulk bins at Whole Foods, so that I wasn't stuck with a whole jar of wheat bran or bag of coconut/sunflower seeds. The muesli mix will keep in a sealed container for a while.

As for the second part of the recipe, the ingredients are more common. Any type of dried fruit and fruit juice can be substituted for the raisins and orange juice. Greek yogurt is the best choice here because of its thickness, but plain will be fine too (it may be slightly runny). Read this post on Greek yogurt and how to thicken regular yogurt. The honey could be swapped for any sweetener...I am on a huge maple syrup kick right now. And for the fresh fruit, use whatever you have and is in season.

Muesli
adapted from Saveur

Makes 8 servings

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup toasted*, unsweetened shredded or flaked coconut
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
6 tablespoons wheat bran
1/8 teaspoon salt

whole rolled oats
skim milk
vanilla extract
orange juice
raisins
fat-free, plain yogurt (preferably Greek)
honey (or maple syrup)
other fresh fruit

To make the muesli mix: Put walnuts and almonds into a food processor and pulse to chop coarsely. Transfer nuts to a storage container along with toasted coconut, sunflower seeds, wheat bran, and salt. Mix well.

For an individual serving:

• The night before - combine 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup milk, and a splash of vanilla in a small container. In another small container, combine 2 tablespoons of orange juice and 2 tablespoons of raisins. Cover both containers with a lid (or plastic wrap) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight to let oats and raisins soften.
  
• The morning of - Add the oat mixture along with the orange juice and raisins to a bowl and stir in 1/4 cup muesli mix, 1/4 cup yogurt, 1 tablespoon honey, and 1/2 cup sliced fruit.

Per serving - 450 calories, 17 g fat (4.4 g saturated), 67 g carbohydrates, 9.4 g fiber, 16 g protein (exchanges: 3 fat, 1/2 protein, 1 starch, 1/2 dairy, 2 fruit)

Notes - Like I said, this is not a low cal breakfast, but it will fill you up the way breakfast should. I usually have around 400 calories at breakfast. Even so, I started thinking of how I could make make this a little lighter. The muesli mix is the first place to make some changes. Replacing 1/2 cup of nuts and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds with some type of wholegrain flake cereal (about a cups worth of something like Wheaties) would save 60 calories and 7 g of fat per serving. I would leave the coconut; it's a fat just like the nuts, but the flavor is worth it. I also think that using less sweetener would be a good idea...the orange juice, raisins, and fruit add their own sweetness. The honey may be completely unnecessary. Or you could omit the OJ and raisins, leaving only 1 fruit serving. I'm going to keep playing around with this one. By the way, did you notice the fiber content?

*If you've never toasted coconut, read about it here.