Home made muesli is always way better than that store bought stuff that often tastes like cardboard and leaves you searching your bowl for any trace of the fruit or nuts that it promised you that it contained. So I whipped up my own version packed with all the fruit and nuts I wanted – and you can use whatever combination you prefer.
I used: whole almonds, crumbed walnuts, pecans, chopped dried dates and dried plums. Whack them in a big bowl with a splash of olive oil, some oats, wheat flakes, cinnamon and allspice – as little or as much as you like. Mix it all together, spread it on a baking tray and roast for about 1 hour on a low heat. I was pretty paranoid that my $15 worth of ingredients were going to burn so checked and moved around my muesli every 10 minutes or so – even after an hour they were never close to burning so I’m guessing that this was totally unnecessary.
On the same day, after watching 3 back to back episodes of “River Cottage” I decided to use one of the recipes I’d seen to go with my muesli – a simple apple compote. You can use any cooking apples you want in pretty much any quantity.
I used: 6 apples – peel them and cut off the flesh following the shape of the apple (you should end up with lots of thin curved strips) Its important not to get any skin or husk in the compote as it will give it a really grainy, husky texture which is totally undesirable. I was after nice smooth, smooshy goodness. Once you’ve chopped all your apples layer them in a pot, add some lemon zest – again if you like it lemony add more, if not add less – 1tsp of brown sugar and ½ cup of water. Cover and cook on a low heat for about an hour or until the apples are just starting to fall apart.
And as easy as that, buy some natural yoghurt and some fruit and you’ve got your breakfast for the next week and beyond – the compote will last 3 months in the freezer and as long as you keep the muesli in an air tight container you will have devoured it before it’s even thought about going bad.
