For a healthier, tastier, prettier (?!), option for breakfast, try making your own custom brew…of cereal that is! Muesli lends itself to this and could even be a fun recipe activity for the whole family! Today, my daughter Jenna (AKA The Diva) is guest posting about her favorite “breakfast of champions”.

Muesli Your Way

What is Muesli?

If you haven’t yet been introduced to the magic of muesli, (or Müesli, or Müsli) is a mix of oats, grains, seeds, and/or fruits. The concept originated in Switzerland and is considered a standard breakfast food in much of Europe. It can be eaten hot or cold, mixed with your favorite milk (or fruit juice, but I’ve never warmed to that idea) or yogurt. 

I first encountered muesli in Germany, where it is wildly popular and available in many premixed flavors and combos. I’ve also purchased it here in the US (Bob’s Red Mill has several types, and Trader Joe’s also has their home brand), but when my last package ran out it hit me that I could very easily make my OWN muesli, with all of MY favorite ingredients. Like most of my fits of creativity, it was born of a desire to get exactly what I wanted and for less than it cost to buy in the store.

While you can mix just about anything into your muesli, the best option is to have a balance of the heartiness of oats, the crunch of some granola and/or nuts, and the sweetness of fruits (stick to dried if you want it to be shelf stable). Let me give you some ideas in each category:

The Oats:

Ideally, you want to use quick-cooking oats if you don’t plan to do an overnight soak every time you want to eat them. You can really use any type, but I like something that also has some variety built into it, so I used Trader Joe’s “Multigrain Hot Cereal” which has a blend of rolled oats, rye, barley, and wheat. 

The Crunch:

First, a tangent: Many things work here, but the surprise star of our own blend was…puffed rice! Ours came in a shipment from nuts.com, an online retailer where we’ve often gotten dried nuts, fruits, and grains in the past. As I was searching for ingredients, I noticed they were currently only shipping a minimum of 7lb bags. I knew that was probably more than I needed for one recipe, but the whole puffed rice thing intrigued me in general and I thought, how much could 7 measly pounds actually be?? Turns out…a lot. Puffed rice is LIGHT y’all. I keep joking about how we’re going to need to publish 1001 Exciting New Things To Do With Puffed Rice by the end of the year, but honestly, it really is tasty and we’ve even been eating it along with milk or just as a snack for a little crunch — we were even inspired to make our own gourmet version of a chocolate crunch bar on our puffed rice journey. This has been your puffed rice tangent.

More possibilities for crunch:

Nuts: Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans, Pistachios, Cashews, Hazelnuts, and (is it even a real nut?) Coconut

Seeds: Sunflower, Pumpkin, Flax, Hemp, Chia (and probably many other things I’m not hip enough to have heard of)

Other random things: the Puffed Rice (obviously), various Granolas

The Sweet:

Dried or freeze-dried fruits of any kind can be mixed in, and fresh fruits or berries make a fabulous addition on top if you’ve got them on hand (sliced banana is my fav!). A non-exhaustive list of suggestions: Raisins, Craisins; dried Apple, Mango, freeze-dried Strawberries (my favorite!) or Raspberries, Blueberries, Blackberries etc.

The Spices:

We didn’t feel the need to add any extra spices to our homemade mix, as one of our ingredients was a granola that already included some. However, when we were eating store-bought we almost always added a dusting of cinnamon, which could be added to the general mix as well as vanilla, nutmeg, and any other warming spices you enjoy.

To Serve:

You can enjoy your Muesli in any combination of the above, hot or cold, with any milk or milk-like substance you choose. Our current go-to is cold or microwaved with vanilla oat milk for some added light sweetness and oat flavor. I’ve also tried the “Swiss Method” with previous mixes, which basically means you mix it with yogurt at night (greek-style is probably the tastiest) and let it soften the oats overnight, which was very decadent. 

You can have Muesli Your Way. But here is Muesli My Way (at least this week?!):

Muesli Recipe Jenna’s Way

Ingredients: 

160g, Organic Multigrain Hot Cereal

30 g  Roasted and Salted Pumpkin Seeds

40 g, Puffed Brown Rice

10 g Slivered Almonds 

30g Walnuts

70g, Hemp and Flax Granola 

20g Unsweetened Flake Coconut

25g Freeze-dried Strawberries

20g Cran-Raisins

35g Golden Raisins

Directions:

Mix everything in a bowl and store in an airtight container. To serve, mix with your favorite milk-like substance and let it soften for a few minutes before eating, or let sit overnight with milk/yogurt, or microwave for a few minutes until soft. Or if you’re me just throw some oat milk at it and start eating immediately because patience has never been my virtue. 

Happy Eating!

Please Note: this post contains affiliate links meaning that I may make a small commission on any purchases at no additional cost to you.

Here are some of the suggested ingredients available for online delivery (click on image to order):

And, of course, you need a pretty way to store your fabulous new creation! Here are some options that would look equally pretty sitting on the counter or in your newly organized pantry (click on image for more info):

Jenna Rae Lorusso is a classical singer and voice teacher with a passion for music, food, and style. She also likes hats. Her mother is a fabulous cook and designer, and she figures at least some of that is hereditary. You can find out more by visiting jennaraelorusso.com, or by following her on Facebook.