What is Muesli ?
(/?mju?zli/ or /?mu?zli/; Swiss German: Müesli [?my?sli], Standard German: Müsli) is a popular breakfast meal based on uncooked rolled oats and other products based on grain, fresh or dried fruits, nuts, and mixed with almond milk, soy milk, rice milk or/and fruit juice. It was developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital. It is available in a packaged dry form, ready made, or it can be made fresh. The original Bircher recipe is proportionately the opposite of most muesli available in today’s supermarket varieties, calling for far more fruit than grains.
It is essentially a combination of oats, fruit and nuts, soaked in juice overnight. There are many variations of the original and the way that I enjoy mine is super creamy, full of spice and packed with plumped-up super fruit. Bircher muesli is also very practical – it’s simple to prepare at night whilst cooking your dinner and is easily transported if you are taking a container full to work or, much preferably, the park to eat. Bircher muesli is also heart smart, with the oats and sunflower seeds providing cholesterol-lowering goodness from manganese, selenium and magnesium. The high protein content in oats, sunflower seeds and amaranth coupled with the antioxidant hit from the super fruit make this a power breakfast fit for both Olympic athletes and generally awesome athletes, like ourselves.
Super Fruity Bircher Muesli
1 cup of rolled oats
1 apple, cored and grated
10 dates, roughly chopped
1/2 a cup of dried super fruit of your choosing: goji berries, cherries, raisins, sultanas, cranberries
2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons of coconut chips or thread coconut
Cinnamon to taste *
1/2 a cup of almond milk
1 1/2 cups of fresh apple juice (3 apples, juiced)
The juice of half a lemon
To serve: 2 tablespoons of puffed amaranth and extra fruit (blueberries work especially well).
Mix the ingredients together in a bowl and leave to soak overnight. Stir in puffed amaranth to serve and garnish with extra fruit. Dig in.
Serves 2.
* I usually add about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon but I prefer mine extra spicy.