Come and view this post on my new page: Red Hill Recipes
Breakfast is difficult. Some mornings it’s hard to think past the first coffee or two, never mind having to make a decision about what on earth I feel like eating. I try to eat low carb foods most of the time. I like to save my carb intake for amazing taste sensations. They never (well... hardly ever) pass my lips unless they are truly delectable (fresh cinnamon bun anyone?). So it’s not at all hard to resist the few breakfast cereals left in the pantry after my fructose cull. They so do not fit in the ‘taste sensation’ category.
Honestly, most of the time I have a cooked breakfast. You know, some variation on bacon and eggs. Occasionally something wonderful like hollandaise sauce may feature. Or a nice bit of sausage. The nice thing about eggs is their versatility. Fried, scrambled, omelet-ed, poached, soft boiled etc... But even so, sometimes I just kind of miss a bowl of cereal.
Like muesli (aka granola).
But it’s pretty carb-y as a rule. Even if it is made delicious enough to fit into the ‘amazing’ category. So I decided to see what could be done about making some that is amazing and low-ish carb.
The answer of course is nuts. And seeds. Lots and lots of them. Flaked almonds remind me of corn flakes, bran flakes and all their flaky friends. It wouldn’t be muesli without some rolled oats, but surely the ratio could be improved. I decided to cut oats back, use lots of nuts and seeds and add some oat bran (which my naturopath mother-in-law calls ‘a sponge for fat’) Apparently oat bran soaks up fat and then carries it out of the body with it. And we shall not discuss the pathway it takes. Not in a muesli post.
Yes I know with the oats and the rice malt syrup it’s not properly ‘low-carb’, but it’s close enough for me to justify (which is the main thing...)
Anyway, my batch of muesli was finished just in time for lunch today, and our entire family opted to try it out immediately, instead of waiting for breakfast tomorrow. (Because sometimes lunch is hard too.)
Toasted Muesli
Ingredients
Dry:
3 cups rolled oats (whole oats, not quick oats)
1/2 cup oat bran
1 cup shredded coconut (the courser the better)
2 cups flaked almonds
1 cup pepitas (inside bit of pumpkin seeds, with skin removed)
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
3 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
Wet:
3 Tbsp rice malt syrup
4 Tbsp coconut oil
1/8 tsp pure non-bitter stevia powder
Directions
1. Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl.
- Mix well
- Combine rice malt syrup, coconut oil, and stevia, heat till syrup is melted, and mix well.
- Pour wet ingredients in dry, and mix well.
- Spread mixture out on 2 baking pans (I use my oven shelf, which is like a tray, and line it with baking/parchment paper)
- Bake at 160C (320F) for 20-25 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes so that the muesli toasts evenly.
Variations:
- If you like clumpy muesli, add an extra Tbsp or two of rice malt syrup, and coconut oil. And don’t stir vigorously during baking.
- You could add goji berries (we have some member of the family who don’t like them, so that’s an ‘add later’ at our house)
- For a lower carb version, you could use less oats and increase the nuts.
