Given that most ready-to-eat breakfast cereals tend to be high in added sugars, what alternatives are there?
Here is a great recipe for muesli (sometimes called Bircher Muesli). This version is from English chef Jamie Oliver.
He calls it “Pukkola Muesli”.This is great for those of us who end up burning anything that requires cooking. In true Jamie Oliver style – everything is given in “handfuls” rather than accurate measures.
Bircher Muesli Ingredients
- 2 handfuls of crushed bran
- 8 handfuls of oats
- 1 handful of chopped dried apricots
- 1 handful of dried dates
- 1 handful of crushed or chopped walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts or Brazil nuts
Mix everything together. You can include different sorts of fruits (such as raisins or figs). This mixture can be kept in an airtight container for a number of months.
This is a sample bircher muesli.
The Night Before
- Milk (dairy or soy)
- 1/2 an Apple (per person)
The muesli needs to be soaked before you can eat it. Put your serving into a bowl and cover with milk. Of course you can also use milk alternatives.
Grate the apple(s) into the bowl and mix. Place in the refrigerator.
Ready for Breakfast
The next morning the mixture has softened and thickened. Add more milk and throw in half a banana (chopped or sliced).
Add yogurt or berries (if available).
This ranks as one of my all time favorite breakfasts. No cooking required.
I just add hot water to my muesli to soften it immediately and have a warm food.
My recipe for breakfast:
3/4 cup of long cooking oatmeal
1 tea spoon of splenda brown sugar
1 cup of skim milk
(When available, I add 1/2 cup of blueberries and reduce the oatmeal by 1/4th)
1 cup of orange juice drank separately.
It’s easy and fast. The RAW long cooking oatmeal stays with me through the morning.
I skip the nuts and raisins for the calories and the apple because of time.
just enjoy the recipe…stunning
@bookgrll – crushed bran is a bit of a misnommer. It is simply bran (this is what has been separated from the wheat) and looks like fine flakes. ‘Crushing’ it just reduces it in size somewhat. It is also what you find in the sieve after sifting whole wheat flour. Those very small brown flakes are the ‘bran’.
You can also purchase bran flakes and just rub them between the fingers which will ‘crush’ them into a finer size.
Eating any ground grain/seed/bran without sufficient soaking will help add bulk for someone who has diahhrea. Soaking them at least 20 minutes and drinking a few glasses of water will help with the opposite problem – constipation. This is especially the case as with ground linseed.
However, to neutralize the phytic acid present in all seeds/grains, the soaking must be 8-12 hours…which is overnight for most of us.
I’m glad Jamie calls his designer muesli something else besides Bircher Müsli (muesli). The original Bircher Müsli is something quite different from the modern or commercial concepts.
VERY important is soaking overnight or 12 hrs. This neutralizes the phytic acid in the grains used. Crushed bran was never used in the original or variations (Swiss/German) thereafter. The apple is added just before serving (peel and all if organic).
I suspect Jamie wanted to add more fibre to his formula, but there are better solutions to this rather than adding more wheat to one’s diet, such as more oat or crushed millet (great mineral source) etc.
Here is a (not bad) explanation in English from Wikipedia here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muesli
Although, if I recall correctly, it lacks the important soaking part.
Soaking any grain at least 8-12 hours in any acid (yogurt, orange juice etc) greatly increases the bio-usability of the grain. This is old ‘folk sense’. They may have not known the scientific ‘why’ but they instinctively knew (or keen observance) that it was important.
Being German, Müsli is not new to me. I have my own version too adapted to my personal needs, however it is based on the principals of the original Bircher Müsli.
The stuff one buys called ‘muesli’ is mostly sweetened rubbish. If you care enough to try muesli, make your own and prepare it in the tradional method (soaking the night before).
What is crushed bran?
I am a flight attendant and need help with good low fat/low carb lightweight packaged foods to take on 2week trips. Any sugestions that can help me get my weight back undercontrol would be greatly appreciated Thanks a Bunch
This definitely sounds interesting, to say the least. I don’t know if I’d like it, but it sounds pretty ok. You can make your own dried fruit without any added sugar if you want to…it’s not hard. Just put fruit that’s been soaked in lemon juice/water mixture onto some clean furnace filters and put them on top of a box fan in a bathtub for a couple of days. Works great.
Have you ever tried the Optimum Power cereal. It has 15 grams of fibre. Its great and low in points for those on Weight Watchers.
I’m on a mission to lose 100 pounds and I’m blogging my journey. Hope to hear from you! I need some inspiration!
Cheers!
http://dietingbattle.blogspot.com/
I make my own breakfast cereal with Shredded Wheat ‘n Bran, which has no added sugar, dried fruit (usually raisins) and walnuts. It’s DELICIOUS. I don’t mix it up in large quantities, though — I read somewhere that cereal will cause raisins to dry up, and the raisins cause the cereal to become soggy.
Dried fruit with added sugar? That’s crazy. Dried fruit is sweet enough (especially dates).
Some dried fruits have a small amount of vegetable oil and/or preservative.
Sounds like it could be good as long as you check the ingredients of the dried fruit before you buy it…most of them contain added sugar, but if you keep looking, you can find some that are Only Dried Fruit. I found a bag at Costco earlier this year.
Alright. That looks amazing. The shredded apple is brilliance.
I love it! I love the muesli from au bon pain, but this sounds even better. And I love Jamie Oliver!! I miss him from my TV. Thanks for featuring him here (a cute picture would be nice, too.)