Make your own Muesli

Make your own Muesli

Every time I go visit my family in Germany I always ate some Muesli for breakfast.  Muesli is a type of cereal with raw oats, dried fruit, nuts, and seeds.  I went to the grocery store and saw that they started selling the cereal here in America, however it is very expensive and many of the cereals had wheat in it, an ingredient I can't eat because it makes me breakout.  I then realized that I can easily make this cereal at home and customize it to have the ingredients I want.

This morning I decided to make the cereal with the following ingredients.

1/2 cup of rolled oats

tbsp of dried cranberries

4 dried apricots, chopped

tbsp of chopped walnuts

sprinkle of flax seeds

Almond milk

Oats are  great in the morning.  It is a whole grain that contains 3 grams of fiber per serving.  Fiber is essential for digestive and immune health.  Most people do not get enough fiber each day.  We need 25-38g of fiber each day, however most Americans only get 12g.  What is a better way to start your day than with some fiber! Oats also naturally contain many essential B-vitamins which help aid in metabolism.  It is high in iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and has a good amount of copper and zinc. 

The dried fruit adds a sweet taste to your breakfast without adding extra sugar.  I have used many different dried fruits in the past such as raisins, mango, papaya, and pineapple.  Dried fruit also has vitamins and minerals in it, however be careful of too much added sugar.  Some dried fruits are crystallized with sugar which adds extra calories and carbs to your meal.

Nuts and seeds give the cereal a nice crunch.  I decided to use walnuts and flax seed today, however you can use a variety of different nuts and seeds.  I have used almonds, pecans, and sunflower seeds in the past.  Nuts provide a great source of healthy fats.  Walnuts and flax seeds provide omega 3 fatty acids.  This fat is normally found in fish.  I don't know about you but I don't like eating fish in the morning, so eating nuts provides a great alternative to get some of the omega 3s in.

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I I used sweetened almond milk to make the cereal a actual cereal.  I also have unsweetened almond milk in the frig, however today I wanted something a little sweeter to go with my meal.  Regular milk will also work fine and is loaded with other nutrients that are not found in almond milk.  I just prefer almond milk over regular milk because regular milk sometimes makes my stomach hurt.  If you are choosing regular milk, I suggest skim or 1% milk.  Whole and 2% milk is loaded with fat and we tend to get plenty of fat with the other foods we eat during the day.  Save your fat for those things instead of your beverage.