Toasted muesli :: a recipe

My family seems to have a genetic trait for loving breakfast cereal. It's great at anytime of the day as far as we're concerned! The kids often request cereal as afternoon snack (and I'm happy to join them!) and my Dad was always known to have a bowl before bed.

However, I've been re-assessing some of our food choices lately and I was slightly horrified when I realised that even the reasonably 'healthy' commercial breakfast cereal options have around 2 teaspoons of sugar in a standard serve. Eeep!

So I've had a bit of a crackdown on breakfast options. The choices in our household are now homemade toasted muesli (none of us have ever been especially keen on natural muesli), porridge sweetened with some mashed banana or grated apple & cinnamon, VitaBrits or toasted homemade bread with peanut butter or vegemite. (Other more decadent options such as pancakes or eggs & bacon may still occasionally happen on weekends but weekdays require something quick!)

I only made toasted muesli for the first time last year - for some reason I thought it would be tricky but it's actually super easy... and super yummy! I've experimented with a few different recipes and settled on a combination of ingredients that I really like and that is also low in sugar, which I now make once a week.

 Low-sugar Toasted Muesli

Mix together in a large bowl:
4 cups of organic rolled outs
1 heaped cup of seeds & chopped nuts (I generally use sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, ground flax seeds and almonds)
1/2 cup of any mix of wholemeal flour, oat bran, wheat germ or quinoa flakes
1 heaped teaspoon of cinnamon

Then gently combine and warm until runny:
1/4 cup of oil (I use coconut oil or a mild-flavoured olive oil)
1/4 cup of brown rice syrup (rice syrup doesn't contain fructose - however you can substitute honey if you prefer your muesli sweeter)
2 teaspoons of honey

Pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients and combine well.
Spread over a baking tray and bake in a slow oven (135C) for 40 minutes until lightly golden, turning it over every 10 minutes.

When cool stir through:
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
2/3 cup dried fruit (eg. sultanas, currants, figs, dates, cranberries, apricots)

Enjoy!