The Breakfast Club – Bircher Muesli

Last week Sarah, Nikki, Pip and I were discussing (virtually) about whether we sit down each day in a civilised way and eat a healthy breakfast that equips us for our busy day, or do we just grab some kind of a snack as we rush out the door or are we even more tragic and skip breakfast altogether.

I’m afraid in the past I have been guilty of being a ‘skipper’.  I never really saw it as a problem but about six months ago I started seeing a naturopath and one of the very first things he asked me to do was write down what I would typically eat during the day.  I was rather proud of my responses and was expecting an A+ as I believed my diet was pretty good.

But he did not give me an A+.  Instead he said something along the lines of: sandwiching some rice crackers together with Vegemite, then eating them while driving your car on the way to work, or skipping breakfast altogether and just having a sparkling mineral water to wash down a few supplements is like telling your body, ‘I don’t need you to do any work for me today’.  He told me I needed to start the day with nuts, seeds, fruit, eggs, tomatoes, beans and avocado.  You should eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.

Oh, major fail there then.

I was feeling slightly mortified that in order to be more kind to my body it seemed I would have to rise from bed about an hour earlier than usual, just to have a kingly feast before officially starting my day. Nevertheless, I decided to embrace the idea because it’s good to be kind to your body.

And Sarah, Nikki and Pip are on board as well.  We’re starting The Breakfast Club and under our ‘Be Healthy’ category we’ll be sharing our best ‘Top of the Morning’ recipes.  We’d love you to join our club.

What I have discovered is that starting the day well doesn’t have to be all that arduous.  Here is a recipe that works well because you can make it the night before, quickly and simply, and by morning it’s ready for you to just spoon into a bowl.  It ticks all the boxes in terms of nutrition, is low-GI, giving you a steady stream of energy through the morning and most importantly, is totally delicious.

Are you a ‘skipper’ or do you start your day like a king?

Bircher Muesli

Put all your dry ingredients into a large bowl

Serves:  Makes enough for my family of 5 for at least 2-3 days

Degree of Difficulty:  1/5

Cost:  Making your own muesli is less expensive than buying packaged muesli and at least you get to control what goes in it.

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup diced dried apricots
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup toasted chopped hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
• 2 cups pear juice (if hard to source substitute apple or orange juice but make sure it’s good quality and freshly squeezed)
• yoghurt, grated apples, blueberries and honey to serve

In a large bowl combine oats, dried apricots, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts and almonds.  Stir in the pear juice.  Cover with cling wrap and put in the fridge overnight (or for at least 2 hours).

In the morning take 2-3 tbsns of muesli, mix it with yoghurt and some freshly grated apple (no need to peel the apple) then spoon into a bowl.  Top with some fresh fruit like blueberries and pour over a little honey if desired.

Breakfast is served!

Note:  The best thing about this recipe is that you can make changes to it without wrecking it.  If you want to use different seeds like pumpkin instead of sunflower or dried cranberries instead of dried apricots or orange juice instead of pear juice or bananas instead of blueberries, you can!  Have a try and do let me know how you enjoyed your kingly start to the day.