Muesli

I am still on my weight loss journey. Technically speaking I have completed phase two but it turns out that I am the only one who has not cheated in the program.  Our mentors have decided to extend phase two for three more weeks.  I don't mind really; my eating habits are not going to change.  I just want to get measured and step on the scale.  I will wait two more weeks for that.  I am wearing a size 8 now and medium tops.  I even got a size 6 skirt that fits.  Yeah!  My daughter wants to shed a few pounds too so I am tracking her eating and she is following the phase one guidelines.

Today for breakfast I decided to make muesli.  I found the recipe in this book that I got for Christmas.

It is full of healthy recipes using natural ingredients.  To make muesli you start with rolled oats.  I had some generic old-fashioned oats that I used.  Probably not the best type but it is what I had on hand.

Last night, I mixed together in a bowl 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/8 cup shredded coconut and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.  The recipe also calls for almond slivers but I didn't have any.  I probably could have put in pecans or walnuts but I didn't .  I then covered the mixture  with 3/4 cups of warm water and 1 tablespoon of Bragg's raw, unfiltered vinegar, covered the bowl with a cloth, and let it sit all night. 

This morning in a saucepan I heated up 1 cup of water with 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  (I just realized that I should have used only 1/2 cup of water since I had cut the recipe in half.  The full recipe makes 4 servings, but this recipe should make only 2.) 

 Once the water comes to a boil, add the soggy oat mixture and an eighth cup of raisins

to the boiling water, stir, cover, and reduce to a simmer. The recipe says to simmer for several minutes.  I ended up simmering for 15 minutes until it was to the thickness i wanted.  Now that I realized I boiled too much water, I understand why it took so long to thicken up. I bet if I had used only 1/2 cup in my saucepan, it would have taken only 5 minutes to be ready instead of the fifteen.  Live and learn.

Once it was to my desired thickness, I added 1 teaspoon of flax seed meal for more nutrients.

Then scooped up about a cup of the muesli and transferred it to my bowl.  You can sweeten it with raw honey, stevia, date syrup, or maple syrup if you want.  I chose to sweeten my bowl with 1 tablespoon of  100% pure maple syrup.

Bonnie ate the other cup of muesli for her breakfast. For more variety, she added a diced up fuji apple.  I think next time, I will add the apple to the oatmeal mixture when I cook it in the boiling water.  Yum!

It was a good, filling and healthy breakfast.  Calorie count minus the apple is 160 calories for 1 cup of muesli.  Not bad!