About Me

My photo
Back in the 80s, I wrote a book called "Voyaging on a Small Income", which was published and sold astonishingly well. It’s become almost a “classic” and is probably why you’ve found this site! I’ve been living aboard and sailing since the 70s. Nine different boats have been home, sometimes for several months, sometimes for many years. I love the way of life, the small footprint and being close to Nature. I’m a great fan of junk rig and having extensive experience with both gaff and bermudian rig, I wouldn’t have any other sail on my boat. It’s ideal as a voyaging rig, but also perfect for the coastal sailing that I now do. I’d rather stay in New Zealand, not having to keep saying goodbye to friends, than go voyaging, these days. Between 2015 and 2021, I built the 26ft "FanShi", the boat I now call home. For the last 45 years or so, my diet of choice has been vegetarian and is now almost vegan. I love cooking and particularly enjoy having only myself to please. I am combining all these interests (apart, perhaps, from junk rig!) in this blog. I hope you enjoy it. I also have other blogs: www.anniehill.blogspot.com and http://fanshiwanderingandwondering.wordpress.com
Showing posts with label Oats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oats. Show all posts

24 October 2022

Muesli

Most people eat a cold breakfast. I’m not fond of commercial breakfast cereals: they’re either sweet or tasteless, are bulky and expensive and usually not particularly nutritious. Muesli – preferably home-made – is a much better bet.

Oats are one of the darlings of the Healthy Eaters at the moment: Folic acid, complex carbohydrates, good for blood pressure – the whole nine yards. In addition to oats in your muesli, are all the other goodies, which are delicious and Good For You and ideally include apricots, pumpkin seeds, prunes, Brazil nuts (for selenium) raisins and dates, all of which give you quantities of essential vitamins and minerals as well as tasting wonderful. A quarter cup serving of my muesli, together with milk and/or yoghurt will give you a superbly nutritious breakfast, which is filling and will keep you going until lunch time, without wanting a snack.

The recipe below makes enough muesli to fill a 3 l (3 qt) container – 48 single servings, 24 if you like a hearty breakfast. As it’s a bit of a schlep to make, it’s worth doing in quantity. Before buying dried fruit, ensure that they’re pitted; health food versions often are not. They’re a nuisance to do yourself and a hazard to teeth if left in. I prefer seedless raisins, too.

Incidentally, I find scissors the best for chopping the fruit and nuts. This makes a rich and filling muesli: some people might prefer a higher ratio of grains to fruit and nuts. Vary the latter according to cost and availability.

Ingredients

 
about 6 cups jumbo oats, for Gluten Free
OR a mixture of oats, rye and barley flakes
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup Brazil nuts
1/2 cup mixed hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds
1 cup raisins and/or sultanas
25 dates
20 dried apricots
12 prunes
 
Method:
  • Half fill the container with the oats or mixed flakes.
  • Add the pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and raisins. Mix everything together.
  • Halve the nuts, add and mix.
  • Chop the dates, add and mix.
  • Chop the apricots, add and mix.
  • Chop the prunes, add and mix.
  • Top up the container with oats/flakes and mix one more time.
Variations:
  • Muesli is very good with hot milk in cold weather.
  • Top with slices of fresh fruit – nectarines, raspberries and strawberries are particularly good.
  • In colder weather, I like to heat some fruit to put over the muesli. Squeeze a large orange into a small pan, add sliced banana and scoop out the contents of a kiwi fruit or persimmon or anything else you can lay hands on.
  • Serve with thick yoghurt. I like a quarter cup of muesli mixed with a good dollop of yoghurt and no milk.
  • Use any other nuts or dried fruits that take your fancy. Add desiccated coconut, too.
  • Use fruit juice instead of milk.
  • You can also put your muesli into a pan with milk or water and cook it like porridge (see recipe).

Porridge

I rather like porridge, with a dribble of honey and a spoonful of mixed seeds sprinkled over it. I truly enjoy real porridge: made with oatmeal, as the Scots know it – but am not so fond of that made with rolled oats. Oatmeal seems to be unavailable in a number of places: it looks like cream-coloured, coarsely ground corn and is sometimes described as ‛steel-cut’: if you can get it, try it instead of the rolled oats in the following recipe. Why it’s not used more frequently and is not more generally available, I don’t know, because it is more compact, cooks more quickly, produces a smoother result and tastes better than rolled oats.

Quick-cooking oats do not have the flavour and texture of jumbo oats. If you’re eating porridge simply as belly timber, use the quick oats; if you enjoy it, use traditional, slow-cooking oats.

Serves 2

cup oatmeal OR 1 cup rolled oats

2 cups water

pinch of salt


  • Put the ingredients into a small saucepan and mix.

  • Bring to the boil, stirring constantly.

  • Turn down the heat as low as possible and cook, very gently, for about three minutes (more like ten for jumbo oats). Whatever you do, don’t burn it. It will taste dreadful if you do.

  • Pour into bowls and eat immediately, with some milk and either salt (for the purists) or brown sugar (for most other people).

Variations:

  • Try treacle, golden syrup (my dad’s choice), honey or dulce de leche (see recipe) to sweeten it.

  • Use cream rather than milk. Who would have thought that porridge could be luxurious? (Yoghurt and porridge do not go together, in my opinion.)

  • Add 1/4 cup of raisins with the oats.

  • Use 50/50 milk and water to cook it. This makes a much richer version.

  • Of course, substitute 2/3 cup of seawater for the fresh.

  • Serve with sliced, fresh fruit.