Homemade muesli

One of My Eco Self’s reduced employment initiatives is to make homemade muesli to reduce my salt and sugar intake from mass-produced brands, and to reduce the extortionate spend on various organic brands from the specialist deli. I am also keen to display something homemade and delicious in glass containers on the open shelves in my newly finished and debt-inducing kitchen. My Eco Self is hosting an afternoon tea for over-achieving domestic goddess friends with small children and homemade curtains, and can only compete on grounds of muesli-making. My Eco Self has a trip to the health store to buy organic oats, hazelnuts, Fair Trade honey, flaked coconut, and various oat bran things with well-documented health benefits.* Following a tip I’ve read in an eco blog, I roast the porridge oats in a cooling oven, instead of heating up a cold oven especially for the task. The next day I am up early and eager for some granola and yogurt to accompany my usual invigorating peppermint tea. There’s a subtle taste which isn’t disguised by the freshly added locally picked strawberries. “Taste this,” I tell Food Neurotic Friend when he calls round. “Why does your granola taste of garlic?” he asks. I wonder if this is a potential consequence of roasting the porridge oats straight after a tray of roasted vegetables. “Is it worth leaving it there for the display alone?” I ask FNF, but he shakes his head, not a frequent advocate of presentation over taste.

*Check out the recipe I have posted here. Or if you can justify the extortionate spend on food from the local deli, Lovely Lazy has a delicious range of mueslis which I have written about here.