Toasted Muesli

As the mornings get colder (and often wetter) firing up the oven and making your own muesli is the perfect way to toil away a wet weekend morning. This version is refined sugar free and is loaded with delicious clusters of crunchy oats as well as being loaded with nuts and seeds. 
Feel free to adapt it as you like. Here I've used a mixture of quick cooking oats (for the clusters) and larger wholegrain oats, but if you want a richer clusterful muesli, omit the larger oats at the end. 
Also feel free to adapt the combinations of nuts and seeds which are added. I love walnuts, so went with that this time, but cashews, macadamia, almond or pecan would also be delicious and no doubt I'll be mixing it up with my next batch. If you're a dried fruit fan, you can add that at the end once it has finished cooking. 

Ingredients (makes 10 cups of muesli; 20-30 serves):  

• 3/4 cup dried pitted dates
• 2 tsp vanilla essence 
• 1 tbsp cinnamon 
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water extra
• 3 cups of quick cooking oats
• 1 cup coconut
• 3 cups of traditional wholegrain oats - I used Harraways 
• 1 cup nuts - walnuts, almond, cashew, macadamia, pecan or a mixture
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup chopped dried fruit of your choice - sultanas, apricot, cranberries etc (optional) 

Put dates, vanilla, cinnamon, and 3/4 cup of water into a small saucepan. Simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes stirring frequently. We want the dates to begin to dissolve in the water, and the water to reduce so the result is a date paste. 

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius, and place 3 cups of quick cook oats and coconut into a large roasting dish. 

Add 1/4 cup of oil, and another 1/4 cup of water to the date mixture. Mix well to combine, then stir through the oats. It should be a sticky mess at this stage. Excellent. 

Spread evenly across the roasting dish and break up any large clusters. 

Roast for 40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. You want the oats to dry out. 

Now add the remaining wholegrain oats, nuts and seeds. Continue cooking for another 10 - 20 minutes turning once. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. If using dried fruit add it once cooled. Finally, store your muesli in an airtight container for up to a month. 

Serve with your choice of fruits, yogurt and milk.    

Wholesome lunchbox bars

This creation was a bit of an experiment, but it paid off! I'd been looking for a lunchbox filler that wasn't loaded with dried fruit, and wasn't completely nut based - they're so expensive! - so I concocted these which are only subtly sweetened with a little rice bran syrup. 

Ingredients (makes 15 - 24 pieces) 

• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup brazil nuts
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup soaked buckwheat groats 
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup ground linseed (also known as flaxseed)
• 1/2 cups coconut oil
• 1/3 cup rice malt syrup
• 2 tablespoons nut butter -  I used coconut sugar sweetened chocolate hazelnut spread, but any quality nut butter will do. 
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground ginger

Soak buckwheat groats in a large bowl with cold water for at least 30 minutes (up to 2 hours). Drain and rinse well. 

Preheat oven to 160°C and line a large baking tray with baking paper. 

Place almonds, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds into a food processor and blitz until you form small chunks. Add the drained buckwheat groats, shredded coconut, melted coconut oil, nut butter, rice malt syrup, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Blitz again. 

Spoon the mixture into the prepared slice tray. Spread and press down mixture firmly. Bake for 20 minutes till lightly golden on top. Allow to cool before slicing and storing in an airtight container in the fridge, or freezer.