Sunday, February 26, 2012

Forager's Choice Muesli


My favorite muesli
Breakfast has always been my meal. I almost never go out for it, and nobody makes it for me.  It is a chance to eat exactly what I want, how I want it.  I think a lot of people feel the same way about the coffee that they drink (but I don’t drink coffee).  Like brushing my teeth, bathing, and getting dressed, breakfast is part of my morning routine that I approach in a way that reflects who I am.  So it is no wonder that I often prepare this meal as efficiently as possible, using ingredients that are either conspicuously inexpensive and/or extravagantly wild.  Like most humans, I go through fads, and my breakfast meals are no exception.  My favorite breakfast dishes are pancakes with maple syrup, breakfast burritos, Northern Gold granola, muesli, and smoothies but I don’t rotate through these in any systematic way.  Rather, I dwell on one for months at a time and then randomly switch to another. 

Lately I have been on a forager’s choice muesli kick.  The recipe is simple:
     1 cup rolled oats
     ¼ cup apple sauce
     ¼ cup elderberry pulp
     4 chopped dates
Add water, let sit until the oats get soft, and enjoy.

Wild Berry Smoothie
Chinese Hawthorn Fruit Leather
A few days ago I discovered some berries that I hid in Dad’s freezer, so I am on the verge of switching over to smoothies.  I posted my favorite smoothie recipe last month.  I also found some frozen Chinese Hawthorn(Crataegus pinnatifida) pulp that Katrina and I made from street trees in Victoria.  Last night we made some Hawthorn fruit leather which turned out exceptionally well.