are you eating muesli, the ultimate summer breakfast?

My wife found a delicious recipe for meusli, a euro-type breakfast, in a cookbook you may not know about. Feeding the Whole Family: Cooking with Whole Foods, by Cynthia Lair, is a very accessible collection of recipes emphasizing simple meals with healthful, seasonal ingredients (parents may remember Cynthia as a food writer/editor for Mothering Magazine). Don't confuse muesli with Mueslix, the dorky brand of Kellogg's cereal from the 80s. Real muesli is a simple breakfast of rolled oats (or other grains) and any combination of nuts and dried/fresh fruit. It's basically granola that hasn't been toasted. There are two styles: dry and soaked. In the dry version, muesli is eaten as is, with milk or yogurt. In the soaked version, the muesli is first allowed to sit in hot water or juice for a few hours or even overnight. Both are delicious, but we were intrigued by the soaked version as it produces a filling breakfast that can stand in for oatmeal in the summer. Despite the use of boiling water in the recipe below, the texture of soaked muesli is not the same as oatmeal. Give it a try this summer. It will keep your mornings sane and your kitchen cool.

Orange Hazelnut Muesli

Prep time: 10 minutes (excluding overnight soaking)

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats or rolled barley (or some of both)
• 1/3 cup hazelnuts, chopped
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• Optional toppings: sliced fruit, berries, raisins, plain yogurt w/ honey

Technique

Place oats, hazelnuts, raisins, cinnamon, and sea salt in mixing bowl. Pour boiling water over mixture and stir. Add orange juice to mixture and stir again. Cover bowl with plate or cloth and allow moisture to soften grains 6 to 8 hours or overnight. Top apple, pear, berries, and/or yogurt.

*Makes 4 servings