Bircher Muesli

This is a quick Swiss-style muesli that is nutritious and delicious. It is a great breakfast dish for the summer. In our home, it is good for any meal or for a snack, even dessert. Best of all, it requires no cooking and it is all mixed in one bowl! To make it vegan, use non-dairy milk and yogurt. To make it gluten-free, use McCann’s oats.

On a vacation to Switzerland, we would watch women in store cafeterias quickly make a big batch of muesli and put it out. We love the simplicity as well as the refreshing, cool, creamy and deep fruity, lemony flavors. Make it your own with your own tweaks and fruits–peaches, nectarines, fresh apricots, just blueberries, mango are all delicious. Instead of maple syrup, use a jam to match the fruit and make the flavor more intense. A complementary flavor is also excellent–blueberries or apricots with lime or lemon marmalade.

I hope you enjoy these simple and fresh recipes as much as we do. No one needs to sweat in the kitchen to turn out great food.

Ingredients

• 11/2 cup quick-cooking oats or rolled oats if soaking overnight (for more bite use half steel-cut oats and half rolled or quick-cooking oats)
• 3/4 cup blanched slivered almonds or coarsely chopped almonds
• 1 medium to large cored Granny Smith apple, coarsely grated with the skin
• 3 ½ cups fresh or frozen berries (a mixture with cherries works well, but not frozen strawberries)
• 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
• 1/2 plus cup cold milk (more if the mixture is too dry–but as it sits the fruit will release liquid) or unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 11 ounces cold plain Greek yogurt or plain non-dairy yogurt
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Steps

1. Mix all the ingredients well in a large bowl.
2. The muesli can be eaten right away but the flavors blend and improve when chilled in the fridge for several hours or overnight. This keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days.

Serves 4-6. Preparation time: 5 minutes.