The Frankenmuesli

I like muesli.  A lot.  Several years ago I came to the conclusion that no muesli on the market quite fit my desires, so I started mixing my own. The project has taken on something of a life of its own since then, with a perpetually renewed vat of the stuff becoming a permanent pantry fixture.

This recipe has been through a thousand variations, and will no doubt go through a thousand more, but the vat needed to be refilled the other day, so I thought I'd document the current iteration. The stage is set:

And first, we add chopped apricots and pitted dates!

Then sultanas and a trail mix blend from Coles I'm fond of - almonds, cranberries, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.

 Then the nuts.  We tend to use almonds, walnuts and macadamias, but cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, peanuts or whatever takes your fancy will do.  Toasted or raw is fine - I've even been mad enough to toast my own in the past, but Steph prefers raw. Do stick to unsalted, though.

Now some shredded coconut, a generous helping of bran and a bag of premixed toasted muesli - I like the texture and flavour difference of toasted muesli, but it's got quite a bit of added sugar and fat, so I wouldn't eat it straight.

Then fill the whole thing up with plain old rolled oats - the steel cut ones I use for porridge are a little too chewy when uncooked.

A very, very thorough mixing later, we have this:

With warmed milk, a scoop of unflavoured whey protein, fresh banana, apple and strawberry and, of course, an accompanying cappuccino, this is a madness worth having: