Homemade toasted muesli

Our toasted muesli is something that people love on retreats. I guess there's a lot of really boring muesli's out there which makes our muesli all the more delicious and scrumptious. Making your own muesli can be so rewarding. Just another area that we can
reduce packaging too. I am lucky enough to have a health-food shop in my town that has bulk foods in large tubs, glass jars or drums. You just bring in your recycled paper bag or jar and fill up as much or as little as you want. No excess plastic packaging. You can reuse the same paper bag or jar over and over again. It takes Caspar and I six weeks to fill our normal bin and about 4 weeks to fill our recycling bin. So making your own muesli once a month or so is just so easy, not that time consuming, absolutely delicious and environmentally responsible. How good is that!

If you simply sweetened it, and toast with cinnamon, vanilla or orange zest, you can't go wrong. I love to put all my favourite things into muesli. Not scrimp on simple cheap ingredients but enjoy a few good quality ingredients. It's not all about money surely. Good nutrition is an investment in your health and future well being. Eat well, listen to your body and it will serve you well.

So some of my favourite ingredients that I like to use are almonds or macadamia nuts, dried cranberries, vanilla and shredded coconut and sometimes I like to vary it. Play around with your favourite ingredients and change it every month. That way you vary the fruits, nuts and seeds you use and mix it up a bit in terms of nutrition.  Variety is the spice of life as they say.
You can try macadamia nuts, walnuts, pecan nuts, pistachio nuts, cashew nuts, dried figs, apricots, dates, current, sultana's, pears, nectarines, peaches, prunes, goji berries, and anything else I might have missed.

The mix
3 cups oats
1 cup almonds, roughly chopped
1 cup dried cranberries or sultana's, soaked in orange juice
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pepita seeds
2 cup shredded coconut
2 tbs cinnamon
2 cups coconut sugar (disolved in 1/2 cups boiling water)
2 tsp vanilla paste or ground vanilla beans

Pour boiling water over sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the cinnamon and vanilla to the sugar syrup and stir until the ingredients have fully blended together. Combine the rest of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and pour the sugar syrup evenly over the muesli. Then  mix the muesli and syrup together until the muesli is coated in the sticky sweetness.

Line a couple of flat baking trays with baking paper then spread muesli mix evenly over the trays, approximately 2 cm thick.
Toast in the oven at 190C for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once cool put muesli into air tight containers and eat when desired with nut mylk, coconut yoghurt or milk of your choice!  Fresh fruit or warmed stewed fruit.