The Hungry Dad loves bircher muesli for breakfast but doesn’t love paying the $18 or so that fancy Sydney cafes charge for it. For years we’ve been making it at home and it is so cheap to make that I am shocked at how much it goes for at cafes.
In general, I find eating out for breakfast to be so over-priced in Sydney. $15 for scrambled eggs and toast? No thanks. Yet often the same cafe will have amazing lunch dishes that require much more work and dearer ingredients than eggs for the same price – so what’s going on?
Back to the bircher muesli – Miss 8 used to call it ‘dadda porridge’ and used to be quite partial to it for breakfast. Now, she has gone back to basics and prefers plain porridge – or oatmeal, as my American friends know it as – for her breakie. Me – I’m partial to poached eggs. I have perfected making the perfect poached goog and I now have them on toast for brunch, or added to salads for a filling dinner.
This healthy and filling blueberry bircher muesli breakfast is the perfect do-ahead meal and one serving makes a heap. Often I make it straight into a huge Tupperware that The Hungry Dad takes to work, where he has his breakfast at his desk.
I buy the cheapest rolled oats I can find for this recipe. You need the old fashioned kind, not instant. You can pick up a big bag for around $2 in most supermarkets.
I use frozen blueberries as they are available year round but I always buy Australian grown berries. They cost more but I think it is worth it. Ditto for the apple juice – I have read too many horror stories about apple juice pressed from apples grown overseas to allow my family to consume it.
GATHER:
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1 cup thick Greek yogurt
1 green apple, skin-on, grated
½ cup blueberries
½ cup flaked almonds
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon maple syrup, if desired
LET’S GET TO IT:
Place everything in a large bowl and stir using a silver spoon until everything is covered evenly and combined. If it seems too dry add more yogurt or juice, a tablespoon at a time. Try not to break the blueberries as you stir. You want the consistency of cooked risotto at this stage, so not too wet. Cover bowl with cling wrap and place in fridge overnight. Serve with extra yogurt or milk if desired.
