Muesli

 Makes around 1.4kg

Ingredients (mostly optional, see notes below):
500g oats
100g ground almonds
100g ground or crushed walnuts
100g desiccated coconut
60g flaxseeds
60g sunflower seeds
60g chia seeds
60g pumpkin seeds
100g raisins
100g chopped dried apricots
100g dried goji berries
100g dried cranberries
1 tsp dried cinnamon

Method:
Tip the oats into a large container with a lid. Add the next three ingredients, and stir a few times to combine. 

Add in the seeds, and stir again.  Add the dried fruit and finally the cinnamon, then stir well (carefully) before putting the lid on the container, and storing in a cupboard or the fridge.

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Yes, it really is that simple. And, other than the oats, every ingredient is optional. If you are allergic to nuts, leave out the almonds and walnuts. If you hate raisins or coconut, leave them out. If you can't find goji berries or pumpkin seeds, but love sesame seeds and dates, use those instead. 

If you want to avoid anything sweet, miss out the dried fruit altogether, and add extra seeds or nuts. Add more cinnamon if you like it strongly flavoured. Add more (or less) of any of the ingredients to change the texture and flavour to your tastes. 

It's truly as adaptable as you and your family desire. Some people prefer to make their own muesli mix every morning; I prefer to make it in advance, like this so I don't have to root around in the fridge and think what to add each day. And this is the recipe that I've finally settled on (at least, for now...) after many years of experimenting.

As for how I eat it... I put a few dessertspoonfuls in a bowl, along with - maybe - some almonds, or a sliced banana, or a chopped peach or strawberries, depending on what's in season and,  and what I feel like eating. Then I add milk (usually home-made oat milk, but it's very good too with commercial coconut milk or oat milk) and - a tad ironically - Greek-style yogurt, although it's also good with vegan yogurt.

Back in 2011, I made granola, which involved adding oil and honey or syrup, and baking. The original recipe was given to me by a friend, and I had already adjusted it somewhat before writing about it. A few months later, my sister told me she used the recipe to make muesli rather than granola, missing out the wet ingredients, as this made a lower-fat lower-sugar version. 

I decided that was a good idea one summer, when I didn't want to use the oven at all.  By then I was using walnuts rather than buckwheat flour already, and adding three kinds of seeds rather than two. 

By the end of the summer, I was converted: muesli is simpler, healthier and much quicker to make. And over the years I slowly adapted it. I only discovered the benefits of goji berries and pumpkin seeds in the last few years. 

In the meantime, I read this article about eating at least thirty different plant-based foods per week. The better-known 7-10 fruits and veg per day (which replaced the 'five-a-day' recommendation) only counts fruit and vegetables, not including potatoes. The thirty-a-week idea looks at the health of the gut rather than more general health, and includes all plant-based foods, including seeds, nuts and grains. And the important thing is that it should be thirty DIFFERENT plant-based products every week. 

(Subsequent research points out that thirty is not a magic number; the point is that people who eat a wide variety of plant-based products, eg at least thirty a week, have healthier guts than those who eat very few, eg fewer than 10 per week. The goal is as many as possible for the healthiest gut, not a competition.)

Although I do eat this muesli pretty much every day, it gives a good starting point, involving twelve different plant-based products as a starting point. Add a couple of pieces of fresh fruit and I'm almost half-way to the weekly goal by the time I've had breakfast on the first day.  The rest is then straightforward.