Homemade Toasted Muesli

Honestly, since I have learned to make my own toasted muesli and discovered how tasty it is and how easy it is to make, I will never buy packaged cereal again.

This is a really healthy (and OMS friendly) way to start the day.

Ingredients
4 cups wholegrain rolled oats (I use Lowmans)
1 cup of mixed nuts and seeds*
1 cup dried fruit*
120 ml (6 tbsp) maple syrup, runny honey or agave nectar
40 ml (2 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil

Method

Place the rolled oats, maple syrup and olive oil into a bowl and toss to combine.

Spread the mixture onto 2 baking trays lined with parchment paper.

Bake in the oven at 180C/350F  or  160C/320F fan forced for 5-7 minutes.

Roughly chop the nuts and add them to the oats, giving them a good stir to ensure they brown evenly.  Cook for another 5-10 minutes.  All ovens vary, so just keep an eye on it.  Burnt oats and nuts taste terrible.  Remove the trays from the oven and allow the mixture to cool.

Add the dried fruit to the oat and nut mixture, and thoroughly mix.

I store my toasted muesli in an air-tight plastic cereal container.  It will last a few weeks, but I usually eat it all before then.

Notes & Variations:
This is a really flexible recipe.  You can easily adapt it to suit your own taste.
Apart from oats, you can also add rolled rice, or unprocessed wheat bran.
Nuts & Seeds
Use any mix of the following:

• cashews
• almonds
• hazelnuts
• walnuts
• brazil nuts
• macadamias
• pecan nuts
• pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• poppy seeds
• sesame seeds

Dried Fruit

Use any mix of the following:

• raisins
• sultanas (buy the natural ones without added oil)
• currants
• craisins (dried cranberries)
• chopped dried apricots
• chopped dried apple or mango
• chopped dried fig
• goji berries

Extras

You can sprinkle over chia seeds or ground flax seeds at the time of serving.  Add a dollop of yoghurt (I make my own soy yoghurt), or add fresh fruit.

If you want some extra spice, you can add a sprinkle of cinnamon to the oats when you toast them.

I find a ratio of 4 parts oats, 1 part nuts and seeds, and 1 part dried fruit works for me.  You may wish to make it heavier or lighter.

I also find that 120ml of maple syrup is sweet enough for me, but you may choose to use more or less.  If you use agave nectar, reduce the amount slightly.  If you use honey, a runny honey is best.

Interesting Facts

I would call this Granola, but the name 'Granola' is trademarked in Australia and New Zealand by Sanitarium.  Granola is just rolled oats, nuts and honey that have been baked as a breakfast cereal, but only Sanitarium can all it that, so let's call this toasted muesli.

A friend of mine who has spent a number of holidays in Switzerland told me that the cereal aisle of the supermarkets there are completely different to ours.  There are virtually no pre-packaged cereals in boxes.  Instead the aisle is filled with all the ingredients people need to make their own muesli.  Interesting huh?

If you've never made your own muesli before, I urge you to give it a try.  It's also a great way to use up all the left over dried fruit that I used to make my OMS Christmas Pudding.

Pinning Away the Time

Whenever something is playing on my mind, I turn to pinterest as a distraction, and a pleasant way to pass the time until the issue is resolved.  I have some things on my mind at the moment, so I've been madly pinning.

Source: Uploaded by user via Stylish on Pinterest

Why is it that a few stems of fresh flowers suddenly make something look beautiful?

Source: rammealvor.blogspot.com via Stylish on Pinterest

I appreciate having a plain white dinner set makes sense, but I would really love to eat off something pretty like this.

Source: powellandbonnell.com via Stylish on Pinterest

Even though I just cleaned out my wardrobe and I am really happy with it, why can't it look like this?

Source: paintmewhite.com via Stylish on Pinterest

I really want one of Sandy's armoires.  Did you hear that she is now the Brisbane/Gold Coast distributor for Annie Sloan paints?  Check it out here.

Source: desdemventana.blogspot.com via Stylish on Pinterest

'Sigh'

Source: potterybarn.com via Stylish on Pinterest

Did you know that ivy kissing balls are symbolic of love and commitment   With everything that is happening in our lives at the moment, I forgot to wish my husband a happy valentine's day this morning.  I'm sorry.  I'll make it up to you tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Pinning.

Magnolia Love

I just love magnolias, do you?  I decided I wanted a little more magnolia in my house.

What I started with

Earthborn Homewares had the most beautiful artificial magnolias on sale for half price at $9.95 per stem, so I picked up 4.  I already had the white butterfly pot.  It is a Jamie Durie one from Big W.  The dry floral foam is from the discount shop (Overflow).

I cut the magnolias down to a size that better suited the pot.  I used wire cutters as them stems were thick.

Then I cut the floral foam to size with a knife and inserted it into the pot.  To arrange the flowers, I just pushed the stems into the foam.

The problem is - you can see the foam (not pretty), so I cut a piece of fake moss mat that I had (from House & Garden), then pushed the flowers back through the moss and the foam.

Here's my magnolia arrangement.

You can play around with the stems and leaves, bending them into shape. 

This is in my family room, and just around the corner is the magnolia wreath in the dining room. 

Magnolias make me happy.  How about you?

Sharing at French Country Cottage

Mini-Makeover for the Walk in Wardrobe

I am grateful that I have a walk in wardrobe.  It's lovely to be able to see all your clothes hanging there to decide what to wear.

When we first moved into this house over 12 years ago, the walk in robe just had a shelf and single hanging rail.  Several years ago, Dad lifted the shelf to 2 metres high so we could add a drawer unit and double-hanging.  The basic wardrobe units you can buy are pretty simple looking.

I decided mine needed to look a little nicer.  So I added some molding around the drawers and replaced the basic C-style handles with square pull handles.

I didn't repaint the whole drawer.  I just painted the molding white to match.  Screw on the new handles and voila!!!

Why can't they just make them like this?  Is it just that everything is made to look modern and I'm not a modern girl?

I also bought some clear acrylic shoe boxes from Howard's Storage World.  I have over 40 pairs of shoes.  Is that excessive?  I don't think so, but I'd be interested to hear how many other people have.

My friends on instagram know that I have a serious condition of repeat buying.  In this case it's white shirts.  I have a lot of them.

The old wardrobe insert?  Well it went onto my husband's side.  He'll have to wait until I'm motivated enough to buy and trim another wardrobe insert before his side looks as stylish as mine.

So that's the laundry cupboard and the walk in robe sorted.  I'm on a roll!  Have a great weekend everyone.

Spaghetti with Clams and Mussels

The other week, I shared my Spanish Seafood Paella recipe with you.  When I buy the pot-ready mussels and clams for the paella, I buy them in a vacuum packed 1kg bag, and there are more in the pack than I need for the paella which means the night after paella is clam and mussel spaghetti night.

Spaghetti Vongole is spaghetti with clams.  You can also make this dish just with mussels, but I made it with both as I had them left over and didn't want to waste them.

Ingredients  (serves 4)
500+ grams baby clams (vongole, pippis)
500+ grams pot-ready mussels
300-400 grams spaghetti (wholemeal preferable)
1/2 cup 125ml dry white wine (or use water or stock)
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tomatoes, peeled, de-seeded and diced
1 small red chilli,  seeded and finely diced (optional)
Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
salt, pepper and lemon wedges to serve

Method

Prepare your clams and mussels.  I usually soak the clams in cool salted water for an hour, then rinse and drain.  The mussels are pot-ready and can go straight in.  Discard any that do not close when tapped.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a rapid boil, then add the spaghetti.  Cook for the recommended time with the water constantly at a rolling boil.  Set the timer - mine usually takes 11-12 minutes.  I'd run out of wholemeal, so used normal white spaghetti.

While the pasta is cooking, gently heat a small amount of EVOO in a non-stick fry pan, and  sweat the garlic for a couple of minutes.  Add the wine and turn up the heat.

With about 4-5 minutes to go on the pasta, add the clams to the fry pan and cover with a lid. Shake the pan from time to time.

With 3-4 minutes to go on the pasta, add the mussels to the fry pan and cover with a lid.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it.  Now you can either add the spaghetti to the pan with the mussels and clams, or if you are worried the clams have left some sand/grit in the cooking liquid, put the pasta back in the saucepan and add the mussels and clams to the pasta, then pour over some strained cooking liquid.  Toss through the tomatoes and chilli and season with salt and pepper.  Discard and clams or mussels that do not open.  Serve with lemon wedges.

It is good to have some crusty bread on hand to soak up all the juices.

Notes & Variations
You can also add diced zucchini (courgette) to increase the vegetables.
You can make it just with clams (vongole), just with mussels, or with both.
If I don't have any chillis, I use Chilli infused EVOO and drizzle it over at the end.
The quantities I've given are a rough guide.  Adjust them to suit your needs and tastes.
You can replace the tomatoes with tinned tomatoes if you want more of a tomato base, or you can leave the tomatoes out entirely and just use the wine and garlic.
To make the classic Moules Marinieres just steam the mussels as above, replacing the garlic with a couple of French shallots, diced, and add some thyme and a bay leaf. Serve with crusty bread or oven-baked fries instead of pasta.  You can also steam mussels in beer, like they do in Belgium.

Mussels in Brussels - well, it's actually Brugge in Belguim - June 2009

To learn how to purge (remove sand from) clams and mussels see the Sydney Fish Markets web site here.

Interesting Facts
Vongole is Italian for clams.
In Italy Parmesan cheese is never added to seafood.  It just isn't done.
Mussels need to steam rather than boil, so don't add to much liquid to the pan.  The mussels release their own liquid when they open which adds flavour to the dish.

Laundry Cupboard Sorted

Now this post shows you just what an exciting and glamorous life I lead sometimes.  Yep - I sorted out the cupboard in the laundry.

Now given that my laundry is the size of a postage stamp, the cupboard is a significant part of the room.  As a family of four, a substantial amount of clothes and linen pass through here on a daily basis, so I need it to be really organised.

I bought some storage containers from Ikea, so I could divide the shelves into compartments.  There is a bucket for washing, ironing, light bulbs, and one called 'Where is it?' for all those obscure things that you need but don't know where to put. 

Then there's all the buckets for cleaning and soaking.  The left side of the cupboard holds the brooms and mops.

I printed up labels for everything.  Come on - tell me I'm not the only strange person who has to do things like that.

I even sorted out all the batteries.

Finally, I had some new taps installed for the laundry trough and the washing machine.  Probably a bit pointless but so much nicer than the white plastic ones that were there.

So there it is, in all it's minuscule glory.