breakfast from the jar

Growing up, I was always a big breakfast eater, even when I had little time (which was often the case). I would never skip breakfast, whether it was a bowl of rice with whatever we had from the previous supper, or an occasional piece of toast or two. What I never had, though, was breakfast cereals. Cornflakes and Rice Krispies were never really part of my diet, breakfast or otherwise.


That was, not at least until I was in high school, when I started picking up an odd carton of All-Bran, which to this day I still have a soft spot for.

It was when I was a college student and went to England on a trip that I got hooked on breakfast cereals. My newfound love was muesli, which I'd read about before in a book, but had never actually found its way into my life. I wasn't used to eating oatmeal, but I quickly took to the stuff, and for the following years I'd be seen smuggling bags of muesli back to Japan from every trip to Europe. When my precious stock ran low, I'd go and buy some at one of those fancy import food stores in Tokyo.


Now muesli may be considered healthy, but when you gorge yourself on the stuff every day for breakfast, afternoon snack, and even late-night nibbles, all those nuts and dried fruits do add up fast (do you have any idea how small their 'recommended' serving sizes actually are??), and soon I realized I was eating way too much and stopped buying it.

It has been years since I dropped the habit, and I have treated myself to it only occasionally. But recently I had a sudden craving for muesli and decided to make my own. By "make", I mean tossing all the ingredients together in a bowl.


You can find lots of recipes out there, but here my reference was the ingredient list for Tesco Fruit And Nut Muesli - the one I used to bring home with me.

[oat flakes / almonds, brazil nuts / raisins, prunes, apricots, papaya]

...Okay, my fruit and nut muesli wasn't quite the same as Tesco's, but this would have to do for now, and it did. On a side note, brazil nut was another thing I got hooked on on my first visits to England, along with - and actually, in - museli. Brazil nuts are really hard to come by in Japan even today, but I love muesli with them in it.


Now, if muesli was my old addiction, granola would be my flavor of the week - or in fact, flavor of the year, to be more precise.

I was introduced to granola about the same time I was to muesli, but I preferred the latter, as I found store-bought granola in general a little too sweet for me to eat on a daily basis. Though I did indulge myself every now and then.


And then about a year ago, it struck my fancy all of a sudden, and I found myself craving for granola - more to bake a batch of my own, than to eat it, though the former would surely be succeeded by the latter.


So here goes!