Ever get that pang of regret when you realize that there’s been this wonderful thing in existence and you have only just found out about it?

I had that experience with muesli last week. Why did no one tell me that this sloppy muesli was way better than the dry stuff? I’ve never been a big lover of the “horse food” that my husband calls breakfast, but when served after a night of soaking up a soupy juice-yogurt mix - yum!

There are lots of commercial varieties of muesli available, but they’re usually laden with sugar or cost a small fortune for a tiny box. Muesli and experimentation are two peas in a pod, though, so this will be my new project for January. A search of the internet has yielded as many versions as there are breakfast cereals. I’m looking to make something that is modeled closely after the original whole-grain masterpiece invented by Maximilian Bircher-Benner - a combination of overnight-soaked grains, nuts, dried fruit and yogurt.

These will be my building blocks. It makes two servings, so Nick can weigh in on the results.

1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup juice
6 Tbsp rolled grains (oats, rye, barley, etc.)
2 Tbsp dried fruit
1 Tbsp nuts
1 Tbsp wheat germ
2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
pinch of spices (optional)
1/8 tsp salt

I’ll simply combine everything the night before and eat it with my morning tea. If I’m feeling really daring, I’ll grate some apple and pear over the cereal too! Stay tuned for the results of my experiment.