Overnight Muesli

One of the first naturally sweetened recipes we tried after finishing Mark Hyman's 10-Day Detox was Chef AJ's Overnight Muesli. (page 3 on that link) I cannot even begin to tell you how good this is. First of all, after you've gone without processed or added sugar for 10 days and really hardly anything sweet (minus some berries in the AM blended in a shake) an apple alone will taste like HEAVEN! It will almost taste too sweet. Your taste buds, the sweet receptors in your mouth, actually change and revert to "normal" when you stop eating processed sugar. With that said, when we first made this I thought it was too sweet. This was too good for the kids. I really wondered if giving this to them would make them crave more sweets and send them in the wrong direction but it didn't. It was good because it gave them something they could enjoy and feel good about eating. They absolutely love this and ask for it all the time. It's also great if you don't have a lot of time in the morning. One kid likes it warmed and the other likes it cold. One likes milk added and the other one likes it plain. Either way its already made and ready to eat in the morning, just put it in bowls and add milk and warm up if that's what you like.

We usually make a double batch and shred only one apple. This will usually be enough to feed the 2 boys and my husband. Then we add one 4 oz. cup of, no sugar added, applesauce. (My brother usually stocks us with several years worth of applesauce from his yearly canning and juicing of apples, but we must have done something wrong because we are completely out ;) Hint hint if you're reading Todd. So we've had to buy our applesauce from Costco. It isn't as good as his but we get by.) We've only ever used cinnamon in the muesli just because I haven't had any apple pie spice to add, but this weekend I finally got around to making some apple pie spice. I'm sure it will make it even better. Feel free to play around with the recipe and find what works for you and your family.

I've also made these into cookies like it talks about at the end of the recipe. They aren't the best cookies ever, but are actually pretty good and the kids love them in their lunch. I feel great giving them to the kids in their lunch because I know they will not spike their blood sugar and insulin levels like processed sugar does. They will be able to focus better in class. When I make them into cookies I use the silicone baking mats we got at Costco, aka silpat mats. I really have grown to love these silicone baking mats. They are so easy to clean and you don't need any cooking spray.

Today is our 50th day of no added/processed sugar!