Power Breakfast: yogurt and muesli bowls of goodness

I've always been the 5 or 6 feedings a day kind of person.  I eat all the time.  Have since high school.  The last 15 years getting up with the girls to get them off to school (especially years 9-11 with the 4:20 a.m. alarm call for driving swimmer girl), it's been a bowl of oatmeal or cereal with them and a latte or toast or bagel snack two hours later to get me through until lunch.  Then, of course there's the afternoon snack (either that or completely crash for me) followed by dinner.  Often finishing the day with a little something around 8 or 9, but not as much after I hit 40.  Even as faithful as I am about working out, there's just something about that lovely number 40 (and seriously something about 45, can't wait for 50) that necessitates a little self-control.  

Sara got me started on a whole new morning plan last summer when one of her favorite food bloggers wrote about putting yogurt or milk with some oats in an almost empty peanut butter jar, stirring it up, putting the lid on and leaving it in the refrigerator overnight.  In the morning, you pour it out and add honey, raisins, banana, fruit, chocolate chips or whatever floats your boat.  Since I made Sara peanut butter sandwiches almost every school day for over 6 years, almost empty peanut butter jars were regularly available around here.  This protein packed breakfast carried me all the way to lunch even with yoga or tennis or another workout in the morning.  Eureka!  We were on to something.  

One day in the Whole Foods cereal aisle the very attractive boxes of dorset cereals muesli from the UK caught my eye.  The flavor combinations are lovely and the muesli has the texture I love:  big, crunchy, chewy, nutty and fruity.  No little millet seeds or tiny cut oats.  Just all around goodness.  At $5.99 a box,  they are kind of a splurge but not a bit is wasted.  Sure, I should try to mix my own muesli and I probably will but for now.  Bring on the pretty boxes in the handsome colors.  Since peanut butter jars only empty about every 3 weeks now, I just add a spoonful to my bowl and make the mix fresh every morning.  The overnight version obviously softens all the muesli ingredients (or the plain oats if you like, nothing wrong with just plain oats especially the oven toasted oats from Trader Joe's), but the fresh textures are quite pleasing too.  

Have a little power breakfast with me so you don't need a nap (if that's what you call sleeping 4 or 5 hours an afternoon) like my cat.  

Rio on Sara's bed at 2:30 p.m.  He has a good life.

Power Breakfast

1/3 to 1/2 C nonfat plain Greek yogurt

1/3 to 1/2 C muesli

1 T peanut butter (quite fond of the natural peanut butter with flax seeds)

2 tsp or just a good drizzle of honey

1 banana

Mix everything together in a nice big bowl and get some protein and fiber to start your day.

delicious dorset cereals muesli splurge from the UK via Whole Foods
usually you can see the muesli through the little leaves, but this box is more empty than full

power up!