Individuals with food sensitivities/allergies must do careful label reading when selecting even healthy ready-made food products, such as cereals or energy bars. If you are lucky, you might find a brand that is the perfect fit for you. However, sometimes even if the product is free of allergens, it might be laden with sugar, salt or unnecessary fat, often added to compensate for the omission of other ingredients.

There is a solution. Try making your own from the foods that are safe for you. One of my favorites is muesli (AKA granola) but with all my food sensitivities one off the shelf just will not work. I have two tried two versions (one with oats and the other without).

Both recipes make a great cereal or a topping for fruit or yogurt. Three great things about these recipes are:

No. 1 they are delicious.
No. 2 you can leave out ingredients that do no work and substitute something that will.
No. 3 they are no-cook recipes.

Muesli with oats

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
½ cup seedless raisins
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup chopped dried dates
¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg
½ cup chopped nuts such as walnuts or almonds
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup almond butter or other seed or nut butter
¼ cup pumpkin seeds

Combine and mix all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse gently until nuts are broken up and all ingredients are well mixed. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate or freeze until ready to eat.

Serve as cereal with a milk of your choice. Add fresh fruit, such as bananas, strawberries, kiwi, oranges, apples or any fruit of your choice.

Gluten-free muesli

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups almonds
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
¾ cup sunflower seeds
¾ cup shredded coconut
1 cup flaxseeds
¼ cup hemp seeds
¼ cup seed or nut butter of your choice
Optional: 1 tablespoon honey

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse gently until nuts and seeds are broken and all ingredients are well mixed. Store in a container in the refrigerator or freezer.