does anyone make baby muesli?

[creations]

The baby muesli I buy has a good range of grains in it, plus fruit, and it's pretty finely ground.  I's like to be able to put something like that together myself but no idea how.  Can I just buy a range of grains from the supermarket and whizz them up so they go finer?  Am I supposed to cook them or anything first?
Adult muesli just doesn't seem to be as good quality and also I make the muesli with very very little milk, let it soak a few mins and roll it into balls for DS to pick up as finger food cereal and this just isn't possible with adult muesli.

Ideas for making my own please

[amayzie]

I'll have a think... some of the googling i did suggest a bircher style approach.. so could you soak oats overnight in juice, water or milk and then in the morning perhaps add some LSA, or other ground grains and then roll? I think if you soaked the oats overnight you could roll them... I'll keep thinking though- sounds like a good idea!

Here's an annabel karmel one- again, soaking the whole grains then blending.. could be easier though to just blen up a batch of dy oats and then you have them ready to go...


http://recipeaholic.blogspot.com/2010/04/baby-muesli.html

[creations]

Thanks for that Katy.  What I like about the bought pack is it has a range of cereal: oats, wheat, rice, millet, barley, maize and rye.  It makes me feel like he is getting a good range of grains.  He won't eat rice or rice cakes, he does eat oaty chews (kind of flapjack type thing, home made) but other than that he only gets wheat, wheat, wheat (bread type things and pasta)
Just not sure if I would need to DO something to the grains before whizzing them up.

[amayzie]

I knew i'd read something about this before- this is from the http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/cereals.htm website and is talking about home made rice and grain cereals, but i copied the bit that probably pertains to your question:

Do I Need to Cook the Rice "Powder" Before I Serve it?

You need to cook the rice-oatmeal-barley powder prior to serving because when you make your own cereal(s) you are taking a whole grain and grinding it into a powder. This powder should be cooked because the grains were not cooked prior to your processing them into a powder. This powder would not be easily digested if left in its "raw" state.

Why Doesn't Commercial Baby Cereal Need to be Cooked?

The reason that you don't "cook" commercial baby cereal is that commercial baby cereal is precooked and then dehydrated. Commercial baby cereal is most often made from grain that has been processed and then milled into a flour. You notice this difference when you dump out some "flakes" of commercial cereal(s) and also when you mix up some commercial cereal and find a thin pasty substance in the bowl.

[creations]

Hey thanks for that link!
Well, it all sounds like way too much work for me, all that cooking just for a bowl of cereal, no thanks.
I think I'll continue to buy the baby muesli.  I like that it's nutritious AND really easy.  Whatever time I have spare I'd rather use to make other snacks and meals.

[amayzie]

There are some things where you may as well just use the store bought stuff i reckon...

[creations]

For sure. I do love to cook for DS but I didn't think muesli would be that much hassle

[amayzie]

Someone else may have more info!

[Lemonthyme]

Here's a bircher muesli recipe my son liked:

http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/09/bircher-muesli-for-babies.html

As your child is over 1 though, you can pretty much give anything an adult would eat, except I wouldn't give adult muesli unless it was nut free (because they tend to put in whole nuts which they could choke on.)

There are other recipes you could go for if you want finger foods for breakfast.  I've got a few pancake recipes on my blog which work but probably aren't as nutritious as the baby muesli.  I'm sure you could substitute some of the flour for oats though. In fact I might give that a go.  Let me know if you want any other recipes though.

[creations]

Thanks Lemonthyme.
I already make lots of different types of pancakes for DS (I'm the one that never follows a recipe but I stuff the basic pancake mix with all sorts of fruit) which we take out to play groups for snack time.
I also used to make a flapjack/oaty biscuit type thing which he ate lots of, but he wont eat those any more.

Thing with the baby muesli is the range of grains and added goodies and the ability to roll into balls, he won't eat mush with his hands he doesn't like it all sticking to him. Adult cereal of any sort just doesn't compare and I 'save' things like toast, muffins, crumpets for his snacks or evening meal.