Excerpted from Alice Hart’s modern vegetarian cookbook Good Veg.
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Bircher muesli (or overnight oats) seems to be everywhere right now. Versatile bowlful of oats and nuts are softened in milk or juice for a few hours while you sleep, then combined with seasonal fruit and perhaps some yogurt in the morning.

Vary the milks, using dairy or plant milks, and don’t feel you have to stick to oats: Rye, quinoa, spelt, barley or buckwheat flakes can replace some or all of them. If you choose to add chia seeds, as we did for the photo, compensate for their thickening nature with extra fruit juice or milk. Hopefully, the following ideas will inspire as the seasons change.

Overnight Oats

Each serves 2

Apple, Quinoa and Pecan

• 2 apples, cored and coarsely grated, plus more sliced apple to serve
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• ¾ cup (70 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
• ½ cup (50 g) quinoa flakes
• ⅓ cup (30 g) chopped pecans
• ½ cup (100 ml) apple juice
• ½ cup (120 ml) milk (any sort)
• ¼ cup (60 g) Greek or coconut yogurt

1. Toss the grated apples with the lemon juice to keep them from browning, then mix with the oats, quinoa flakes and pecans in a bowl. Add the apple juice and milk. Stir well, cover and chill overnight.
2. The next morning, stir in a bulging spoonful of the yogurt, divide between 2 bowls and top with the remaining yogurt and some sliced apple. Sweeten with a little honey, if you wish, though I usually find it doesn’t really need anything else.

Plum, Fig and Rye with Flaxseeds

• 1 apple, coarsely grated
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 cup (80 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
• ⅔ cup (50 g) rye flakes
• ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (130 ml) apple juice
• ½ cup (120 ml) almond milk
• 3 ripe plums
• 2 ripe figs
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds”

1. Toss the grated apple with the lemon juice to keep it from browning. Put the oats and rye flakes in a bowl, add the apple, apple juice and almond milk and toss well to combine. Cover and chill overnight.
2. The next morning, halve, pit and chop the plums, then quarter the figs. Divide the oats between 2 bowls and top with the fruit and flaxseeds.

Nectarine and Coconut

• 1½ cups (120 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened desiccated coconut
• ½ cup (100 ml) coconut milk (the drink, not the canned milk)
• ½ cup (100 ml) fresh peach juice
• 3 ripe nectarines
• ¼ cup (60 g) Greek or coconut yogurt

1. Stir the oats and desiccated coconut with the coconut milk and peach juice in a bowl. Cover and chill overnight.
2. The next morning, halve, pit and chop the nectarines. Fold half the fruit through the oats with 1 tablespoon of the yogurt. Divide between 2 bowls. Serve the rest of the fruit on top of the oats with the remaining yogurt.