Puffed Millet Granola

     Looking for a gluten free cereal option, I recently bought a bag of Nature's Path Organic Puffed Millet. Other than qualifying to be a legitimate gluten free cereal, organic, whole grain and sugar free, the taste was very bland and it quickly got soggy with milk. Plus, puffed cereals taste like eating air to me. This morning I decided to try using the puffed millet in a granola recipe and was much more pleased with using it this way. Now it has a nice toasted, slightly sweet flavor. I kept this recipe simple and did not stir in a lot of additional add ins like dried fruits or other nuts. It certainly is an option to try other combination's but I think you have to keep in mind how you will be using the Puffed Millet Granola. I knew I wanted to use mine in a fruit parfait with cashew or coconut cream so additional dried fruits would be a sweet over kill. I'm thinking another way to use the puffed millet would be like popcorn and trying other cereals like puffed rice or rice Chex's. 

     For now, using up the last of my cashew cream that I made three days ago, this fruit parfait with Puffed Millet Granola was a perfect way to start my day!

Puffed Millet Granola

gluten-nut free

Makes 3 cups

printable recipe

You can easily double this recipe.

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups puffed millet

1 T. flaxseed meal

1 T. chia seed

Wet Ingredients:

¼ c. pure maple syrup

3 T. extra virgin coconut oil

½ tsp. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla

Pinch of salt

½ cup raw pumpkin seeds

Note: if you don't have both flaxseed meal or chia seed, just use one of them. They both add great nutritional values.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300°F.

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients.

In a small bowl combine the wet ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Use a spatula or spoon to toss and combine the ingredients well.

Spread out the ingredients on a non-stick baking sheet.

Bake 10 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Stir in the pumpkin seeds. Return to the oven and back another 5- 10 minutes, just until things start to look lightly toasted. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.