Print the recipe card!  multi grain granola

This granola is amazing — nutritionally speaking — and everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, loved it.  It’s entertaining too — you’ll giggle every time your little one asks for “more granoli pwease” knowing they have no idea how much good stuff their eating up.  Thanks again to Chef Brad for this recipe and allowing me share it.

Makes 30 cups of granola

*I’m posting the original recipe from Chef Brad’s book “Those Wonderful Grains II”.   I followed it here nearly right on,  as granola it’s forgiving though so (as far as the oat mixture goes) use what you like and don’t use what you don’t.  I added 2 cups of extra oats to mine in addition and with the liquid mixture I added another 1/2 cup of honey and went with 3 tsp of vanilla.  Adjust it to your own taste.

Ingredients:

4 cups oats, rolled

1 cup rolled wheat or barley, rolled

2 cups quinoa, popped

2 cups millet, popped

1 1/2 cups amaranth, popped

1 cup almonds, sliced

2 cups pecans, chopped

1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds

1 cup raw cashews, chopped

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

2 cups unsweetened coconut

2 cups raw sesame seeds

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dried cranberries or raisins

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1 cup grape seed (or other light tasting) oil

2 1/4 cups honey

2 – 3 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. nutmeg, freshly ground

3/4 tsp.  cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. maple flavoring

Instructions:

Rinse and dry quinoa if not pre-rinsed.  Pop quinoa, millet and amaranth (*see note).  In a saucepan heat oil, honey, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and maple flavoring.  Combine oat mixture.  Pour warm honey mixture over top.   Spray large cookie sheet with nonstick spray and pour mixture in pan.  Spread evenly, do not overfill.  Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.  Stir every 4 minutes until golden brown.  Remove and cool.  After all has been baked and cooled, add in dried cranberries or raisins.  Store in tight container with lid.

So what to do with this recipe making 30 cups of granola?  Reserve half for the family to eat and vacuum seal the rest … these vacuum sealed jars will be great to add to our neighbor and teacher Christmas gift baskets!

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Notes:

• If your quinoa isn’t already pre-rinsed (it should say so on the package) you’ll want to rinse it and dry it before popping to get rid of the bitter taste.  In popping quinoa, I’ve noticed a difference ( it didn’t burn as easily) when I used a small bit of oil in the pan before popping it.  Heat your pan to medium to medium high heat and pour a single layer of quinoa to pop.  Once it starts popping be sure to keep the pan moving back and forth or put a lid on it and shake it up and down a little bit to keep it from burning.  Check it every 5-10 seconds or so while it pops — once it’s browned it’s done.

• Millet pops a lot the same as quinoa, but I didn’t find that there was a need to use oil and it didn’t need to be rinsed first.  Watch it closely and keep it moving after it begins popping so that it doesn’t burn.  It’s done once it’s evenly browned.

• Amaranth is a lot of fun to pop.  The trick is to be sure that your pan is hot.  Test it.  If you put a pinch of amaranth into the pan and it immediately starts popping it’s ready.  You don’t want the amaranth sitting around in a medium to medium low heated pan waiting to pop or it will burn before it pops.  When put straight into a hot pan though it pops quickly and your done 10 -15 seconds after having it in there.  Place the lid on the pan and shake it gently up and down as soon as it starts to pop in order to move it around, returning it back to the heat again if needed.  After it’s popping you don’t want to leave it popping too long  — keep a close eye on it —  it burns so quickly!  It will turn white when popped.

• Check out more information including the nutritional values of these grains *here*.  They’re fantastic foods you can feel great about storing!