Homemade Quinoa-Amaranth Mango Blueberry Granola-of-Glory

Chef Tess Bakeresse                        Enjoy! SRN

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Posted: 17 May 2012 06:13 AM PDT

This week for our Wednesday 5 minute Grain Surgery™ 
I thought I'd show you how to make multi-grain super granola. What do you think? It's a fun way to use a lot of grain and completely cool for being creative with grain. Use the recipe as a guide for the quantities of rolled grain to go with honey and play! I want to hear what you make. 

 A week or two ago, when I showed you how to roll your own oats and quinoa, my son Face had rolled about 3 lbs of oats. It was fun...but I have to say we had a lot of extra oats just laying around. Mind you, I could say right now, "Hey Face, go roll me some oats!" and he would run out to the roller and happily crank that thing. He loves it! To my credit (and this doesn't happen every single day), I remembered to have him roll some extra quinao as well.  
Then we went ahead and  popped amaranth on the stove and make use those beautiful grains to make granola. I decided that I needed to make more granola after making all the pints and quarts of Homemade yogurt that were then piled in my fridge needing some assistance. I don't think my husband can safely resist granola and yogurt together...especially when the yogurt has been converted into his favorite flavors. So far he still begs for the lemon chiffon and the pina colada. That being said, he'd eat yogurt all day in that condition. So...there it is. Waste not, want not. Time to make granola. I like my granola a little less sweet than most folks. Keep that in mind when your making this. 

Quinoa-Amaranth Mango Blueberry Granola-O-Glory
6 cups rolled oats or 6 grain rolled cereal
1/2 cup amaranth (popped to equal 2 cups)
1/2 cup quinoa (rolled to equal about 1 cup. See tutorial here.)
1/4 cup chia seed (see my post on why I use it here)
1T Wise Woman of the East (cinnamon spice and floral blend)
1 1/2 cups pomegranate honey
1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil or olive oil of your choice (lemon or orange infused rock!)
2 T vanilla
1 1/2 cup freeze dried mango
1 1/2 cup freeze dried blueberries
1 cup almonds (whole or chopped)

Directions: Pop the amaranth. Heat a large deep pan on the stove, medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Pour the amaranth into the hot pan and stir until the grain pops and turns white. Pour out of the pot when all the grain is white. {The full tutorial on popping amaranth is in the chocolate amaranth bread tutorial.}

Combine the honey, coconut oil and vanilla. This pomegranate honey is really a pretty shade of pink. The flavor is totally unique and just beautiful for granola. If you don't have flavored honey, you can use regular honey instead.

In a 2 gallon large bowl, combine the grain, nuts and seeds and spice blend. 

Another shameless plug for the beautiful Chia

Stir the honey mixture into the grain and seed mixture. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide granola mixture between two large sheet pans, preferably one with an edge. Bake 15 minutes. Take pan out of oven and stir. Return to the oven and bake 15 minutes more. 

Remove from the oven. Add the freeze-dried fruit (or you can also use any dehydrated fruit of your choice). 

There you go! Make some fantastic granola!  

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess