Red White & Blue Rice Krispy Treats

Here is a fun, healthy, patriotic treat that only takes about 5 minutes to make. Enjoy!

Allergy Friendly Red White and Blue Rice Krispy treats

Gluten free and vegan. No corn, soy, or dairy.

Ingredients

1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup nut butter of choice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder OR 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups puffed rice cereal
1/3 cup dried blueberries
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Method
In a large pot, heat brown rice syrup, nut butter, and vanilla over med-low heat until melted.
Stir in puffed rice, cranberries, and blueberries
Spread evenly in a 9x9 or similar pan, and let cool.
Cut into squares and enjoy!

Great for snacks or breakfast.

You can use any puffed rice cereal that works for you, just double check to make sure it meets your allergy needs. I use Arrowhead Mills brand, it looks like this:

Note that this kind of puffed rice is not as crisp as a Rice Krispy type cereal. For that texture, I have used Erewhon brand, it looks like this: 

Brown rice syrup comes in a jar in the sweetener/baking aisle and looks like this:

Also note that you can find a variety of puffed grains, such as millet, quinoa, and corn in the cereal aisle. Play around, and mix and match various grains for your taste or allergy preferences. For example, here is a link to puffed millet treats I made for Halloween.

Have fun! Happy 4th of July.

Health benefits of: Blueberries, Cranberries

Blueberry Macadamia Crispy Rice Treats

Blueberry Macadamia Crispy Rice Treats
(gluten free, corn free, vegan)

Ingredients

• 3 cups gluten free puffed rice cereal
• 3/4 cup gluten free brown rice syrup
• 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
• 1/3 cup dried blueberries
• Dash himalayan salt

Method

• Warm the brown rice syrup over low heat until thin and liquidy.
• Add puffed rice cereal and himalayan salt. Stir until well coated.
• Add macadamia nuts and blueberries and stir to mix.
• Press mixture into brownie pan and allow to cool. 

Cut into squares and enjoy!

Here are a few links to more info, including the health benefits of blueberries, macadamia nuts, and himalayan salt, and an internet article discussing alternative sweeteners, including brown rice syrup (low glycemic and contains B-vitamins).

Gluten free blueberry millet muffins

Blueberries and millet are both incredibly good for you. These muffins are not too sweet, and the whole millet adds a nice crunch to the texture.

Gluten free vegan blueberry millet muffins
Makes approximately 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup millet flour
• 3/4 cup gluten free flour mix (I used this one)
• 1 1/2 tsp guar gum
• 1 tsp corn-free baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2/3 cup millet seeds
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup sucanat OR brown sugar
• 1 cup liquid (I used 1/2 cup seltzer water and 1/2 cup filtered water)
• Lemon zest from one medium lemon OR approximately 1Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup organic blueberries

Method

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Fill a muffin pan with non-bleached parchment cupcake liners.
• In a large bowl, mix millet flour, GF flour mix, guar gum, baking powder, salt and millet seeds.
• In a small bowl, mix applesauce, oil, sucanat, water (or other liquid), and lemon zest.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine. 
• Add blueberries and stir.
• Fill muffin cups approximately 3/4 full.
• Bake at 425 for approximately 25 minutes.
• Let cool and enjoy!

Pardon the photos, I didn't have great light. And I was too hungry to save the muffins to take pics in better light, so this is the best I could do before we ate them- yum!

Thoughts and ideas: These were a tad bit heavy/dense. If I used this exact recipe again, I would decrease the guar gum to 1tsp instead of 1.5tsp. Next time I make these, I plan to use less oil and maybe a little more applesauce.

If you eat dairy, you could use buttermilk as the liquid in place of water. These millet muffins would also be very good as a savory muffin- they would be really good with herbs and cheese in place of blueberries. Or- olive and rosemary? Mmm.

Another tip: if you do not want to buy both whole millet and millet flour, just buy one package of whole millet. You can make millet flour by grinding the whole millet in a coffee grinder or a VitaMix. You may be able to make millet flour from whole millet in a regular blender, but I haven't tried that. If you try making millet flour in a regular blender, I'd love to know how it works.

Blueberries!

Blueberries are in season, and I've been going a little blueberry crazy...

Blueberry-guarana smoothie

Gluten free vegan blueberry-chia waffles

Raw vegan blueberry tart

Raw vegan blueberry tart

More info on health benefits of: blueberries, chia, guarana

Yum!