Kid Safe (Nut Free) Granola

My kids love granola sprinkled over their yogurt, but they are still young enough that nuts are a choking hazard for them. This recipe is a modification of my more "adult" one (variation at bottom) to make it safe for them to eat. The taste reminds me a bit of a Nature Valley brand maple/brown sugar granola bar. Number of servings is a guess as it depends on whether you use the granola for yogurt or as a cereal with milk poured over or just as a snack. A great OAMC recipe too!

• Ready In: 25 mins
• Serves: 12
• Yields: 1 batch

Ingredients

• 5  cups old fashioned oats
• 1 1⁄2 cups  crisp rice cereal
• 1⁄2 cup wheat germ or 1⁄2 cup ground flax seeds
• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄4 cup maple syrup
• 1⁄4 cup honey
• 2  tablespoons  vegetable oil
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1  teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine oats, cereal, and wheat germ or flaxseed in large bowl.
3. Heat brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, and salt in saucepan just until sauce melts together.
4. Remove from heat, add vanilla, stir, and add to oat mixture.
5. Thoroughly fold sauce into the cereal. This takes a bit of patience and the cereal mixture will appear a bit dry.
6. Spread onto greased jelly roll pan.
7. Bake approximately 20 minutes, taking out to stir (so the edges don't burn) every 6 or 7 minutes, until it is toasted to your liking. I like it nice and crunchy so I let mine go about 24 minutes or so normally.
8. Cool, stirring every 5 minutes or so to ensure that it doesn't clump together too much - it will not harden in "clusters," rather it ends up a little looser like cereal, which is great for sprinkling over yogurt.
9. Store in airtight container.
10. *VARIATION for adults: Replace crisp rice cereal with 2 cups nuts of choice - almonds, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. or combination. Follow remainder of recipe as directed.