Sweet Millet Rice Bites: A Gluten Free Snack

I'll be honest, hiking with little kids is only kind of fun. I love a good hike and I always imagine that the kids will love a good hike too. But the image I have of the kids and I trekking along in the great outdoors with a whistle and a song is only ever kind of how it goes.

This past weekend I thought we could get ahead of the winter blues and meet some of our favorite friends for an old strip mine trail hike in the Sandia mountains. It was kind of a good time. What follows here are the best parts - the parts where we sang and whistled and enjoyed good company in the beautiful great outdoors. Oh, and the snacks of course, because delicious snacks make a hike with little kids possible.

We'll go ahead and skip the entire hike back to the car because Ada cried, and everyone was cold, and tired, and more than one person fell down or sustained some sort of bruise/scrape/cactus poke injury. The first half of the hike was lovely.

Final Verdict: It was a really good day! The first half of a hike with kids is always better than the last half of a hike with kids, at least at this stage in our family. Still, I think the kids and I all agree that we'll keep on hiking. We also agree that fun friends can turn a kind of good hike into a really good day.

These Sweet Millet Rice Bites made a perfect snack for our weekend outing. With puffed whole grain brown rice and millet, they are healthy enough that I feel good handing them out to the kids. Sweetened with dates and lightly flavored with vanilla, they are tasty enough that the kids eat them and ask for more!

Add these quick energy bites to the school lunch box, after school snack platter, or just eat them when you need a midday pick-me-up. Better yet, take them on a hike because everything tastes better with a trail beneath you and the wide open sky above.

Sweet Millet Rice Bites : A Gluten Free Snack

Ingredients

2 cups puffed whole grain brown rice

1 cup puffed whole grain millet

1 cup dates

1 egg

3 tablespoons butter, melted (or vegetable oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a large baking sheet and set aside.

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor. Process for 1 to 2 minutes or until mixture is well blended and sticks together in balls. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, form the mixture into 2 inch balls and place on prepared baking sheet. Flatten each ball gently with a fork. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden. Cool before eating. Makes 1 dozen.