Maple Pumpkin Granola

Is it breakfast time yet?

As we get further into fall and closer to the holiday season I find that my ideas for recipes and blog posts are coming at me left and right. What's up with that? Autumn is one of my favourite times of year. Maybe that has something to do with. There's so much fresh local produce to choose from, pumpkin is in abundance, and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger are working their way into everyday baking.

I'm keeping things on the simple side today. I've had this granola recipe in my head for a while now. I think I stumbled across a recipe online, and then again, while I was at the grocery store I saw some quinoa granola on the shelf. I thought hey that's a great idea, you can up the protein of the granola and add some extra crunch action at the same time. Brilliant! Quinoa is such a perfect addition to granola.

It's always more fun to DIY. Enter this recipe.

After I rinsed the quinoa I tossed it in with the rest of the dry ingredients, gently heated up the wet ingredients and mixed them together, I baked it to perfection without stirring. Instead, I rotate the pan in the oven once or twice for even baking. This way you get all those lovely clusters of granola. The only hard part is not touching it when it comes out of the oven and letting it completely cool.

After you feast your eyes on this homemade granola you'll be longing for lazy weekend mornings.

Maple Pumpkin Granola gluten free, vegan, vegetarian | makes about 5 cups

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Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup quinoa, rinse
• 1/3 cup pumpkins seeds
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted (or other vegetable oil)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup pumpkin purée
• 1/2 cup dried cherries (or other dried fruit)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix together oats, quinoa, pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds, salt and spices.
3. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and pumpkin purée. Pour over the oat mixture and mix until combined.
4. Spread the mixture out evenly onto prepared baking sheet, pat down, and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Remove from oven and sprinkle the dried cherries over top of the granola. Let cool completely, then break up into pieces and serve, or store in an airtight container.

*Tips*

• I find that not stirring the granola while it bakes is one of the keys to getting tons of clusters. So instead of stirring, just rotate the cookie sheet a couple times during baking to ensure even browning.

Nutrition Information

Serving Size: 1/2 cup Calories: 275 Fat: 13g Saturated Fat: 4.6g Cholesterol: 0mg Carbohydrates: 33.7g Sugar: 12g Sodium: 52mg Fiber: 4.5g Protein: 7g

Pumpkin Pie Spice Roasted Pepitas

It's amazing how fast the time has just flown by lately. It's the middle of October already, and Fall is in full swing. If there's one thing I love about this time of year it's taking walks through the forest or at the park. I love the fresh fall air and sweet smell of fallen leaves. After a crisp long walk it's nice to come home to warm up with something comforting and warm. A cup of hot apple cider would do the trick. These roasted pumpkin pie spiced pepitas would be the perfect healthy little snack to go along with it

Pepitas are actually just pumpkin seeds that are shelled. They look flat and light to dark green in colour.

The healthy benefits of these little seeds are out of this world. They are a very good source of omega 3 essential fatty acids, quality protein, fibre, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium and manganese, iron, zinc, and copper. How's that for nutrition? You'll want to start adding these to your clean diet right away.

There are alot of different recipes out there for roasting pumpkin seeds. Some roast them at high temperatures for a short amount of time and others at lower temps for a longer amout of time. In this recipe I roasted the seeds at a lower temperature, 325 degrees, and they came out perfect. I think roasting them at a lower temperature is key to getting the pumpkin seeds perfectly crunchy without any burning. Just remember though that all ovens are slightly different.

I promise you won't regret making these. They make your whole house smell like fall. They also make great additions to salads or quinoa and are perfect for snacking just the way they are. I calculated the nutrition based on a 2 tablespoon serving.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Roasted Pepitas gluten free (makes 8, 2 tbsp servings)

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoons ginger
• 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoons sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325˚. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, toss all of the ingredients together until the seeds are well coated. Spread the seeds out in an even layer and roast, stirring occasionally, until golden, 13-15 minutes.
3. Let cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a small serving dish or store in an air tight container at room temperature.

Nutrition Information:

Serving size: 2 tbsp Calories: 93 Fat: 7.6g Saturated Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 0mg Carbohydrates: 3.9g Sugar: 1.5g Sodium: 59mg Fiber: 1g Protein: 4.5g