a simple citrouille specialty.
Autumn. The perfect mix of sweet and savory. You simply get the best of everything at this time of year. The sweet end of summer still keeping your toes warm eases into the first crisp of winter that starts to tingle your nose. Pleasnt pastel dresses meant to cool you down thicken to sweaters with toasted hues to keep you warm. Orders of refreshing iced teas change to fragrant spiced teas. The green leaves even take their time changing to shades of auburn and yellow. Its a transition from one extreme to the next and everything in between is fair game, SO there is no need for permanent change quite yet. You don't need to keep your winter jacket out yet because you probably won't need it tomorrow and you don't need to put your shorts away because yesterday you were sweating in your corduroy pants. A perfect time for someone as indecisive as myself...
BUT if you're constantly trying to decide what to eat, the best part about this season might be that there is no line between dinner and dessert!
Sweet potato, butternut squash, pumpkin, cranberries, apples all the fruits and vegetables that anyone cares about that are harevsted at this time of year can be swung either way. Sweet or savory.
crunchy pumkin granola:
1½ cups plain rolled oats
¼ cups uncooked quinoa, rinsed and dried
¼ cup of pepitas/pumpkin seeds
¼ cup pure pumpkin purée
¼ cup pure maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp oil
½ - 1 tsp cinnamon
½ - 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
⅛ tsp salt
¼ cups uncooked quinoa, rinsed and dried
¼ cup of pepitas/pumpkin seeds
¼ cup pure pumpkin purée
¼ cup pure maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp oil
½ - 1 tsp cinnamon
½ - 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
⅛ tsp salt
*be sure to use pure pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie filling
*feel free to add as much spice as you want, I'm a fiend for cinnamon so I added more towards the latter end of that scale... and pumpkin pie spice is an equal mixtue of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice so you can probably guess how much I put in mine.
Preheat oven to 325° F. Rinse and dry quinoa. Evenly spread quinoa and oats on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Toast for about 5 minutes, stir, toast for about 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a bowl. Add pepitas. Reduce oven heat to 300° F.
Now, for the hard part. In a separate bowl combine the pumpkin purée, maple syrup, vanilla, oil, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Stir well.
You think that sounds pretty easy, don't you? Well, in some respect you would be correct... it is extremely easy to simply stir these ingredients together. However, that is only if you can ignore the smell of this delicious concoction for long enough not to dip your finger in and TASTE IT! Once you've opened that door... well, I wish you the best of luck completing this recipe.
Pour pumpkin mixture into the oats, quinoa, and pepita bowl. Stir until everything is coated. Spread evenly on the baking sheet again. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until golden. Stir every 5 - 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. ENJOY! Once cool, transfer into an airtight container. ENJOY LATER!
I just couldn't get enough of that sweet pumpkin mixture so I whipped up some more with my leftover pumpkin purée. I didn't do any measurements but I didn't add as much maple syrup this time because I figured I'd be eating it in larger servings... Make it however you want, put it in an airtight container and refridgerate for later.
Breakfast idea:
Warm it up in the microwave, plop it on some yogurt and sprinkle some granola on top. Throw some craisins, raisins, pecans, any nuts or seeds you have in there too!
a healthful hint:
Pumpkin is a delicious vegetable that is low in carbohydrates but high in vitamins! It has one of the highest levels of vitamin A which is important for maintaining the integrity of mucous membranes which work as barriers to protect you from infection while also boosting your immune system. It also combines with the protein opsin to allow proper function of photoreceptors in your retina so you can see in dark or dim light. As you can tell but its colour, pumpkn is loaded with beta-carotene (which convert to vitamin A) and anti-oxidants that work to fight off free radicals that are related to macular degeneration and joint diseases like arthritis. Not only does the flesh have great nutritional benefits, its seeds do too! Pepitas are a great source of tryptophan that gets converted to serotonin which can reduce depression, and zinc which is important for immune reactions of blood cells and bone formation. These little seeds are also packed with protein, fibre, iron, and phytosterols which are good fats that promote excretion and inhibit absoroption of cholestrol!
