This pumpkin spice quinoa granola is both delicious and good for you, and gets you ready for those chilly fall days! Great on top of yogurt, on muffins, or just a quick snack by the handful 🙂
Yes, another pumpkin recipe!
I am sure by now your Pinterest feed is blowing up with a million pumpkin recipes from every blogger under the sun and you are probably starting to get bored of all the pumpkin, but I still have a few pumpkin recipes I've gotsta share with you! I promise to do my best to spread them out and throw in some other recipes, including a few apple recipes from our latest picking excursion.
Where I am in the New Jersey suburbs, the temperatures have been resting comfortably within the early to mid 70's and I can already feel the crisp promises of autumn! I started taking out my huge scarf collection and shopping around for a good pair of boots. And... okay don't hate me, but I've also started looking at things for my little one for Christmas. Eep! Normally, I am one of the people shopping a night or two before Christmas trying to get my hands on whatever's left, but I am trying to be a good mama and be proactive this year, so I don't have to stress out about it later. I am thinking... an easel with a black and white board and a dollhouse, plus a helmet and pads for the balance bike I got her two years ago that she only now big enough to use. And as gift for me/her... I will get her passport done and I am due to renew mine.
Oh my gosh, look at me, posting a pumpkin spice granola recipe and talking about Christmas in September... who have I become?
Let's just get back on topic, shall we?
Ever since learning about making yogurt at home with simple ingredients and equipment, I've had tons of yogurt on-stock all the time and loving it! I am the kind of person who loves a big yogurt bowl with tons of add-ins, especially mounds of granola. Lately, I've been loving the peanut butter and almond butter granolas I found on Pinterest, but wanted something that was a little more seasonal, and with a different oompf of healthy added in. I found this pumpkin granola on Skinny Taste and it sounded so interesting and I needed to try it! I was so happy that I did because it was pretty much perfect and I did not need to modify it much at all.
I doubled the recipe because the amount of granola the original recipe made was just not enough for my belly! I also used agave instead of maple and sprinkled in just a bit of brown sugar. Not too much as I wanted to keep this healthy, but just enough to give it an extra hint of sweetness. Instead of plain quinoa, I used tricolor quinoa because I need all the fall colors!
That's it. No other major changes. Gina is a healthy-food-made-uber-delicious genius.
Don't have time to make this amazing pumpkin granola now? Pin it for later!
Healthy Quinoa Pumpkin Spice Granola
Ingredients
- ½ cup 80 g uncooked quinoa,rinsed and dried
- 3 cups 285 g old fashioned oats
- ½ cup 83 g ground flaxseeds
- 2 ½ teaspoon [pumpkin spice] <-- click for recipe
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup 60 g pepitas (I did half pepitas and half sunflower seeds)
- ¼ cup 30 g chopped pecans
- ½ cup 60 g dried cranberries
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ cup 90 g agave nectar
- ½ cup 115 g pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Spread the quinoa on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Add the oats, ground flaxseeds, spices, pepitas, peacans, cranberries, and brown sugar to the bowl and toss well to combine. In a separate bowl, mix the agave, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Spread the granola on a baking pan and bake for 15 minutes. Stir once or twice, then bake for another 15 - 20 minutes. The granola should be a very light brown, but not too golden. Open the oven door a crack and let the granola sit for another 1 - 2 hours, then take out to finish cooling.
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