Healthier Pumpkin Granola

Who doesn’t love a good granola?  That sweet crunchy goodness full of healthy ingredients and flavor.  If you’ve taken a second to read the labels on most store bought granolas, you will find they are loaded with refined sugars and ingredients. But wait! Granola is so easy to make yourself.  Once you try it you’ll never go back.  You can customize it any way you like and take comfort in knowing exactly what is in it.  

I am a lover of all things pumpkin, not so much the weather that comes with pumpkin season, but definitely the foods and flavors.  I wanted to make a pumpkin granola for our breakfasts and snacks for the week but couldn’t find quite the right recipe, so I adapted an old one from Budget Bytes to create this gem.  Enjoy!

Healthier Pumpkin Granola

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

- 1 small can pumpkin puree

- ½ cup maple syrup

- ¼ cup melted coconut oil

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 2 tsp cinnamon

- 5 cups old fashioned oats

- ½ cup dried lentils

- ½ cup buckwheat groats

- ½ cup quinoa

- ¼ cup raw unsalted pumpkin seeds

- ¼ cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds

- ½ cup dried cranberries

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a small saucepan, cook dried lentils in 1 cup of water.  Let cool.
2. In a small bowl combine the pumpkin, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and cinnamon. Stir until combined. 
3. In a large bowl, combine the dry oats, quinoa, buckwheat groats, cooked lentils, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds.  Pour the pumpkin mixture on the dry ingredients and stir very well until the dry ingredients are evenly coated with pumpkin. 
4. Line 1 or 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and spread oats evenly on them.  Bake the oats in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes, or until they are mostly dry. Stir the oats once at 30 minutes, and again at 45 minutes. The amount of time needed to bake the granola will depend on how thick they are on the baking sheet.  
5. Once the oats are finished cooking, add dried cranberries, stir and then press granola into pan.  Leave granola in the pan to cool. Once cool, store in an air-tight container for up to a week.
6. Enjoy over yogurt, as an oatmeal or smoothie bowl topping, over icecream, with a splash of milk or on it’s own as a nice treat. 

Fun ways to customize your granola:

1.    Use pumpkin Pie Spice instead of cinnamon.

2.    Add chopped pecans or other nuts. 

3.    Add more maple syrup for a sweeter granola or use honey instead.  

4.    Omit anything you don’t like. 

5.    Add anything you think would make it amazing!