Pumpkin Granola

Fall in Colorado=amazing

So fall is here!! Which means all I do is eat stuff with pumpkin and wear boots. Ok I lied, I do more than just that, but those two things are my favorite. For the last week I have been visiting Chicago, spending time with my family and friends. For those that don't know, I grew up here, so it's nice to come home from time to time, but I am already missing Colorado. One of the reasons I came home was to teach my parents the Paleo diet and visit CrossFit gyms! I just love meeting people and one of the gyms I was looking forward to visiting  was CrossFit Posted! I met the guys that were going to open the gym at the CrossFit games in June. They had not opened it yet, but talked about it and the gym just happened to be right by my parents house. What are the chances! They have been open now for about two months and getting new members each day. If you live around Brookfield, IL you HAVE to check it out. Jason, Matt, and Mike are great guys that will share their passion of CrossFit with you. Thanks for letting me WOD and I am SO close to getting a muscle up, thanks to them. :-) I also got to talk nutrition with a lot of people, which is another one of my passion since education is the most important part of it. I also got to visit Windy City CrossFit, (in Lakeview downtown) where my friend Megan goes. Great gym and amazing good looking people. Super nice to me and loved the WOD even though it involved running.  CrossFit just has an amazing community and I love meeting more people that share the same obsessions of me each time I travel to a different place :-). 



So with the fall here, I am now obsessed with pumpkin. I looked online to see what I could find and immediately was drawn to Juli Bauer's pumpkin granola recipe. I need something I could eat while I went hiking and for a snack around the house. The fact that it has pumpkin in it was a super added bonus. The ingredients were not hard to find at all as I got them all from whole foods for a reasonable price. 

RECIPE: PUMPKIN GRANOLA

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 8-10 dried dates, pits removed, then chopped
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup maple syrup (I used honey)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Then in a bowl add your pumpkin puree, coconut oil, maple syrup(or honey), vanilla, and all spices. Then add all the nuts, seeds, coconut, and dates to the mixture until its all mixed and looks and smells like amazing. Spread it over a oiled up parchment paper and throw in the oven for around 30-35min. I mixed it around after about 15 minutes and kept my eye on it. It is really easy to burn, but just wait until it looks brown and crispy. Should be around 30-35 minutes. Take it out and LET IT COOL! Its important so it can stick together and harden up. The spices and combination of everything else is just amazing. I ate some by itself and some with a little coconut milk. It was fantastic and it lasts forever. I stored it in an airtight container in my fridge and had it for at least a week. 

Enjoy! I ate it all so fast that I didn't take any pictures. Way to go Stef, now people aren't even going to believe you made it. Well I did and you'll be happy when you make it and eat it. Just send me a picture and I'll put it on the blog :-). Until then I'll just use Juli's since mine looked exactly the same....believe me.