Am I too late?

Maybeee.

Okay, so yeah the pumpkin recipe rush has totally come and gone. As soon as December hits, bloggers move on to gingerbread, cookies and everything Christmas-y. No blame in that. Pumpkin had it’s moment in the spotlight, now it’s time to let other ingredients shine.

But that does mean that we just put our pumpkin recipes in our back pockets for next year? I don’t think so! Especially when the recipe is for pumpkin quinoa granola…how could I not share that with you now? I mean for real.

Oh and plus, another reason to be making pumpkin recipes right now is that canned pumpkin is on sale like EVERYWHERE. My grocery stores in NYC all have huge displays – basically yelling at me, “PLEASE HELP US GET RID OF THIS PUMPKIN!”

With pleasure. Let me just grab an armful.

I bought like 5 cans and have been using it in everything. They’re already gone. I’ve been eating warm pumpkin breakfast cereals – like this one just adding pumpkin. And cookies. And muffins. Oh and baked pasta. Right and also dog treats (ugh I’m a lunatic). And GRANOLA. Boom.

Pumpkin all day, errryday. Let’s start a new hashtag, #pumpkineverydamnday.

Yes? No?

Fine we’ll skip it for now, but let’s resurrect it next year.

What I love about this recipe is that it’s super crunchy, semi sweet, but has this subtle pumpkin pie flavor without it being shoved in your face. Basically it just tastes like an awesome granola with a hint of pumpkin.

Granola is also like the greatest food on the planet. If you make it right – like by adding lots of superfoods like I did in this recipe – not only are you packing in the nutrients, but it makes a fabulous breakfast and snack. In fact, give me a handful of this quinoa granola for a snack any afternoon and I’ll be golden.

What did we do to make this granola healthy you may be wondering? Welllll…we used coconut oil instead of butter, maple syrup instead of sugar, pumpkin for flavor and in place of some extra oil, then used a really awesome blend of cereals to lighten it up but still keep it filling. Rather than just oats, I did a combo of oats, puffed millet, rice crispies, quinoa, pecans and pumpkin seeds. Lower in calories, but still high in fiber and even some protein sprinkled in. And so, so good.

Okay and one last teeny tiny thing before we dive into the recipe:

Can you just look at Trevi in this picture? HA!

Not only was she literally STARING at the granola like it was a juicy piece of steak, but she also clearly had been eating dirt outside. It’s like when you’re a little kid and you’ve licked the brownie beaters and have chocolate all over your face and you fully deny that you’ve eaten any chocolate all. day. long. Ahhh life with a dog puppy.

But anywhoo, enjoy this awesome granola – and tell yourself it’s never too late for pumpkin!

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