Once in a while, we each discover one of those grand slam recipes - cleans out the fridge, is healthy and delicious - in one crunchy bite. Sunday was my lucky day.I had leftover, uncooked kabocha squash from a cooking demonstration. What to do with it? When in doubt, roast. This way I could use the squash more ways than I could imagine, little-by-little. High heat, a dash of salt, a little water as I didn't want the squash to brown too much and 20 minutes later I was ready for the week ahead. Pumpkin muffins for my daughter's birthday snack? Set. Pumpkin risotto with dinner (will also use up leftover sparkling wine)? Set. Oh, yes!, the pumpkin granola recipe I had found through a link on Food in Jars. Psych set.
The premise was that pumpkin puree and applesauce replace the fat - all of it. Yes, this is granola without any added fat. While the "pumpkin" in the title primarily refers to the "pie spice" combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger (and I added ground star anise, because it was screeming to me from the shelf), like using zucchini in chocolate cake, you're adding nutrients and a new food group. And if you have homemade applesauce to spare, you're that much further ahead in the whole food game. How's that for a power breakfast?
I didn't love the large amount of brown sugar and that rolled oats were the only grain. So I took my favorite every day granola recipe, loaded with a variety of grains and seeds and without processed sugars, swapped the olive oil for the pumpkin and applesauce, replaced the brown sugar with my honey/maple syrup blend and decreased the usual amount of cinnamon for a pie spice mixture.
All-in-all, I was thrilled with the results. The texture is a bit chewier and a little less crunchy than the usual, but it's a trade off I can get used to. Check out Pumpkin Granola here.
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