What’s in the cupboard granola

Having a bit of a lazy day around the house today. I’m kicking a cold and Jon’s taking his one day off in the past couple weeks. It’s also our last day off for a while with the craziness of school holidays arriving this week. The house was a bit cold so Jon recommended I bake something. We went with granola. How American of us!

I scanned through quite a few recipes and combined their ideas along with keeping in mind what we had in the cupboard and a bit of my own creativity. Here’s the final recipe we ended up with. You could also add some nuts or other dried fruit. Let me know what other things you try!  Enjoy!

Erin’s Vegan Granola

Ingredients

• 4 cups whole grain oats (don’t use quick oats – you’ll really sacrifice the texture and LOVE of this granola)
• 2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp allspice
• 1 tsp himalayan pink salt (any salt will do really)
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or vegan butter, or real butter if you don’t swing vegan)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 tsp REAL vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325 F
• Line baking sheet with parchment paper
• Combine oats, coconut, cinnamon, allspice, salt and flax seed in a large bowl
• Melt the honey to a very pour-able consistency and combine with brown sugar and oil
• Mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients until thoroughly coated and combined. Chunks are okay and even a good thing!
• Place in oven and keep an eye on it. Give it a good stir every 10 minutes, until crispy. Ours took about 40 minutes.
• Pull from oven. Sprinkle with raisins and allow to cool.
• Enjoy!

Roasted Pumpkin Risotto

I've been continually experimenting with new things to do with pumpkin since there's a lot of it lately. I've been getting it locally from a place called Freeway Orchard and it's been so fresh and delicious! This recipe is easy, and the result is a delicious, rich, creamy comfort food without the need for milk or cheese.

Roasted Pumpkin Risotto

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1/2 a pumpking
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 2 teaspoons rosemary leaves
• 4-6 cups vegetable stock
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cut the half of the pumpkin in half so you now have 2 quarters. Place the cleaned pumpkin in a baking dish, open side down. 

Roast the pumpkin for about 45 minutes, until it has a nice texture, not too firm, not too mushy. 

Pull one half out of the oven and leave the other to continue to bake another 15 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, heat the stock in a large saucepan and leave on a low temp burner to keep it hot.

In a large pot, heat the oil over lo-med/medium heat and saute the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the rice and cook for about 5 minutes. 

Add a ladleful of stock to the rice and cook until fully absorbed, about 3 minutes.

Continue this process ladleful by ladleful until the rice is cooked thoroughly. 

During this time, you can cube the first quarter of the pumpkin and once the other half is cooked thoroughly, remove from oven and mash (without the skin)

Stir the rosemary, salt, pepper and mashed pumpkin into the risotto.

Serve hot topped with the cubed pumpkin.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

I got inspired by the gorgeous strawberries and rhubarb on a recent trip to Whole Foods and had to make this crumble that reminds me of the same thing my Mom used to make with the rhubarb that grew in our garden. This crumble comes with a Vegan and Whole Wheat spin (you know, to balance out all the sugar).

Ingredients

· 1 cup sugar

· 3 TBSP whole wheat flour

· 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries

· 3 cups diced fresh rhubarb

· 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

· 1 cup packed brown sugar

· 1 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread

· 1 cup rolled oats

Directions

· Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

· Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish

· In a large bowl, mix sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, strawberries, and rhubarb. Place the mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish

· Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, Earth Balance, and oats until crumbly. You may want to use a pastry blender for this. Crumble on top of the rhubarb and strawberry mixture

· Bake 40-45 minutes, or until crisp and lightly browned