Happy Remembrance Day :)
I attended a beautiful ceremony this morning and it was such a great reminder to be thankful for everything and everyone in my life and also those who serve our country. Remembrance Day never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
I must tell you, there is a reason for all of my pumpkin recipe madness as of late.
I have been testing out ideas for Project Food Blog Challenge #8 in case I advance to the next round. The challenge is to feature a sweet or savoury baked good with pumpkin.
Hence, the slew of pumpkin recipes on my blog lately!
The good news is, I have now decided on my pumpkin idea for challenge #8 so I am going to do a bit of a ‘pumpkin detox’ . Don’t expect to see much pumpkin around this neck of the woods for a while.
But, just in case you are desperate for some pumpkin recipes, I thought I would round them up for you…
Some of my Pumpkin Recipes:
Pumpkin Butter Swirl Pecan Butternut Bread
Itty Bitty Garlic Pumpkin Knots
Pumpkin Pie Banana Chunk Cookies
Pumpkin Butter Oat Squares w/ candied Pecans
Pumpkin Gingerbread with Spiced Buttercream
Pumpkin Pecan Pie with a Spelt Crust
Savoury Pumpkin Scones in Pumpkin Spiced Glaze
Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins
Maple Glaze Pumpkin Spice Baked glonuts
Vegan Spiced Pumpkin Pie Glo Bites
Pumpkin Pie Vegan Overnight Oats
Gingerbread Pumpkin Vegan Overnight Oat Parfait
Comforting Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Spiced Up & Stacked Pumpkin Butter Pancakes
Pumpkin Pie Baked Breakfast Cake
I think there are support groups for people like me.
In other news, I threw together some fun ingredients for lunch today and I had a lovely dish in under 30 minutes. Of course, that was after a huge flop (from a cookbook!), but I won’t get into that. This post is all about the love, sweet, love.
Mandarin & Maple Spiced Quinoa with Cranberries, Apricots, and Almonds
Chewy, crunchy, and subtly sweet, this dish captures Autumn all in one delicious spot.
Adapted from ED&BV.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
- 1 & 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup toasted almonds
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp mandarin juice
- 1/2 cup mandarin slices, from can or fresh
- 1-2 tbsp pecans, chopped & toasted
- 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt, to taste
- Cinnamon + maple syrup + sea salt, to garnish before serving
Directions: Add your quinoa, water, cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt, and mandarin juice. Bring this mixture to a boil and then reduce to low and simmer for about 12-13 minutes. Now stir in your chopped dried apricots and cranberries. Cook on low, covered, for another 5 minutes. Stir in your oil, almonds, and maple syrup. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Stir in the mandarin oranges very gently. Pour into a bowl and garnish with chopped pecans, a drizzle of maple syrup, cinnamon, and sea salt. Makes about 2.5-3 cups.
Don’t be alarmed at the brown dried apricots. They are organic and are naturally this shade.
Dried apricots that are orange in colour have been treated with sulphites.
First, add your quinoa, water, cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt, and mandarin juice. Bring this mixture to a boil and then reduce to low and simmer for about 12-13 minutes.
Now stir in your chopped dried apricots and cranberries.Cook on low, covered, for another 5 minutes.
Stir in your oil, almonds, and maple syrup. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
Stir in the mandarin oranges very gently.
Pour into a bowl and garnish with chopped pecans, a drizzle of maple syrup, cinnamon, and sea salt.
Voila! A fun and unique Fall inspired dish.
Not only is it quick and easy, but it tastes fresh and light, with a hint of sweetness from the fruit and maple. It also has a wonderful crunchy and chewy texture thanks to the almonds, pecans, and dried fruit. I give it two thumbs up.
I would guess that it can be adapted quite easily too with whatever ingredients you have on hand. You can experiment with different types of dried fruit and nuts and even different grains. I also think it would be delicious with toasted quinoa or millet and it could even be served as a breakfast dish in addition to a lunch or dinner dish! In fact, I think I might heat some up for breakfast tomorrow. Mmmmm. Fall breakfasts are fun.
Never can have enough pumpkin!
I never would have thought of those flavour combinations – it sounds amazing! (Also, word count of pumpkin on this page: 50.)
I just made the sun-kissed PB cookies… possibly the most amazing thing I have ever made.
Why don’t you have a cookbook?!?
THANK YOU for this recipe – it’s just what I have been looking for!! I have been lusting over a curried quinoa salad from the salad bar at Whole Foods and this looks perfect.
“I think there are support groups for people like me”- I feel the same way :-P. <3 Pumpkin
u can join too!
Mmmm, I love quinoa and fruit mixes, I always dump it on top of some spinach for lunch at work!
Haha! That is A LOT of pumpkin! New recipe looks great too and your recipe page is coming along quite nicely I might add. :)
This is perfect–I love the idea of sweet quinoa for breakfast! I just made a giant pot of quinoa for dinner tonight (didn’t realize that 1.5 cups of quinoa would be enough to feed your whole pumpkin support group) and stirred in some roasted acorn squash at the end. I didn’t season it yet, so I’ll set aside some to drizzle with maple syrup and top with nuts and dried cranberries for breakfast tomorrow. Yum, can’t wait til morning.
That’s a whole lotta pumpkin recipes…I look forward to trying some of them out.
Sometimes I need the reminder, so thanks for posting them all again.
ooooo doll….this is my kind of quinoa! Before i knew quinoa could be savoury I only ate it for breakfast! It was strange for me to have it for din-dins!
Love it!
xxoo
I made your gingerbread with butter cream today, and your pumpkin pie brownies – I am waiting until tomorrow to try them because we are having friends over for a dinner party!!! I will let you know how they are!!! They look and smell ridiculously good, and I cannot wait to dig in!
Ooohh. I’ll have to make this dish one day (soon)!
Yum; I could live on Quinoa. There’s a recipe JUST like this one in my favourite cookbook; Dreena Burton’s Eat, Drink and Be Vegan (and I have eaten it for breakfast…the quinoa, not the cookbook)
Glad you added the “adapted from”. The ingredient quantities are just too similar for it to have been a coincidence. I made this yesterday so I knew it sounded familiar.
Oh wow this looks amazing! I definitely have to make this. I’ve never seen fresh mandarins at my grocery store though. I usually hate using canned fruit, but hopefully I’ll be able to find some natural/additive-free canned mandarins for this!
PS. I might have to join you at that pumpkin support group. ;)
This sounds so yummy! It has some of my favorite components: mandarian oranges, dried cranberries & almonds (specifically tamari toasted almonds). This combo make the perfect dish! Enjoy your weekend! :)
Yum! That sounds like the perfect fall meal. I always just make quinoa plain as a side dish but after seeing this recipe I want to start experimenting with it more. Thanks for all of the pumpkin recipes! Those will satisfy my pumpkin cravings for a while :)
Your recipes are always so good! I love it! I will have to try this one soon:)
Oh I love quinoa! I think this would make a great breakfast dish too!
Not to throw another pumpkin idea in your face…..but my husband and I just got back from Jamaica and we had the most amazing snack every day on the beach. Sweat potato chips and a spicy pumpkin humus.
The humus was to die for…..cool and creamy but with a nice spicy kick. The resort also had a great pumpkin veggie juice that tasted amazing too. – like fall in a glass.
Two more ideas for when you’re ready to face the orange beast again!
YUM!!!!!! What great ideas!
Gorgeous!
I like that pumpkin is the challenge for PFB! Very fun :)