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.
No worries, my pumpkin support group meets every thursday, bring coffee ;)
You can never ever have to much pumpkin, it’s so versatile and wonderful! I can’t wait to dive into some of your recipes, thanks for highlighting them!
Oh, and as for the quinoa recipe, spectacular, I love quinoa and these flavors are so wonderful! Looks like breakfast tomorow!
I’ll be there with coffee and pumpkin scones in tote!
Oh wait, can I bring pumpkin scones with me to a meeting? ;)
bring em through the back door… and enough for me! ;)
This dish looks delicious! And it looks like it would travel well… an excellent idea for the next family reunion picnic!
My goodness that’s a lot of pumpkin recipes! and man oh man that quinoa looks amazing!!
Oh that’s definitely a unique dish! I’d be down to try it, though. Looks like all the textures would be really good together :) I might also have a costco sized bag of quinoa to go through…
that looks so good! i love quinoa but i had to stop eating it…everytime i ate it i would get really bad stomach cramps. i wonder why that is?
This would definitely make a delicious breakfast. I need to try quinoa instead of oats for an added protein punch.
I wish I would have seen this about 15 minutes ago! I just had a big bowl of quinoa for dinner with tomatoes, basil and avocado. I was going to ask if this dish was breakfast or dinner but it looks like you’re using it for both! I think I’ll have to try it tomorrow :)
i can’t wait to hit up the store for some mandarin oranges now…holy yum!
I love anything made with quinoa – so good!
So I knew I’d been seeing a LOT of pumpkin but not until I looked at that list did I realize quite how much! Can’t wait to see your final entry – if those were your “nays”, your “yay” must be impressive!
I wish I had some mandarins and maple syrup so that I could make this for breakfast in the morning! And yes, I think there are probably support groups for people with pumpkin obsessions. I certainly belong in one! If not, let’s create one called Pumpkinaholics Anonymous – except it would be less like therapy and more like a big blogger meet-up!
Holy moly!! That is a LOT of pumpkin recipes, lady! I wouldn’t blame you if you avoided pumpkin for a while, either! (though, I am grateful for all of your experimentation– we get to reap the benefits in the form of tasty recipes!)
That quinoa dish looks delicious, and perfect for a chilly day!
Wow that’s a long glorious list of pumpkin recipes.
YUM. Quinoa is my favorite grain! Have you ever made it in the rice cooker ? I like making a huge batch and then freezing it in individual servings for later ;)
Holly Pumpkin Explosion!
Looks like my collection too-I have so many Pumpkin treats/meals/soups!
The will be a great leftover meal tommmorow, it looks really good. :)
Pumpkin explosion is right!!!! Incredible!
My grandpa is a veteran, so I always make sure to have a moment of silence on rememberance day to think of him and all those who served.
Ohhh pumpkin…. I definately think there needs to be a group for PA meetings – Pumkinholics anonymous! I think all food bloggers would belong to that haha :)
Can’t wait for your next project food blog post! I know it’s gonna be great!
Wow, that’s a lot of pumpkin! This page is definitely bookmarked for the future. :)
Totally need to try a sweet quinoa dish..mine are always savory!
I’m with Shanna! I’ve never tried a sweet quinoa dish!