Clean Pumpkin Granola Recipe

My mom sent me her clean eating pumpkin granola recipe that she makes in a crock pot. Gluten free. No added sugar. Easy. Delicious.

And it feels like the right thing to make in Arizona today. Because school has started and it is overcast and raining and Phoenix is trying so hard for it to be fall. And pumpkin equals fall.

Ingredients:

5 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup applesauce

2/3 cup agave nectar

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 cup golden raisins

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. cinnamon

Stir ingredients (minus raisins) together in a vented slow cooker and cook on high for 2-3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Stop cooking it after it has reach your preferred level of dryness. Stir in raisins once the heat is turned off.

*Variations: The options for this are limitless. 

Try extra applesauce or peach puree instead of pumpkin. 

Instead of raisins use dried blueberries, chopped dried apple, or dried apricot chunks. 

Replace almonds with walnuts or pecans.

Like it less sweet, more like a muesli? Use less agave nectar.

Why do I have the feeling that this pumpkin delusion is going to need to last me 3 more months before fall actually decides to squat in the southwest?