Pumpkin Granola

Fall is pumpkin season, so what better way to celebrate it than with pumpkin granola!

The best thing about this recipe is that there are only 5 ingredients and it’s so simple, anyone can make it.  You can also use it in a variety of ways, depending on your own particular taste.

And speaking of taste…

My mother loves the Tuesday Special of meatloaf at a local restaurant, so Tim and I offered to pick up dinner for my parents there last Tuesday.

As Mario Andretti, aka Tim, raced down the street, I watched as the restaurant threatened to become a blur in our rear view mirror.

”Turn, turn, turn!” I blurted out.

“Oops” he said, as he managed by some miracle to carreen into a spot in the lot of the business next door to avoid going a mile out of our way to get back on the one way street the restaurant in on. I hopped out of the car and ran back to the restaurant.

Unfortunately, they were slammed and it took quite a while to get the meal, so as I left the restaurant, I pulled out my phone to let my parents know we were finally on the way.

As I walked past the cars parked out front, my eye was caught by a man in one of the cars waving at me.  I had no idea who it was, but I absentmindedly gave a half-hearted wave back.

The man began frantically waving at me.

Was he attempting to fly?  Maybe a bee had gotten into the car and was swarming him?  Was he trying to signal SOS???

I tore my eyes away from my phone and realized that he had a dog in the car that looked an awful lot like Chloe.  Wait a minute…it was Chloe.  And Tim.

Sheepishly, I got into the car.

”You had no idea who I was!” he accused.  “We’ve been together most of our lives, I’m in your car, with Chloe, and you didn’t recognize me!”

”I was on the phone and trying to rush back to the lot next door,” I tried to defend myself. “I didn’t expect you to have moved the car and be sitting there!”

“I can’t believe you didn’t know who I was!” Clearly, he wasn’t going to let this go. “You were going to walk right by me!”

Honestly, some people just look to be offended.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 3 Tablespoons coconut or pumpkin oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, salt and pumpkin spice.  Add the oil and stir thoroughly to coat all of the oats.  Add the maple syrup and stir to coat the oats thoroughly.
3. Pour the oats out onto a baking pan and bake for 1 hour.  If you want the oats to be really separated, stir two or three times during baking.  If you don’t mind some clumps, just walk away for the hour!

Enjoy!