A Post about Pumpkin

Happy Monday!! I hope you had a great weekend! First I want to thank you all for your kind comments and for following along on Home Sweet Ruby. I started this blog as a creative outlet and I wasn't sure how it would do, but I really love it and I just have to thank you all for the support! :)

If you've read this blog more than once, or follow me on Pinterest, you are probably aware that I have a bit of a pumpkin obsession. While I force myself to wait until September to decorate for the fall, I cheat when it comes to pumpkin-flavored foods and drinks. This weekend was no exception of course, I mean... September is only a week away!

On Saturday my husband and I took Ruby to the Farmers Market again, and my favorite booth to buy strawberry jelly had some pumpkin butter for sale which I snatched up irregardless of the fact that it was pretty expensive for a tiny jar.

My concern over the hefty $6 price tag was lost when we got home and I ate tasted this. It's like Fall on a bagel!! I'm now on the search for a good recipe so I can make some of this at home!

That afternoon I proceeded to start stripping the finish off of a Craiglist table we picked up a few weeks ago. And what DIY project would be complete without a beer, preferably of the pumpkin variety kept cold by an adorable monogrammed Florida Gator koozie?! (More on where to score yours later this week!)

We topped our weekend off with a Sunday Funday cornhole match, which of course included some more pumpkin beer and a frozen margarita... weird combination, I know. Still hanging on to that last bit of summer... ha!

So by now you're thinking we basically just ate and drank our way through the weekend, and that probably isn't too far off. On Sunday night I made pumpkin granola for the first time, and it was so good and easy to make, I had to share it with you all!

Recipe adapted from Baked Bree.

A lot of the ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. In my case, I didn't have nutmeg so I cut that out and used a little bit more pumpkin pie spice!

Ingredients:
5 cups Rolled Oats
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
1/4 cup Maple Syrup
1/4 cup Applesauce
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 cup Sliced Almonds

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment. 

In a large bowl, combine the rolled oats, sliced almonds, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar.

In another bowl, combine the pumpkin, maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the oat mixture and mix until everything is coated.

Spread the granola onto the parchment.

Bake for 20 minutes, then take the granola out and stir it up, breaking some of it into smaller pieces. Bake for another 20 minutes, and stir again. I then popped it back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes because I wanted the granola to have a bit of a crunch to it.

Yum! Anyone else baking with pumpkin yet? Or did you snag a fall Starbucks coffee yet??

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