.:sugar hangover:.

are you, like MANY other people, feeling hungover from too much candy and sugar? even though it is Friday, i am getting a sluggish feeling from A LOT of people.

well, here are a couple (pumpkin) recipes that will help you continue your fall celebration, but also recover from that wicked sugar crash (or help you fit back into your jeans sooner).

pumpkin protein shake:.

again, this is a recipe that i have seen everywhere - Pinterest (duh!), Chris Freytag, Heidi Powell, etc. i decided to mesh together a few recipes to create something that i would like best and to include ingredients that i had around the house, per usual.

>> 1/4 - 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
>> 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
>> 1/2 scoop Garden of Life Raw Vanilla Chai protein powder - this was a sample packet from Vitamin Shoppe, pretty good!
>> 1/2 scoop Garden of Life Raw Vanilla protein powder (the chai one scared me, so i played it safe)
>> 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
>> 1 tbsp maple syrup
>> 1/2 cup coconut milk
>> 1/2 cup oats
>> 3 ice cubes (i am not a big fan of putting too much ice in my smoothies because 1. i don't like being cold and 2. i would rather have room for more substantial ingredients....)

blend!

i am slightly disappointed that i forgot to add almond butter, but peanut or almond butter would work well with this recipe! also, you could obviously substitute your favorite protein powder in for the Garden of Life that i used. i should probably do a post on protein powders and what to look for, but i have 2 different types of protein powder - one for after workouts that really targets repairing and recovering muscle tissue and the Garden of Life that i use in my morning smoothies which is easier to digset. i intended to make this smoothie after yoga sculpt class on wednesday night, but i was in 'hangry' mode. i had also preorded Chipotle, so i couldn't stop myself from tearing into my burrito bowl to make a pumpkin smoothie. let's be serious, i am human.

play around with this recipe and see what you like - there are endless substitutions!

pumpkin granola:.

before i dive into this recipe, i would like to mention that this granola does not explicitly taste like pumpkin, it has pepitas in it, but you will not get a lot of pumpkin flavor (unless you want to)

>> 3 cups rolled oats
>> 1/2 cup pepitas (unhulled pumpkin seeds - ok, bascially pumpkin seeds without the white shell that you dig out of your pumpkins)
>> 1/2 cup slivered almonds
>> 1 cup flaked coconut (or 1/2 cup shredded)
>> 1/2 cup olive oil
>> 1/3 cup maple syrup (agave nectar or honey would work well too!)
>> 2 tsp vanilla extract
>> 1 tsp cinnamon
>> 1/2 tsp nutmeg
>> 1/2 tsp salt
>> 1/2 cup roasted and salted sunflower seeds
>> 1/4 cup pecan pieces
>> 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
>> a couple shakes of pumpkin spice (depending on how much 'pumpkin' you want to taste)

preheat oven to 300 degrees. in one bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: oats, pepitas, coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, salt, ground flaxseed, sunflower seeds, pecan pieces. in another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients: olive oil, maple syrup and vanilla. add wet to dry and mix well - you want to make sure it is evenly coated. ideally, you will want to spread it out on a cookie sheet, but some people (me) ruined their cookie sheet in the grill (don't ask) and found that a cake pan will work well too! *be sure to spray the pan* (speaking of spray, i recently discovered the coconut oil spray at Trader Joe's, awesome!) bake at 300 for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to ensure it bakes evenly. since i used a Pyrex cake pan, i had to let mine cook longer - i think because it wasn't 'spread out' and needed more time to fully bake. let cool and store! i store mine in mason jars, i feel better when they are sealed nice and tight! plus, i just have a thing with mason jars.

i have tried MANY granola recipes and this is the first one i have found that actually made crispy granola, not soggy stuff that will mold in days. gross. i love mixing my granola in yogurt or eating plain by the spoonfuls.

i hope you enjoy these recipes and use them to help 'reset' over the weekend - speaking of resetting, don't forget to reset your clock this weekend, you do NOT want to be the dork who missed the extra hour of sleep!

always striving for more,
dee b.

recipe was modified from: http://www.thedailymuse.com/lifestyle/the-easiest-homemade-granola/ which was featured on http://greatist.com/health/best-healthy-pumpkin-recipes-102113.