Recipe: Pumpkin Apple Walnut Harvest Rice

Pumpkin Apple Walnut Harvest Rice is a warm and cozy bowl brimming with fall flavors.

This recipe - which includes sweet tart honeycrisp apples, soothing spices like cinnamon, chewy sweet raisins, zesty onion, nutty rustic walnuts, golden fall pumpkin and a drizzle of sticky sweet maple syrup - is your ticket to an autumn harvest meal.

Pumpkin Apple Walnut Harvest Rice: Makes six cups

1 3/4 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 small honeycrisp apple, diced
1 small sweet onion, chopped
1 Tbsp parsley flakes
2 tbsp organic raisins (golden or purple)
1/2 cup walnuts, unsalted
1-3 Tbsp maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp fine pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
optional: 1 cup warmed chickpeas over top

To Make:

1. Prepare brown rice - set aside in large mixing bowl.
2. In a small bowl, combine the pumpkin, maple syrup, cider vinegar, spices. Warm in microwave. Mix well. Add this mixture to the warm brown rice. Fold until well distributed.
3. Prep your apples and onions by dicing.
4. Fold into the rice mixture: raisins, apples, onions, walnuts, olive oil, parsley flakes and salt to taste. Top with optional warmed chickpeas.

Serve warm or keep in warm oven until ready to serve. But do not over-heat. You want the apples and onions to still have a crispness to them when you serve.

Other optional add-ins: nutritional yeast, truffle oil, cayenne, cubes of butternut squash or sweet potato.

Recipe courtesy: http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com