Pumpkin Spice Bread

Tis the season. Are you done with pumpkin spice everything, everywhere yet? I'll be honest, when the coffee shop advertises "Pumpkin Flavored Lattes," I am not the least bit tempted. It seems the only pumpkin stuff I like is a handful of home baked goods using real pumpkin, and if it is one of my tried and true recipes... then, yes I'll have some more please!

This includes my recipe for Pumpkin Spice Bread. I've tried a lot of pumpkin bread recipes over the years, and never found THE ONE. So I played around adapting from a couple different recipes until I found, The One! It isn't overly sweet, it is nice and moist, and it gets better the next day if you can resist gobbling it all up the first day. No, this isn't a health bread, but I did cut down the sugar and oil amounts from most recipes I came across.
It is also made from the pumpkins we grew in our own garden!

Seriously, you should make this, the smell of it baking in the oven is out of this world!

Pumpkin Spice Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups pumpkin puree (non-sweetened and no spice added)

¾  cup granulated sugar

¾  cup brown sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/3 cups all purpose flour 

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½  teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour 2 9x5” loaf pans.

In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

Measure the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices and nuts into a separate bowl and mix until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans. Bake on middle oven rack for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes, then remove loaves from pans and let cool completely on a rack. Slice and enjoy!

A little yarn

I can now declare that it is absolutely indeed Fall! It's not just the crisp mornings and evenings, it's not just the changing of the light, or the turning of the leaves; I mean it is all of these things, but it's something else that makes me certain of the season. I have pulled out my yarn.

Simple as that. It seems I'm not the only one to celebrate the autumnal shift with a bit of yarny malarkey, I've been seeing woolly creations popping up all over the interwebs and social media these days. It makes perfect sense of course.

I had two skeins of fat foggy gray yarn that I contemplated for a bit. Then I began, as you do, working my rusty crochet stitches one after the other until it became familiar and easy again. I love falling back into the meditative rhythm of loops and motion... well, until that moment (many moments) where I've made a crucial mistake and the peace is interrupted.  I am ashamed to admit that when that happens, some less than lady-like words have escaped my mouth on occasion. Then, I begin again.

Eventually, the last stitch is made, loose ends sewn in and I have a lovely and cozy Fall cowl for the coming colder days. It is indeed Fall!

Blame it on the Rain

On the first day of Autumn the rain started to fall. It looks like we will be getting our first real rain in some time for the next couple of days. While we desperately need the rain, I suddenly feel a bit nervous about the coming dark days. Already our girls, our hard working hens, have stopped laying everyday. The thought of buying eggs from the store makes me feel a little iffy.

On the upside, the weather is conducive to hot tea, baking bread, and getting back to my sewing machine. I have plenty of projects floating around in my brain. I want to make something interesting from the fabulous silver metallic denim in the photo above that was sent to me by my friend Nancy.

I have a rather urgent mandate from Pony Girl to create this costume (how is it almost October?)!

To be honest, I'm not feeling too jazzed about it. Now had she gone with her other choices; Wonder Woman or Little Red Riding Hood, I might be a bit more stoked. But this isn't about me, right?

Then there's this skirt that just needs a decision made about fabric. I'm not feeling the "Rainbow Like" suggestion from the previously mentioned Pony Girl, but I'm indecisive. I had a thought about going full on Roller Derby style with this one. We'll see.

Well, happy Autumn all, or happy Spring to those of you on the flip side!

Flying and Falling

Or should that be; Flying into Fall?

It's been all about the start of school, which is always a little crazy and full of meetings with teachers and paperwork and explanations and referrals. That gorgeous kid in the picture is in a new grade, in a new school and doing great.  The early mornings are a bit rough, but we are settling into routine.

There is also a heap of falling food. I mean literally, there is food falling from the sky, ok, actually from our trees and I'm racing to process it all for the winter before it goes to mush on the ground. Our exceptionally warm Summer has put all the fruit into overdrive.

And well, there are 100 other little things going on that might explain my absence from this place. I'm ready to come back though. I'm ready to do some nesting at home and get back to my work. So bring on Fall (or Autumn whichever you prefer)!

Are you ready for the change of seasons?