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!

Hello Monday - Slow Simmer

It's a rainy Monday, the perfect sort of day to slow simmer something delicious on the stove, perhaps bake some bread, and think on plans for the coming days.

My work room/studio is nearly back together and well organized. Thank goodness as I am itching to do some stitching again. I'm planning some makes; like this Negroni Men's shirt from Colette Patterns in this handsome Kaufman lightweight cotton plaid. I'm planning a test shirt in some calico I have in my stash, then on to the plaid.

Whilst unpacking and organizing, I came across a few unfinished projects from days gone by, so those are on the to-stitch list as well.

Well, I'm off to brew a cup of tea, listen to some Debussy, contemplate cooking, peruse bread recipes, and make the most of this rainy Monday.

Hello Monday - Hello Fall!

Happy Oven!

Fall is delicious!

Grab Bag Monday

Oh hello!

Last week we had the most delicious weather! It was very tempting to stay in that sunny spot from my last post and not move an inch. However, my lollygagging ways are over. I am almost back to my abnormal self and there is so much to catch up on, so many things to do! Still trying to get my blogging legs back so forgive if I'm a little rusty. This weekend I started the ball rolling and got to a bit of to-doing.

I had a flash of an idea for making, then upon inspection I realized I'm pants at buying solids and my stash was pretty bare. So you see, I absolutely had to make a trip to my favorite local fabric shop and pick up a few cheery bits.

Then I spied these little darlings and somehow they came home with me, practically leapt into my bag I tell you!
I am hoping my making mojo comes back soon, my trusty sewing machine is gathering dust and looking woefully neglected.

On getting back to routine and feeling lots better, I decided a tiny celebration was in order. So I baked a cake. Not one of them fancy pants layered with impeccable frosting and picture perfect cakes, nope. Rather, one of them everyday cakes that make the house smell divine and one is hard pressed to let it cool before grabbing a slice and gobbling it up while standing over the kitchen sink.

I used This Recipe for an apple cake and it is very, very tasty!

Well my dears, as I said - much to do and I am to it!  Happy Monday!

Sweet Tooth

For a good portion of the month of November I was dreadful sick. Everything went by the wayside and now I don't know if I'll ever catch up, but I'm trying.

I am now aghast that we are already into the meat of December. The weather cold and wet, the skies dark and brooding. Seems like the perfect environment to get a little crafty. Yet, I find myself in a crafty slump. It looks as though I am over compensating for this slump by cooking up a storm and baking treats.

Even my girl and the Engineer are getting in on the action in the kitchen.

Dig her chef's hat!

How about you? Have you crossed everything off of your holiday making list? What do you do in a slump?

In The Kitchen with Lola - Banana Berry Applesauce Walnut Bread!

I thought I would take a break from my travel tales to share a recipe with you today. It was one of those happy accidents that come from a sudden necessity to diverge from one's original plan.

I had some over ripe bananas and a need to bake, but not enough banana to make my usual favorite banana bread. After hunting for recipes calling for 1 and 3/4 ripe bananas and ending up nowhere, I figured I'd just wing it and hope for the best. What else do I have on hand that isn't quite enough to make a tried and true recipe that I could throw in to make up something entirely new?

And so...

Banana Berry Applesauce Walnut Bread was born, and it is good!

While I didn't measure everything I wrote up a recipe immediately after tasting that should do the trick.

Banana Berry Applesauce Walnut Bread

Dry ingredients:
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar
3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
Aprox. 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

Wet ingredients:
Aprox. 2 very ripe Bananas mashed (about 1 cup)
2/3 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1/2 Cup Plain yogurt
2 Eggs lightly beaten
4 Tbs. Butter melted and cooled (you could use veg. oil as well)
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Frozen Berries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack on lower middle shelf.
Grease and lightly flour one large loaf pan or 2 smaller loaf pans and set aside.

Mix all the the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Mix all of the wet ingredients in another bowl.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Lumpy batter is good.

Pour the mixture into loaf pans and bake in oven for aprox. 40 minutes if using 2 smaller loaf pans and aprox. 60 minutes if using one large loaf pan; until you stick in a toothpick to the center and it comes out clean.
Baking times may vary!
Let the bread sit in the pan for 5 minutes then turn onto cooling rack to let cool completely or as long as you can stand it before cutting into it and gobbling it up!

And yes, it is a bit more cake than bread, but never mind that, it is delicious!

Happy baking!

Lying Awake

I have a life long relationship with insomnia. My mother tells me that when I was just a wee thing, I would climb out of my cot, make my way to my parents bedroom at 2 o'clock in the morning and poke them awake with requests for play, stories and the like. As I got older I was called a "night owl", unable to sleep until the early hours of the morning. As an adult, I have passed in and out of days on end unable to quiet my brain from all the thoughts and wonderings. So still, sometimes my head spins and I can not sleep.

Just a sampling of what keeps me awake these days...

Will the sour dough starter work it's magic science and turn into the hoped for source of delicious breads and pancakes?

After ages of not buying any new fabric, have I gone over board with a rare obsession with Lily Ashbury - Trade Winds for Moda?

How long has it been since I made a quilt. Too long. What kind should I make; whole cloth, patchy, stripy? How big? How long will it take, what fabric? Oh my.

How shall I dress 'The Couch that Mocks Me'? It's time for a change, again. Perhaps I should do a blog post about it, a retrospective of The Mocking Couch!

Oh dear school is about to start, I should get those school supplies.
Where should we go on our last camping trip before summer is officially over?
What shall I do with all of the potatoes we dug up today?
Pancakes for breakfast?

How about you? Do you sleep quick and sure every night? Do you lie awake thinking and spinning? What keeps you awake?

A little festive

We are playing with paper and little lights,

working on 3 page letters to Santa,

and making important decisions.

What are you up to?

In The Kitchen with Lola

What's for breakfast?

'Tis the season for muffins and these little beauties make a lovely breakfast treat. Wholesome and chock full of goodness; with options, I love options. Not too sweet, but definitely tasty!

Applesauce Apricot and Berry Muffins

Makes 12-15 muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped nuts
3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper cases or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt,cinnamon, nutmeg, apricots, nuts and berries. In a medium bowl combine applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil, egg and vanilla. Make a well in dry ingredients and add applesauce mixture. Stir until just moist. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

And now for those options I mentioned:

You can use all whole wheat flour if you desire.
Try substituting the apricots and berries for any of the following:
Dried Cranberries, Walnuts, and Orange Zest
Dried Dates and Almonds
Chopped Apples, Raisins and extra Cinnamon
Any other yummy dried fruit and nuts you have on hand!

Enjoy!