Ode to Pumpkin Bread

One of the things I love about this time of year is the innate hunger that is put in me for a good loaf of pumpkin bread. There is just something about the making, baking, and eating of it. I feel a certain sense of joy in stirring the thick orange mush that miraculously bakes into a wonderful, fluffy final product. This year I decided to manipulate my recipe around so that it was lower fat and more healthy (although one HAS to add chocolate chips). It was so delicious that I just decided that I had to share the recipe and pictures.

This recipe yielded 3 loaves but I decided to make 2 loaves, 1 pan of normal sized muffins, and 1 pan of mini muffins. What resulted was a beautiful cornucopia of bread sizes. I have never made mini muffins before but as I was making and consuming them, I decided that someone in France invented the mini-muffin pan. Surely that is what the book, "French women don't get fat" is about. Honestly I have not read the book although I have heard it's a good read. Anyhow, my hypothesis is that they must eat mini-muffins (only one or two a day) and that is how they stay trim. However, this is not the case with the Trenda's- no we are full sized muffin type people or -gasp- 2 piece pumpkin bread eating people. The mini muffins came in very handy for Ellie Bug. She quite enjoyed their size yet still ate a couple at each sitting.
So if you are interested in having the joy of pumpkin chocolate chip bread in your life, here is the recipe with a helpful hint on perfectly formed bread and my attempt at a very artistic look at the final product:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 cups whole wheat flour (I use Wheat Montana brand- bakes really nicely)
  
• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  
• a handful or so of semi-sweet chocolate chips (however many you want)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease, flour, and **wax paper the bottom of three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, applesauce water and sugars until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and edges are pulling away from the sides of the pan.

**From my cake decorating class I learned that a great way to keep baked goods from sticking on the bottom of pans is to cut a piece of wax paper the size of the bottom of your pan(s). You then spray your non-stick cooking spray all over the inside of the pan and then place the piece of wax paper only along the bottom. After baking, this is a completely fool-proof way to prevent the bottom of breads and cakes from sticking and being ugly. LOVE THIS! Simply take out the bread and un-peel the wax paper from the loaves.

Happy pumpkin bread making!

Rocky Top

There are few places that I have gone where college football and school spirit are an obsession. Maybe this could be because I went to Wheaton College where I attended 1 football game and 4 basketball games. While there, they changed the mascot from the crusader to the thunder when I was a junior. Granted, the crusader is not a very wise choice in mascots because of all the horrible things the crusaders did "in the name of Christ", but thunder...really? I digress...

It is obvious that the official color of Tennessee is bright orange. On game day down there everyone and their dog is wearing orange and honestly, how many people can really pull off wearing orange? Not many. Staying with the theme, Ellie received her first orange apparel from her Auntie Hilary and Grammy Wendy. I am certain that when she wears the bright orange, fluffy coat here in Colorado, everyone will think that we love orange and that the large "T" on the left breast surely stands for "Trenda". Yes there will be those who know that it is a Tennessee Volunteer orange coat, but the majority will be left to wonder.

It was so good to see our dear family members that we don't see as often as we would like. Nana and Diddy took very good care of us and housed us for a week. We didn't get to spend near enough time with Grammy Wendy and all the family from Wisconsin and Kansas but enjoyed seeing everyone immensely.

Hilary and Tyson got married on a Tennessee football game day. The place where they got married was extraordinarily beautiful, Dara's Garden, an outdoor setting with beautiful leaves changing as the backdrop and a crispness to the air that made you know that you were alive. Hilary was such a beautiful bride and what a blessing it was to witness them committing their lives to one another.

It seems that with every wedding I attend, I appreciate marriage more. That also probably has something to do with being married for a longer period of time, but in a culture that is so quick to break vows and give up when things get hard it is so important to re-evaluate my own heart and figure out whether my actions in my own marriage speak to the utmost importance of this commitment. It is so easy to get comfortable and take each other for granted, especially when children enter the picture but weddings like this remind me just how wonderful it is to be committed to one person for a lifetime.

Miss Tennessee?

We are down here in Tennessee and Graham's sister, Hilary is getting married tomorrow. I have learned some new, completely random things after being down here for a week now.

• Who knew that The Grateful Dead has an entire station on Sirius satellite radio dedicated to their music? Great if you are a fan, not so great if you're not...

• My expectations were shattered about my preconceptions on tofu when I tried a bite of P.F. Chang's vegetarian lettuce wraps. However, after trying a bite of another mango tofu dish, my preconceptions about tofu taste (and texture especially) were 100% true! Thanks, Hilary for expanding my world...

• Who knew that I would enjoy playing Guitar Hero and Singstar on the PS2? Graham is pretty ecstatic that I am able to stand beside him in front of the tv, moving my fingers in video-game-like motions. I like these video games...there I said it.

• Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream comes in 1/2 gallon containers. We are used to getting it at Russel Stovers in Montrose at the same price for a quart. This ice cream is my weakness.

• And last but surely not least is a sign that I saw while driving through Knoxville yesterday. I didn't have a camera handy but the words stand etched in my memory. It was a church sign proclaiming, "Thanksgiving dinner with Miss Tennessee, November 17". That'll get 'em into church.

There will be pictures coming soon of our trip!

Like Father, Like Daughter

I found this picture yesterday in our fire safe and had to post it with a current picture of Ellie. Graham is 1 year old in the picture and so we are figuring he was about the same age as Ellie. We are amazed at the resemblance and Graham was excited to see it because everyone has been saying lately how much she looks like me! It is funny how she will look like me for a time and then all-of-a-sudden Graham will appear!