Pumpkin Bread Breakfast

One of my favorite things about the holidays is the fun, family traditions.Like most, our traditions are always by accident. We do one thing that everyone happens to enjoy once and the next thing you know, we are doing it every year. This is how "Appetizer-Only Christmas Eve" and "Wahoo Family Tournaments" began...just to name two. Being the day before one of my favorite holidays, let me share one of our Thanksgiving traditions..."Pumpkin Bread Breakfast"...

A few Thanksgivings ago, my mother was channeling Betty Crocker and decided that, in addition to cooking the entire Turkey Dinner, she was going to also spoil us with a Pumpkin Bread Breakfast. We all loved it so much, that it is now expected every year. Being the nice daughter that I am, I have volunteered to take this off her plate this year. So, last night I whipped up three loaves of this delicious, very easy to create, semi-homemade, yummy-tastic dish...

Pumpkin Bread

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 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


First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Rub a touch of oil onto three of your 7x3 inch loaf pans, then sprinkle with a little flour.

In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended.

When complete, pour into your prepared pans.

Lastly, bake for about 50 minutes. Just to check, use the toothpick test to make sure your loaves are thoroughly cooked.

 

We typically enjoy with a little cream cheese spread, which I might skip tomorrow, because it is tasty either way! But...of course it is tasty, look at the ingredients, this is borderline sinful! Although I love this dish, I couldn't eat it every day. That is why I save it for "Pumpkin Bread Breakfast" the morning of Thanksgiving!

This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving family traditions,

what is one of yours?

Move Over Nut Butters!

Apple butter, in my opinion, is in the ballpark of outstanding, amazing and ridiculously tasty. I had been purchasing this tasty condiment from Southside Produce and had never thought of making my own or even trying fruits other than apple. UNTIL, I stumbled across a recipe on VeganLovelie. Enjoy!

Apple and Pineapple Fruit Butter

First, chop 2 apples and 1/2 of a pineapple into small pieces. Then, you can either toss into a blender, food processor or even use a hand-blender to puree the fruit. (Just don't puree too much, like I did...you want it to be a little chunky still)

Next, add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar and move mixture to a thick-bottom pan. Cook on a low-setting for 30-45 minutues (basically, until thick enough to use as a spread).

and VOILA...your fruit butter is complete! Move into a small container and refrigerate. I love using this on toast in the morning for breakfast...so simple, easy and delicious!

BUT stay-tuned because tomorrow, I'm going to share a really tasty salad and dressing that will use this fruit butter! You won't want to miss!