A Delicious Diversion

Well, it's a rainy Sunday afternoon, and I thought I'd give you something a little different to look at than weedy gardens. I tried a new recipe today. It was supposed to be Pumpkin Bread, but lacking pumpkin, I used applesauce instead. =) It's a nice easy quickbread with simple, readily available ingredients. Feel free to skip all the photos and go straight to the complete recipe at the end.

Left to Right: Applesauce, Flour, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, Sugar, Salt, Oil.

First, mix together all the dry ingredients.

Next, remove the peas from your measuring utensil. This is the remains of the day's pick of peas. Mom eats most of them. She says they're very good peas. =)

Now you'll use the measuring cup for your oil:

This is also the time to add the applesauce - or pumpkin. Note that I ran out of the homemade applesauce and used one of those little convenience packs to complete the 2 cups. =)

Okay, mix the wet stuff in thoroughly. The batter is medium in consistency - not too thick and not too wet. I don't know what it would be like with pumpkin, but I imagine it'd be similar. Now is probably the time to toss in a cup of chopped nuts if you're a nut person.

I am not a nut person. However, I had a lonely apple sitting on the counter, and I decided to give the poor thing some purpose in life. Here it is, awaiting surgery. Note the peas in the background - are they mocking the apple? Go ahead, apple - just say "split pea soup" and turn the table on those little guys! Okay, I'd better stop anthropomorphizing my fruits and veggies...

Anyhoo, chop up that little apple and toss it in the batter! I expect a lonely banana would also do quite well.

Divide the batter between two greased loaf pans and slide them into a preheated 350 degree oven. Set your timer for 1 hour. The recipe said 1 hour, 15 minutes, but mine were done a couple minutes early. To be safe, I would start checking them at about an hour.

Oh, wait!!! This is the most important part of all! I always sprinkle (a liberal amount of) cinnamon sugar on breads like this before I put them in the oven. It just adds that special touch.

Okay, now here's the fun part (just kidding!):

About 1 hour and ten minutes later, here they are! Notice the nice sugary top - don't worry, some will fall off when you cut slices. You won't go into diabetic shock or anything. =)

Here's the finished product! Naturally I had to test it. =) I did notice that the end crusts are pretty chewy...I'm not sure how to correct that. The inside portions, though, are moist and cinnomany. Very yummy! This would make a great breakfast or snack.

A nice crispy, sugary top. =)

Here's the complete recipe:

"Pumpkin" Bread

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 cups pumpkin (or applesauce!)

optional: 1 cup chopped nuts

optional: 1 cored, peeled and diced apple (or 1 mashed banana)

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients, mixing well. (Add nuts.) Bake in 2 loaf pans @ 350 degrees F, 1 hour and 15 minutes (check with a toothpick a few minutes early).

Enjoy!