And Now My Home Smells of Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Pumpkin

I am a conflicted woman. On the one side, I write about spinning class, eating edamame and generally trying to be healthy. On the other side, I love talking about the homey, comfort foods that I grew up with, and wanting to give those same delicious memories to my family.


Guess which side is doing the writing today?


Earlier this month, I promised to post my Mom's Pumpkin Bread recipe. Mmmmmm. It's super easy, ingredients you probably already have on hand (if not, what's one more trip to the grocery store? You need to go anyway.), and it will make your house smell wonderful. Your family will follow their noses into the kitchen and hang on the counter and say,


"Whatcha makin'?"


My Mom made this pumpkin bread every Fall. She made it for the family, for her visiting teachers, for my Dad to take in to work, and for all of the kids to take to their teachers. I loved doing that - taking a pretty little loaf of pumpkin bread to school and proudly presenting it to my teachers. No wonder they loved me.


The recipe says that it makes two large loaves, but Mom always used smaller loaf pans - the perfect, cute little size to give away. I remember seeing a dozen or so of the loaves lined up on the counter, wrapped in plastic wrap and tied with some curling ribbon, ready to give to neighbors at Thanksgiving.



This is the size pan that I use. A little smaller than Mom's, the loaves are about the size of those great big bakery muffins. I got two pans of this size out of one batch.




Oh, Baby.

The bread is moist and delicious, pumpkin-y and perfect. I can't think of a better way to welcome Fall into your home. Or your stomach.

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Perfect Pumpkin Bread

Mix in a large bowl:

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups sugar

Add:

1 cup oil

4 beaten eggs

2/3 cup water

2 cups pumpkin

Mix well with beaters. Pour into greased pans. (And really grease them good - you'd think with all that oil, you wouldn't need to. Trust me.) Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, if you're just doing 2 large loaves. Less time if you're making "give away" loaves. Just watch them, and poke 'em with a toothpick to see if they're done.

Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Wrap in plastic wrap, and give them to people you love.

And always, serve with cream cheese.

Oh, and while the loaves are baking, you might want to take care of this.

Would you scrape it and lick it, or just wash it out?

You know what I did...

It was delicious.