Pumpkin Bread
Well, I seem to be fixated on food. Not too surprising for me, now that it's November. This is the beginning of Baking Season here at my home. I "initiated" the season Saturday by making my first batch of Grandma's pumpkin bread. I often make a dozen or more batches of it in November and December. I know the recipe well enough that I need to look at it the first time each fall, then I remember it well enough to forge ahead without it.
Somewhere in my ancestry there must lurk a pumpkin grower, lol. My grandmother is just a "pumpkin natural" She can make anything out of pumpkin, and her pumpkin bread and pie recipes are the best I've ever had. I no longer make her pie recipe often, as it involved beating the egg whites separately and folding them in, and I just hate to do it. :-) And I've tried, and liked, many other pumpkin bread recipes (I guess I have a pumpkin gene too) I really enjoy trying to make Grandma's recipe healthier. But, when push comes to shove, Grandma's is THE recipe. Nothing else really touches it, IMO. Rich, tender and sweet, it is a dessert, not a bread. I've collected pumpkin bread recipes from all over, but the ONLY time I ever found the equivalent to Grandma's is in an old Amish book I found somewhere. Grandma made her loaves in coffee cans, and I loved the beautiful perfectly round slices. Being short on coffee cans here, though, I use 9x5 loaf pans; the recipe makes 2 of these. One to enjoy, and one to give away!

Grandma Zella's Pumpkin Bread

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups cooked or canned pumpkin
4 eggs
1 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
3 1/3 cups flour


Beat sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl until creamy. Add pumpkin and water, then dry ingredients. Mix well, and pour into two greased 9x5 loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-65 minutes; bread is done when cracks on top of loaf are dry and a toothpick inserted off center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out to cool.

Eat this like a bread, or for a real treat, top slices with vanilla whipped cream with a little nutmeg sprinkled on top. Yum.