Recipe: Cookbooks & Pumpkin Bread

I have a lot of cook books, in fact you could probably say I collect them. The one pictures above is one of my favorites. I got this as a gift, a graduation present from my Hubbard Cousins and it is one of the best cookbooks I have encountered. Its a cook book put out by the Texas A&M University Press and it has all these great recipes that Aggie Mom's submitted. Its got a little bit of everything in it. Two of my favorite recipes are Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas and Pumpkin Bread. They are both winners and SO GOOD! I made the pumpkin bread on a lark one day it and it now a tradition in my family to make it every year during the Fall and into the holidays. I could eat it every day for breakfast...its moist and flavorful and I will admit that people rave about it...hopefully they are telling the truth! You knowa cook book is good when you look through it and almost every page has some kind of food splatter or stain on it!

I also have some church cookbooks that I use a lot. our Young Women at church have done a fund raiser twice where they put together a church cookbook. I have loved these cookbooks! There is some confidence in making something that you know the "chef" is a great cook. There are companies that will take all your recipes and put them in a cute book and put tabs and everything in them...or you can just go down to the local Kinko's and they can help you get it together. If you wanted to go a cheaper route, you could compile everything and just save it to a CD and people could print out whatever recipes they want. There are lots of options!

So, here is the famed Pumpkin Bread Recipe...eat and enjoy the smells, tastes, and temperatures of the Fall.

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Pumpkin Bread

by Martha Rutherford, Deep East Texas Mother's Club

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Ingredients:

3 cups of sugar

1 cup of vegetable oil

4 eggs

2/3 cup orange juice

1 (16 oz) can of pumpkin or pumpkin pie

3.5 cups of all purpose flour

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1.5 teaspoons of salt

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

Optional ingredients:

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup of raisins

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(I have made it with pecans and it is good. I don't do raisins...I think they are scary!)

Combine sugar and vegetable oil in a large mixing bowl; blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Add orange juice and pumpkin. Blend in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in nuts and raisins if desired. Pour batter, evenly divided, into four 1 pound coffee cans that have been well greased and floured. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees F. Test for doneness with toothpick; longer baking is sometimes required. It is also a good mailer.

Now, I have never made it in the coffee cans, I have always used loaf pans. I would recommend the smaller loaf pans so that it gets done in the middle. I have made these as mini loaves and given them as Christmas gifts many times.

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My husband would tell you to throw in some chocolate chips in the batter but I don't like my chocolate mixed with pumpkin...but some people love it. There are some things I am a purist on, and this is one of them! I also like my steaks well seasoned and that is it...no A1, ketchup, nothing...just pure simple goodness....I get that from my Great Uncle Billy, he was the same way. I never met him, but I have heard so much about him and love him just the same. He was one of those people who everyone loved and was a stalwart in the community. It was devastating when his work called one day because he was late and he was never late. They found him in his home having passed away of a rare disease that has no sign or symptoms....when it hits, that's all she wrote. I believe he was in his 40s. It is sad but his legacy lives on in all his siblings kids and grand kids. I have heard all my life what a wonderful man he was and I honor him for that and for his service to our country and for just being a good guy! I wish I had known him, but in a way it seems like I do. Love ya Billy!

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So, make some pumpkin bread and enjoy the beauties that are Autumn!