Tripper Home: Day 66

Day 63 - For supper tonight we had chicken, potatoes and carrots. I just breaded the chicken with egg and whole wheat flour. The potatoes and carrots I cut up and put some spices on them and into the oven they went.

Day 64 - This morning for breakfast I made myself a peanut butter, banana, and plain natural yogurt smoothie. The children had already had their breakfast and they still helped me eat mine. I guess I should have made more than one serving. I made some chicken noodle soup for supper. The children and adults eat it right up. Fresh homemade foods are always so good.

Day 65 - My husband had a meeting at Subway, so he brought us home something to eat! How sweet of him!

Day 66 - Baked a couple of pumpkins today! Then I started baking with them. I have been baking with them all afternoon and not getting anything else done! First, I made a crust less pumpkin pie for potluck tomorrow. Then I went on to make the mini pumpkin raisin muffins (made them before and the recipe is in another post.) so we would have them for doughnut time tomorrow at church. Next, I went on to pumpkin bread and I am eating a piece right now! Mmmm Good! What I have in the oven right now is Pumpkin-Brownies! I will have to let you know how they turned out, for I did some substituting!

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup fructose
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pumpkin purée*
1/2 cup olive oil (I used applesauce)
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I didn't have any)

* To make pumpkin purée, cut a pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a foil or Silpat lined baking sheet. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use. Or, if you are working with pumpkin pieces, roast or boil them until tender, then remove and discard the skin.

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Sift together the flour, salt, fructose, and baking soda.
2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.
3 Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.
Can easily double the recipe.
Yield: Makes one loaf.

Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup raw brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I didn't have any)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan. Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
In another bowl, stir together the applesauce, sugar, and vanilla extract; beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoon. Gradually add the flour mixture, and stir the batter until it's evenly moistened. Divide the batter in half in two separate bowls.
Into one bowl of batter, blend the cocoa powder and chocolate chips. In the second bowl of batter, stir in the pumpkin puree, walnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
Spread 1/2 of the chocolate batter into the bottom of the prepared baking pan, and follow with 1/2 of the pumpkin batter. Repeat the layers, ending with a pumpkin layer, and drag a kitchen knife or small spatula gently through the layers in a swirling motion, to create a marbled appearance.
Bake in the preheated oven until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan, cut into squares, and serve.