Kitchen Matters

A little kitchen related post about some things happening here in the world of food.

Just before Christmas I baked 10 loaves of pumpkin bread to give to neighbors, the mail man, and other people in our lives that I wanted to wish a Merry Christmas.

I wrapped each loaf in 2 layers of plastic wrap and put a bow on top. Nothing fancy but it worked.

The pumpkin bread got rave reviews so I thought I'd post the recipe.

Easy Pumpkin Bread (from King Arthur Flour)

1 cup vegetable oil
2 2/3 cups granulated sugar (I reduced the sugar to 2 cups and it was still very sweet!)
4 large eggs
2 cups (or one 15-ounce can) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups All Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg**
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional (I left them out)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, optional (I left them out)
sugar for sprinkling on top, optional

** I used 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg instead.

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pans (if you're making the plain version of the bread); two 9" x 5" loaf pans (if you're adding chocolate chips and nuts); or one of each, if you're making one plain loaf, and one loaf with chips and nuts.
2) In a large bowl, beat together the oil, sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and water.
3) Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and vanilla, stirring to combine.
4) Mix in the chips and nuts, if you're using them. To make one loaf with chips/nuts, one loaf without, divide the batter in half. Leave one half plain, and add 3/4 cup chips and 1/2 cup nuts to the other half.
5) Spoon the batter into the prepared pans. Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with coarse sparkling sugar, if desired.
6) Bake the bread for 60 to 80 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean; and that same tester inserted about 1/2" into the top of the loaf doesn't encounter any totally unbaked batter.
7) Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack. When it's completely cool, wrap it well in plastic wrap, and store it overnight before serving.
Yield: 2 loaves.

My mom, with her incredibly generous heart, treated me to a shopping spree at Bed Bath and Beyond just before Christmas. Talk about an early Christmas present!!!

Ever since college, I've cooked and baked on the cheapest pans possible. I've been using a very cheap set of non-stick cookware that is several years old and wasn't great brand new... much less many years old. Even though I cook and bake everyday, I find it hard to spend the money to buy quality pots and pans. There's always a car needing repaired, a dentist visit, or clothes to be bought.

I can't thank my mom enough for this amazing gift. The 12" stainless steel saute pan is amazing! I can actually heat up the pan enough to brown meat! The food I make now tastes so much better now that I'm able to develop flavors with higher heat. It's even make cooking more fun then it already was! Thanks, Mom!!

And lastly, a friend of ours gave us 2 deers worth (75lbs) of ground venison (I paid for processing) and now I have a freezer full of wonderful, free-range meat. I used to be against hunting but have now I think it's one of the best ways to get meat for your family. By deer hunting, hunters are keeping down the deer over-population, the animals forage and are obviously free-range making for flavorful, healthy meat, and the animals live their natural life until they're killed quickly. The price is also hard to beat. At around $2/lb., it's half the price of grass-fed, local beef and it tastes just as good!