Pumpkin season means pumpkin tea bread

I love the fall.  The turning of the leaves and the cooler temperatures remind me the holidays are just around the corner.  That, of course, means baking.  Growing up, we did a lot of baking.  We loved decorating the shaped sugar cookies, being careful to give Santa a white beard, black buttons and belt, and a red suit.  Our Christmas trees and angels were just as detailed.  My mom made fudge and peanut brittle and other things through the years.  Later, when I got married, I was introduced to a new recipe that is a favorite in my husband's family and now my own.  Pumpkin Tea Bread.  The first few years I made it, I followed the recipe exactly.  It was the holidays so it was OK to splurge.  However, splurging catches up with you...especially as you get older.  Plus, when you are pouring a cup of oil into a bowl, it just SCREAMS bad for you!  Because this is recipe is such a favorite, I tend to make it a couple of times during the season...more if I give any of it away.  I had to find a way to adapt it where is was just as delicious but not so sinful.

Here is the original recipe (I have no idea where it originally came from, just passed down):

Pumpkin Tea Bread 

3 cups sugar 

1 cup salad oil (mazola, etc)

3 eggs

2 cans canned pumpkin

3 cups flour

1/2 teasp. salt

1/4 teasp. baking powder

1 teasp. cloves

1 teasp.cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teasp. soda

Mix oil and sugar well.  Add eggs, beat until well blended and rather light.

Stir all dry ingredients together (baking powder, etc).

Add Pumpkin to creamed mixture, then add flour gradually.

Bake in tube pan 1 hour 15 minutes 350 degrees. (I use two loaf pans instead and it makes two loaf cakes.)

Keep moist for days.  Good with cream spreads.

Here is my adaptation:

Pumpkin Tea Bread

2 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil (because that is what I usually have)

1/2 cup plain apple sauce

3 eggs

2 cans canned pumpkin

3 cups flour (1-11/2 cups I use white whole wheat flour)

1/2 teasp. salt

1/4 teasp. baking powder

1 teasp. cloves

1 teasp.cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

(I don't always have all three spices, so I will use pumpkin spice as a substitute when needed)

1 teasp. soda

Mix oil, apple sauce, and sugar well.  Add eggs, beat until well blended and rather light.

Stir all dry ingredients together (baking powder, etc).

Add Pumpkin to creamed mixture, then add flour gradually.

Bake in tube pan 1 hour 15 minutes 350 degrees. (I use 3 smaller loaf pans 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 instead and it makes 3 loaves. I check it an hour.)

Keeps moist for days.  And it freezes pretty well too, just defrost unwrapped and eat within a day or two.

I have been doing this for a couple of years.  I ask every time how it is, and I get the same response I did before the changes.  No one seems to be able to tell the difference.  That works for me! 

***I was going to add pictures, but the batch I made the other day didn't last long enough...maybe next time :)

Holidays mean getting ready for company

It can take a lot of time getting settled into a new home.  It can take even longer when some updates and repairs need to be made.  And it can take even longer when your spouse works out of town on a regular basis and has a heavy workload.  Christmas is just around the corner, and we are already getting ready for it.  We are going to have a houseful, and we want them to be comfortable.  We want the Christmas decorations to look like they belong.  We want it to feel cozy.  So, we have decided to finish our floors.  When we first moved in, we ripped out all of the dirty, gross carpet (even in the bathroom).  The only places we kept carpet were in three closets.  The only rooms that we could wait on replacing flooring were the kitchen and laundry room.  I officially hate tack board and staples and may never have carpet in my house again.

And you know what happens when you start remodeling...you find problems.  The hot water heater and the flooring under it had to be replaced.  Sub-flooring by one of the doors had to be replace...along with the doors.  I can't stand french doors with the window grills.  They can look nice but are a pain to clean.  We discovered damage around one bathtub.  We have to decide whether or not we rip out the garden jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom before putting the the new flooring down.  I want a soaker tub that is not a big circle but I can lean back and relax in, but it takes up a lot less space than the monstrosity in there now.

We would also love to paint the walls...but that is quite a project in and of itself.  It will likely not get done before everyone gets here...but you never know.  Once the floors go down in the living room, we may not be able to resist, assuming we can make a decision on what we want.  I have been experimenting with layout and where pictures and decorations will hang on the walls.  That way, when the paint goes on, we won't be making any extra holes in the walls.  Now we are considering bead-board in the living room.  I love bead-board and wish we could use it in our bathroom or kitchen, but there just is not enough wall to make it worth it in my opinion.  But the living room is a different story.  Finally, we will have to get all the baseboards cleaned up and repainted so we can reuse most of them.  If I had a money tree, we would just buy new ones.  I've got to figure out the best way to remove the nails.  Then they probably need to be sanded down a bit and repainted white.  Unfortunately, we live in a windy area, so painting outside may not work unless we are going for a weathered look with bits of red dirt mixed.

It is really hard to leave a room unfinished.

In addition to completing some of our remodeling projects, I am trying to get everything organized.  All those small piles of things I have not figured out where to put yet are finally finding a home.  And the things that have a home are finding their way back to where they belong.  The biggest challenge will be keeping it that way for the next six weeks.

I also can't wait to pull out the decorations and put them up along with a tree after Thanksgiving.  I'm sure the kittens can't wait either.  We might even gets some lights hung outside.  I know I need to buy a few things because some of my stuff was damaged by moisture.  So I am excited about shopping.   I think my kids are too.  Their eyes lit up the other day when we saw at the Christmas section in the store.

Hopefully, by the time company starts to arrive, we will have a mostly done home that is inviting and welcoming.  I think that is what I want for Christmas this year.  It may mean no gifts under the tree for me, but it is not necessarily a bad thing when Christmas gifts come early.

What are some of things you do to get ready for company during the holidays?