Hello October

It’s finally fall! Not that anyone would be able to tell, though, with the lovely weather down here.



The Boy and I celebrated by going on a bike ride this morning. It ended up being around 6.5 miles, I think more than I’ve ever ridden in my life. There were a few determined trees whose leaves had changed color albeit it a bit too quickly. For the most part the trees were all green and those that weren’t had bypassed the lovely colors and went straight to the shriveled, brown dying stage. So very sad.I saw a couple of boys standing on their balcony this morning holding their hands out as if to catch rain. I hope that’s what they were hoping to catch, anyway. It was sweet in its juxtaposition to the bright, sunny, warm day.

Speaking of bike rides, I’ve never seen so many people riding bikes in one place before (not counting watching bike races on TV or anything like that). Seriously, apparently if you live in Irvine and are middle-aged or older, suiting up in spandex and riding a bike in huge packs of people is THE thing to do. I had suspected as much before. On a few occasions last year when we would go to our favorite bagel shop on Saturday or Sunday mornings, it would be crawling with spandex-clad sweaty men, but I had no idea the magnitude of it all. Way to go middle-aged+ Irvine residents! Way to be active and healthy.

Super Simple Pumpkin Bread

I cannot believe it’s October! In fact, I can’t believe it’s been October for 13 days. Time flies when you don’t have the extra brain capacity to note its passing. Over the weekend I got into a pumpkin craze seeing as it’s technically fall and everything. Last week, there was even some passable fall weather in Southern California. It’s gone now, though, don’t worry. All the born and bred Southern Californians can stop panicking about the end of the world now that the rain has stopped.
I kid,of course…mostly.
This recipe is from a fantastic basic cookbook that everyone should have. I like to think my grandma gave me my copy, but the truth is she gave it to my brother and I conveniently made sure it didn’t get packed with him when he moved away. I love being a younger sister. Anyway the cookbook is the Better Homes and Gardens “New” Cook Book (I say “new” because that’s what is on the cover but the first edition was published in 1930).

Look at the spine! It’s starting to look legitimately used, which makes me rather pathetically happy.

(Yes, that is a volleyball in the background that I have owned for around 12 years complete with crappy 5th grade handwriting. Also those are some blood physio notes sitting beneath the book).
Ok, back to the pumpkin bread.
As usual gather the major players. In this case flour, brown sugar, pumpkin, butter, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, milk, salt, eggs, baking powder and soda.

Combine your dry ingredients.

Add in everything else and mix it up.

Pour it in to a greased loaf pan and pop it in the oven for around an hour. Pull it out and let it cool off in the loaf pan for 15-20 minutes.

Loosen the edges with a knife, turn it over and it should come right out without too much trouble.

Then give it to your friends who have never had pumpkin bread so that they, too, can learn to love it.
Pumpkin Bread
from Better Home and Gardens New Cook Book, 11th edition
Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger or ground cloves (I like to add both)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup walnuts (optional)
• 1/2 cup raisins (definitely optional and not recommended…but that’s just me)

1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 in. up the sides of a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan; set aside. Set oven for 350 F.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine 1 cup flour, the brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger and/or cloves. Add pumpkin, milk, eggs, and shortening/butter. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until blended. Beat on medium to high speed for 2 minutes. (Don’t worry regular old muscle power works just fine). Fold in the walnuts if you want and raisins if you must.
3. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 F 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick/fork/knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan. Cool completely, wrap and stir overnight.

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I just noticed that there is nutrition facts per serving in this book! Awesome. As you will see in a moment, pumpkin bread is good as a snack or for breakfast.
Calories            189
Total fat             8g
   Sat. fat           2g
Cholesterol        27mg
Sodium           138mg
Carb.               28g
  fiber                1g
Protein               3g
Vitamin A          35% DV
Vitamin C            1%
Calcium              8%
Iron                  10%
Recipe makes 1 loaf or ~ 18 servings.