A Beautiful Soul

"A friend is someone who reaches for your hand, but touches your heart."  -Kathleen Grove

Today I spent the day with one of my dearest friends in the world; my 82 year old {Great} Aunt Marion.  Despite our difference in age, we have a special friendship that I truly cherish. I am so fortunate to have her in my life.  


Aunt Marion is the type of person who can entertain at any given moment, without stress or worry.  Even when the unexpected guest pops in, she always has something delicious to offer.


The following pumpkin loaf recipe is one that was given to me by my Aunt Marion, which was passed down by her mother.  What I love about it, is it's simplicity, delicious flavour and the fact that it retains it's moisture even after a few days.  


Pumpkin Loaf Recipe 

#

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1  1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup oil
1 cup pumpkin


Directions:
1.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.  In a large mixing bowl (or kitchen aid bowl), add eggs, sugar and pumpkin.  Mix until combined.  Add oil and mix again.
3.  In a separate bowl add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Stir until well blended.  
4.  Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and combine until there are no lumps.  
5.  pour in to a lined loaf pan and bake for one hour, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Pumpkin, oil, eggs and sugar 

Add dry ingredients

mixed batter

 to Line a loaf pan with parchment paper

Place loaf pan on top of parchment paper 

Cut parchment paper large enough so
that it reaches the top of both sides of the pan

Cut four vertical slits (they must reach
the bottom of the pan)

Parchment with 4 vertical slits

Fold parchment in four (at the cut lines)

Parchment folded in four 

Unfold the parchment paper

Cut four horizontal slits to remove the
corners

Parchment with corners removed

Pop the parchment in to the pan
and glue it to the sides with the
smallest amount of butter.

Run a palette knife through the center
of the batter

Loaves have a tenancy to form a large peak in the center of them when baking.  Running a knife or palette knife through the center of the batter helps it bake more evenly.  

Enjoy!

The recipe is for a single loaf, but it can easily be doubled.  You may as well make two and keep on in the freezer for those unexpected guests! 


Happy Baking!  

Pumpkin {Love}

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie". Jim Davis 

We finally made it out to the pumpkin patch yesterday.  The wind was incredible, and cut our visit short, but we didn't leave without our pumpkin.  I managed to take one blurry picture with my camera before getting the "change battery pack" message.  All I can say is, thank god for the iphone camera!

Better get one for her Sam

This morning my daughter woke up unusually early so we got busy and made some pumpkin pancakes to start off our Halloween just right. 

Pumpkin Pancake Recipe #

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions

1. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe

Mix all dry ingredients together

Pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar

One word... Delish!  They were super fluffy and full of Flavour!  I think the next time I may add some caramelized pecans for a little crunch and some added texture.

Happy Halloween!                                       

Boo!

Oh Halloween.. How did you sneak up on me so fast? 

Well, I managed to leave the Halloween costumes until the very last minute this year.   I just realized that Halloween is tomorrow and I still don't have a costume for my 3 month old son, {Sam}.  Eek...  

The good thing is that he won't have an opinion on his costume, as I am sure that at this point the selection will be very minimal.   If only I could bake him something to wear!


Speaking of baking... I did manage to get some of that done...

This past weekend, my Father was visiting us from Michigan , with my sister and Step-mom.  I convinced my younger sister Daphne to work on some cookies with me, while Grandma and Grandpa played with the kids.  I don't think the poor thing realized how many we would be making, but she was a great sport and did a wonderful job! 

We then packaged all of the cookies and delivered them to my daughter's daycare for a little Halloween treat. 

Well, i'm off to find my little munchkin a costume.  Wish me luck!

Happy Trick or Treating!