Pumpkin Bread

For those of you who don't live around these parts, we have had an ice storm and snow the past few weeks.  The ice is pretty, but usually unwelcome because of the fear of a power outage.  The snow around here is pretty too, while it lasts, but usually it will melt off the next day.  That is not the case this time and it feels like we have been living in a snow globe for the past five days.  It is pretty, and we so seldom get any snow that I sure don't want to complain, but I haven't had the heart to romp around in it either.  

Needless to say, if you follow our Facebook Page, you can tell that I have had a little more time on my hands than usual!

I have used the time to organize things, clean, get caught up on household paperwork and try some great new recipes, well, new to me.  

This is about the time of year when I really work at using things that are hidden back in the freezer, or have been sitting in the cupboard for several months.  Some of the things, I have gotten for rainy days and then never used them mostly.  Do you ever do that or are you more organized than I am?

Well last fall, we got a bunch of pie pumpkins from the local Amish community and so there are several bags hidden away in the freezer.  During harvest time, we use a lot of it and preserve a lot of it, but after the initial excitement of fresh pumpkin, the pumpkin that gets preserved tends to get forgotten about until this time of year.  So......guess what!  Oh!  And we just got a gallon jug of raw, wildflower honey and I had to try it out. We have doing most of our cooking with honey and coconut oil and have been pleasantly surprised at how delicious it is!  There isn't a drop of oil in our home except for coconut oil.  Finally!  It was really hard for me to give up all of the other oils even though I truly believed how bad they were for us.  If you haven't made the leap, but really feel you should, just do it!  

Ok, back to the Pumpkin Bread.  

This recipe isn't from one of our local Amish friends, but it does come from a Mrs. Eli A. Mast in Holmes County, Ohio, and it is delicious!  I made some slight adjustments, that I'll share with you, in order to keep to our way of cooking, but here ya go!

Pumpkin Bread

1 c. cooking oil (we use softened coconut oil)

2 c. sugar (we use 1 cup honey and 1/2 cup turbinado sugar)

3 c. flour (we use 2 c. unbleached white flour and 1 c. stone ground wheat flour)

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon (we like cinnamon so I use 3 tsp.)

1 tsp. allspice

2 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

2 c. pumpkin 

4 eggs

Now here is the easy part, mix all the ingredients in one bowl.

Nothing like farm fresh eggs!  We have been very blessed to be getting about 10 eggs a day through the winter.  Thankfully all of the hens and Mackey (our Black Copper rooster) have stayed pretty healthy all winter.  Can you believe it's almost time for the eggs in the incubator to be hatching already?  Spring is coming!

Now split the batter into two greased (yes, grease them with coconut oil) loaf pans, bake at 350° for 1 hour.

Your home will smell delicious and you will also have a yummy treat!!