Love it or Hate it Pumpkin Bread

I have made this pumpkin bread every fall for many years. Everyone always loved it. The recipe came from my mom and everyone she gave it to loved it. I even have a friend from college who told me she now makes it every fall and gives it to people at work and they love it.

Then a few years ago I took it to a pumpkin-themed enrichment. I saw a woman take a piece of it, take a bite or two, and then throw it away. I thought, "Oh my gosh. She just threw away my pumpkin bread!" But it did not end there. She then went up to another person who was eating a piece of it, told her how much she didn't like it--how pumpkin and chocolate were a weird combination, etc.--and then this other person threw away her piece too.

I know!!! I couldn't believe it either.

This is not the first time I've had my cooking insulted right in front of my face, but this was definitely the worst. But, these women did not take me down. I'm still cooking. It has even given me a little bit more cooking confidence, because I figure if people don't like whatever it is I made, so what? It can't get any worse than what happened to me that night.

So here is my pumpkin bread recipe. I hope you like it. But if you don't, don't tell me about it.

(My mom adjusted this recipe to use up a big can of pumpkin so that's why there are some weird measurements. This is a very big batch.)

6 1/8 cups flour
5 1/4 cups sugar
1 T baking soda
1 T cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 3/4 cups oil or melted margarine
1 - 29 oz. can pumpkin
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/6 cups water
1 - 12 oz. bag chocolate chips

Sift together dry ingredients; make a well in the center. Add oil and combined pumpkin, egg, and water. Mix until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased loaf or muffin pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes for loaves or 20-25 minutes for muffins.

**When I made these yesterday, I used half whole wheat flour, less sugar (maybe about 1 cup less), and used 1 cup yogurt and 3/4 cups oil. They tasted a little more healthy but they were still delicious.**

Tagged Again!

This time I was tagged by HolliJo.
"8 is Great"

8 TV shows I love to watch:
I'm only going to list four since I named four in the last one.
5. CSI: Miami
6. Top Design
7. Lost
8. 24

8 Things that Happened to me Yesterday:
Are you kidding?! I didn't even leave the house yesterday. But I did:
1. vacuum the stairs
2. sweep the kitchen and living room and vacuum the rug
3. take a 40 min. nap on the couch while Audrey watched t.v.
4. make crab soup and whole wheat yogurt bread for dinner
5. make pumpkin bread
6. sort the laundry to get a head start on laundry day today
7. sew baby bibs while watching catching up on some tivo
8. go to bed

8 Favorite Places to Eat:
1. Grand Buffet (for their all-u-can-eat crab legs)
2. Baja Fresh
3. my mom's house
4. anyone's house but mine
5. Bertucci's
6. Bagel Works
7. Panera Bread
8. anywhere if I'm without the kids!

8 Things I am looking forward to:
For 1-4 see last tag.
5. Starting the fourth decade of my life.
6. The kids being old enough to do some real cleaning around the house.
7. Carolyn being old enough to babysit.
8. Audrey being potty-trained.

8 Things on my wish list:
1. a new sewing machine
2. new potholders
3. a food processor
4. new clothes (does it sound like my birthday and Christmas are coming up?)
5. money and time to travel all over the world
6. a maid/cook/nanny
7. a body that doesn't look like it's given birth to and nursed four babies
8. world peace

8 People I tag:
Anyone who wants to do it!

Halloween Seak Preview

Last night I made Audrey's ruby slippers to complete her Dorothy costume. I decided that instead of buying red shiny shoes, I'd put glitter on her scuffed up, Sharpied-in hand-me-downs and then buy her new church shoes. I'm so thrilled with how they turned out, I might even glitter a pair of my own shoes. I just need to remember to buy her new shoes before Sunday!

She doesn't even know who Dorothy is but that is what I bought her in last year's Target clearance for 75% off so that's what she is wearing. But when I tried her costume on her she was very happy and said she loved being "a Dorfee."

I've Been Tagged

Thanks, Rebecca.

4 Random Things I Like About My Husband

He's a nice guy.
He an AWESOME dad.
He makes me laugh.
He bathes the kids every day!

4 Movies I Can Watch More Than Once

Honestly, I can't think of a single one. We don't get to watch movies very often.

4 TV Shows That I Watch

Project Runway
Survivor
Desperate Housewives (guilty pleasure)
just started watching Tim Gunn's Guide to Style

4 Places I've Been

Hawaii
Japan
Boston Lobster Feast in Orlando (all-u-can eat lobster!!)
Panguitch, Utah

4 People Who Email Me Regularly

Girls' soccer coaches
Matt Garono
Greg
Jessica

4 Favorite Foods

hot, fresh bread/rolls with butter
MD crabs
anything chocolate
anything with melted cheese

4 Things I'm Looking Forward To In The Next Year

Carolyn's baptism in Feb.
Audrey starting preschool
Emma sleeping through the night
possibly buying a new house

4 People I Tag

Lori
Leslie
Teresa
anyone else who wants to do it

Maggot Bars, Anyone?

The other day I made magic bars. You know, the classic and oh-so-delicious treat made with butter, graham cracker crumbs, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and coconut. Today I asked Audrey if she wanted one and she said, "Yes. I want a maggot bar." Gross.

My Excitement for the Day

I live a very sheltered life as a stay-at-home mom. That's why I get excited over simple things.

This is what's going on outside my window today. A backhoe is digging up my neighbor's front yard and replacing their water line. And here's what's shocking: they had to take out their tree! It's sitting there in pieces next to my tree.

That's all. I'm going to go get a life now.

Family Home Storage in Action!

Those of you that have been following this blog can probably tell that over the last several weeks I have been working on my family home storage. I'm not really sure what brought it on, I've always known that we should have it. Maybe it's been the increasing natural disasters happening in this country, or the shaky economy, or just a desire to be prepared for whatever might come my way. But I've just felt the need to add more food and water to our supply. I even received criticism from (ahem) a newly-acquired family member who thinks the idea of an emergency supply of food and water is ridiculous. Yesterday I had an experience that strengthened my testimony of food storage. My next door neighbors returned home from a weekend trip to find that they had no water running in their house. We were able to give them four gallons of water from our supply. I have to admit, I've wondered if part of the reason why we've been told to store so much is that we will have to share with others who didn't build their supply. And I've wondered how I would feel about giving away things that I spent my money and precious storage space in my small house on. Well, it felt great. It was such a small thing that we were able to do but I think it helped them in a big way.

So if you've been putting off creating your own family home storage, don't be afraid to start doing it today! And always remember—follow the prophet...he knows the way!

Sprouted Wheat Update

So we tried the sprouted wheat on salad and in burritos. We couldn't really taste it in those dishes but when you eat it by itself it has a subtle grassy taste. (How do I know what grass tastes like? I don't know.) I have learned that wheat grows as grass and you can actually plant it in pots and grow wheatgrass to make wheatgrass juice like they have at Jamba Juice. But I don't have a juicer so I won't be trying that one. I don't know what kind of nutrients are in sprouted wheat--I figure it must be healthy--but it was fun to grow and eat!

Fat & Happy

I know I'm biased, but how cute is this chubby, happy baby!

New Haircut

Some of you have already seen my new haircut done by the fabulous Geri, but here it is for my far away friends. I wanted a picture of it professionally blown-out so that I could try to replicate it on my own. Isn't it sad how you can never get it to look the same way it did when you walked out of the salon?

Soccer Time

The soccer season started a while ago but this was the first time I remembered to bring my camera. Molly is playing in a clinic league where they have coaches from the UK Elite program teaching them. They're really great and they're actually from the UK and have cool accents. Carolyn is in an older age group where they play actual games. She has scored seven goals total out of her three games so far. I can't believe I have a kid that actually scores goals!

Sprouting Wheat: Day 5

I have sprouts! I'm not sure when to eat them. I think I'll still give it a day or two.

Sprouting Wheat: Day 2

I can see something happening! There are little white things at the tip of almost all the pieces of wheat. I feel like I'm doing an elementary school science experiment. (Did anyone else turn celery into two different colors? I think I did that one every year.) Here's step two:

Put the beans in a 1-quart jar, cover with a double layer of cheesecloth, and secure with a rubber band.

Over the next few days I'm supposed to fill the jar with cool water twice a day and drain it well through the cheesecloth to not get mold. Shoots should appear within five days. I'll post a picture when I have the shoots.

Sprouting Wheat: Day 1

I went to the cannery this week and bought about 275 lbs. of wheat. I've been hearing about ways to use wheat other than grinding it and using it as flour. One of them is sprouting it. I read about it in All About Vegetarian Cooking, which I got from the library and after hearing some ladies at the cannery talking about it I decided to try it, especially now that I have so much wheat. Sprouted wheat can be used just like bean sprouts you buy in the store: on salads, in sandwiches, or in one of my favorite comfort foods - ramen. (It was a staple in our house growing up.)

So today I did step 1: Cover 3 T wheat kernels with 2 inches warm (not hot) water in a large bowl. Let stand for up to 24 hours; drain and rinse.

Tomorrow I will do the drain and rinse part. The instructions in the book are actually for sprouting beans but it says you can do seeds such as alfalfa, wheat, and radish the same way.