Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread is such

a true winter comfort food for our family; so I persuaded my mom to make this to post here. It is fabulous right from the oven with a pat of butter.

Things Needed:

Small can of pumpkin; dry packed

1 stick of butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of white sugar

1/2 tsp of salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 generous tsp of Vanilla

1 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp of ground cloves

2 cups of flour

Cream the butter, eggs, sugars, salt, and vanilla all toghether in a mixer on high speed. Slowly add in the rest of the ingredients, the flour, baking powder and soda, and spices. Pour the batter into a greased and wax paper lined bread pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.

Mom's Apple Crisp

No one makes apple crisp like my mom. This is a real treat for our family, especially when she uses the apples from our own orchard. We have a Red variety of apple, planted by my great grampa and we have no idea what kind of apple it really is, (they are shown in the bowl in the photo), but it is the tastiest cooking apple.

Things Needed:

5 peeled and sliced apples

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbs water to sprinkle over apples

Cinnamon or Apple pie spice, ( which ever your preference)

Lay the apples in a 9x9 baking dish. Mix the vanilla and water and sprinkle over them. Sprinkle over the spices. We generally sprinkle the spice till the apples are liberally coated. (Optional: chopped nuts, raisins or cranberries may be added) Set aside

Next, Topping:

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup of dry oat meal

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of flour

1/2 tsp salt

Chop all the ingredients in a dish with a pastry chopper. When the mixture is a medium, crumbly consistency, pour it evenly over the apples in the dish. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until done. May be served plain or with ice cream.

Note: mom has made this for so long with out a recipe that we had to have her record this twice as she made this dish. She got this recipe from my grandmother who probably never recorded it either;-)

From the Kitchen of Marilyn Wilken (Mare at Oak Hollow's mom)

Photo by Mary Fischer