Pumpkin Bread

I make some pretty awesome pumpkin bread.  It rivals the stuff sitting in the Starbucks pastry case (well…actually it beats it – I don’t really like the pumpkin seeds the are on top of the Starbucks stuff).  The only problem is my normal recipe calls for at least 3 cups of sugar.  I only like to make my recipe once or twice a year because of that – but I LOVE pumpkin bread, so I’m now in search of a better recipe.

Attempt #1.  This is good, but not good enough to make again.  The texture is too gooey.  We’ll see what it tastes like on Day 2.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (about 1/2 a 29 oz can)
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

I poured the batter into an 8x11 baking dish and baked at 350.

40 minutes later I ended up with a very dense and doughy pumpkin bread.

Still steamy from the oven – it was delicious!  Hopefully it makes good breakfasts during the week.

Joel was having a little too much fun playing with the remote for my new camera the other day.

Life is never boring around here.

Hedgehog Time

Our dinner with Pike Place ingredients wasn’t nearly as gourmet as I had envisioned, we ended up keeping it really simple so the highlights would be the fun ingredients we purchased at the market.

First – a close-up of the hedgehog mushrooms:

Aren’t they so cool looking???

And the final product…we tossed the pasta with a little pesto and parmesan cheese, and sauteed the mushrooms with a little margarine.  The mushrooms cooked down a ton – we thought we had purchased plenty for our meal, but Joel and I each only ended up with a couple bites.

 

I really want to take advantage of all of the awesome wild mushrooms we have here in the Pacific Northwest.  I’m thinking about going to a class put on by the Puget Sound Mycological Society so that Joel and I can go hunt mushrooms on our own.  How cool does that sound???  Hedgehog and black trumpet season is almost over, but morel season is coming up!!

Pike Place Menus

Today we played tourists in our own city and headed down to Pike Place Market.  We navigated the crowds and came away with delicious lunches and ingredients for a fun dinner.

 

Joel’s lunch…a sloppy (but amazing) gyro.

My lunch…crab cocktail.

And delicious dinner ingredients.

I’ll be back later with our dinner creation…assuming it turns out well!

You Better BELIZE It!

We’re headed to BELIZE in November!  We just booked out trip last week (using miles of course)…and now comes the fun part…nine months of planning.
Since the snorkeling is good and there are caves to raft through…we’ve decided we need a waterproof camera. Does anyone have any good recommendations? 
Here are two of the cameras we’re currently looking at…we’re hoping that some good deals come up between now and our trip...
Pentax Optio W90:


Fujifilm FinePix XP10:

Recipe for Refinishing Wood Floors

Start with floors that look like this:

Incorporate an awesome machine.

and a motivated husband.

And ta-da! Refinished wood floors.

 

Hi Moxie!