Pumpkin bread

Yesterday was crisp, cool and a little drizzly. Bob had a funeral to sing for in the morning and then Mass in the afternoon, so any plans for getting out to do fall sort of things went right out the window. I used the day for a baking session of assorted muffins and breads that were made with healthy ingredients and could be frozen in portion controlled sizes for later. It's probably just as well, as we learned that Bob ( and most likely Nick) has a rather serious allergy to both mosquitoes and now Chiggers. They start out looking like a mosquito bite, then get a fluid filled bump on the top of them, itch to an insanity provoking level and then turn bright, beet red in a spot about 3 inches in diameter for a few days. Insect repellents without DEET serve as basting sauce, and those with DEET are harmful, so it really makes me consider any benefits of any kind of outdoor activities now. We have been having a chigger epidemic here for the last 3 years, and somehow they have invaded our car. No way to avoid exposure to them in the car, not completely sure how to kill the ones in there, and not a whole lot of answers found for this. So to cut down on any further possible exposure, the woods are out for now. Walking will have to take place indoors.

So, the baking opportunity yesterday was a good thing. Cool temps make a warm oven a very welcoming thing. I made apple corn muffins, pumpkin bran muffins and something called Velvet Pumpkin bread for last night's dessert. We have a practice of getting a "treat" for the weekend, and if you bake it yourself you can save both money and calories. This one turned out very good !

                      Velvet Pumpkin Bread (3.5 PTS- 16 servings)


                        Vegetable oil spray
  1                cup  canned pumpkin
                        Egg substitute equivalent to 2 eggs
                        --OR 2 eggs slightly beaten
     1/3           cup  fat-free milk
  2        tablespoons  light margarine
  1         tablespoon  vegetable oil
  2               cups  all-purpose flour
  2          teaspoons  baking powder
  1           teaspoon  ground cinnamon
     1/2      teaspoon  ground ginger
     1/4      teaspoon  ground nutmeg
     1/4      teaspoon  salt
     1/2           cup  chopped pecans -- dry-roasted
     1/2           cup  sugar
     1/2           cup  firmly packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 10x5x3-inch loaf pan with
vegetable oil spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl,
combine pumpkin, egg, milk, margarine, and oil, stirring well. In a large
bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and
salt. Stir in remaining ingredients, mixing
well.

Make a well in center of flour mixture. Pour
pumpkin mixture all at once into well. Stir until just moistened. Don't
overmix. Pour batter into loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour
or until cake tester or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove
from pan and let cool on cooling rack.

Makes 16
Servings (slices)

Per Serving:
Calories
159
Protein  3 g
Carbohydrates 28 g
Total
Fat 4g (1 g. sat.)
Sodium 127 mg
% calories from fat
23
Fiber 2g
Cholesterol 0 mg

Deli at home

Spring brings the blossoming of road construction in our area. We are in the outer suburbs of Chicago, and distances are not measured in mileage, but in time. Bob serves at one church 30 minutes away , and another 20 minutes in the opposite direction. When the commute to the 30 minute church is impacted by road construction, that route can expand to an hour commute each way. If that happens on a Saturday it means rather than having him and the car until 3 pm, we only have the opportunity till 2 pm, so you have to re-think some things. This was the first week of construction, and we decided to air on the side of caution, streamline as much as we can to afford him an ample enough window of time to deal with whatever road construction tossed his way.
We started the day with pumpkin oats- one of my personal favorite oat mixes. For 3 people I combine 3 cups of water, 2 T raisins, a small can of solid pack pumpkin, 1T cinnamon and 1 1/2 cups rolled oats. Cook till the oats are thick , place in a bowl with a spoonful of peanut butter, a tablespoon of flax, tablespoon of coconut, tablespoon of cranberries and tablespoon of slivered almonds.I think I am a kid at heart, because I love to mix things together in a bowl. It's like playing with food !

Then it was off to handle grocery shopping. Three stops, a list that suggested it would be easier just to move to a farm than shop, and three people. We have become a very efficient shopping machine ! I print out a list for each person to follow , and we all head off to gather our items. We come home and everyone has their own rolls in the putting away process. Normally we eat lunch at our produce market, but this day in the interest of time we decided to create a deli at home, using the last of the salads from the previous week and a few additions

Turkey pastrami with provolone on a pretzel roll ( these in NO WAY classify as healthy , but something Bob ADORES, so better to incorporate them in some way than avoid them and bring on a binge). It was met with a Beet Salad ( cabbage, shredded beets and carrots) Colorful Salad( broccoli, corn, red and orange peppers) and Quinoa Bean salad, a few remaining celery and carrot sticks and a handful of garlic pita chips. This was my first time trying these , and I love them ! Chip satisfaction with a lot less fat and sodium . I kept thinking these paired with hummus would be a great contribution to an time a munchie was called for.

The afternoon found me chopping, chopping, chopping ( another 3 hour session), and then finally dinner
Romaine and watercress topped with papaya,pineapple, mango, honeydew, strawberries and cantaloupe. Main course was roast veggie pizza on a high fiber wrap ( green peppers, broccoli, carrots and mozzarella cheese. Somehow I neglected to put mushrooms on the list ! I thought it was very odd that we were buying no mushrooms, but decided to trust the list I made. I hope I do not find some meals to be seriously lacking in flavor because of this !

Breakfast and meeting the stairs

What better way to begin a cold morning than with a bowl of pumpkin oats ?

1 cup water
1/4 cup solid pack pumpkin
1/2 cup of barley flake and oat flake mix
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

After cooking I topped it with
1 tbsp shredded coconut
2 tbsp ground flax
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 tbsp pumpkin seed, sunflower seed and sliced almond mix
1 tsp coconut oil

I think I could eat this 3 meals a day seven days a week ! It just amazes me that I never realized you should eat oatmeal any way but plain until I started reading blogs !

The plows have come through and the crews have been out shoveling the walks, but last nights temps dipped way below freezing and there are several slippery patches out on the walks and roads. Time to get creative with exercise here ! Instead of bundling up and heading outside, we are going to do a stair climbing work out. We live on the 3rd floor of a building with an elevator, so the goal is to ride the elevator down and then walk up 3 times. Why not walk down ? My knee does not handle climbing down well, and there are no activity points to be gained through falling down 3 flights of concrete stairs. Considering we do not usually climb the stairs, I think 3 passes is a good number to begin with !