Pumpkin Banana Nut Bread

Here in the U.S., it's Thanksgiving Week! Which means lots and lots of shopping.

For food, of course! Making Jenn a very hungry girl for her favorite fall flavors. So today I decided to cook up a recipe I came across on Pinterest. But like always, I was out of many ingredients--some I expected and some I did not--and I tend to improvise to my own tastes anyway.

Below, you'll find my version of the recipe. (Hint: it turned out fantastic!)

Pumpkin Banana Nut Bread

Based on this recipe from Vegan Yack Attack

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup Pumpkin Puree
•    3/4 cup mashed Banana (about 2 small bananas worth)
•    3/4 cup Sugar
• 2 tablespoons Ground Flax Seed
• 6 tablespoons warm Water
• 3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 1 tablespoon (Blackstrap) Molasses 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 cup White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
   
• 1/4 cup Quick Oats
• About 2 tablespoons (20g) chopped Walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
    
2. Begin by adding the ground flax seed to the warm water. Mix and let sit. (This will act as your egg substitute. Or so I'm told.)
    
3. In a large bowl, combine your wet ingredients: pumpkin puree, banana, sugar, oil, molasses and vanilla. Add in your goopy flax seed concoction and mix thoroughly.
    
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. If you're like me, you'll realize at this point that you only have 3/4 cup worth of wheat flour left and have to fulfill the remaining 3/4 cup of flour with white. No biggie. Carry on!
    
5. Add the dry mixture to the wet. Stir until you have a nice chunky, even brownish/orangish bowl of deliciousness. I highly endorse licking the bowl clean after this next step.
    
6. Divide the batter between two loaf pans. Personally, I could only find one... So I used two small oval cake pans instead.
    
7. In a small bowl, combine the oats and walnuts. Divide into two and sprinkle over the batter.
    
8. Bake for about 50 minutes.
    
9. Remove pans from oven and cool on rack. Once the pans are cool to touch, remove the bread. Enjoy!

You won't end up with a traditional loaf using this recipe; it will be on the flatter side. But it's healthy! Per 16 servings (at about 58g per serving) the nutrition facts are as follows:

PER SERVING: 140 Calories; Total Fat: 4.2g (Saturated: .5g, Polyunsaturated: 2.3g, Monounsaturated: .7g, Trans: 0); Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 117.6mg; Potassium: 131.4mg; Total Carbs: 24.6g (Dietary Fiber: 3.4g, Sugars: 12.4g); Protein: 2.6g.

Vitamin A: 65.8%  Vitamin C: 2.1%  Calcium: 2.3%  Iron: 6.5%

I'm thinking this pretty little thing is good enough to gift!

A Little History for Thursdays: First Ever...

Jenn's first ever Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie!!!

Okay, well it's historic for me...

And received compliments all around ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

All Media Mondays: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

If you can't enjoy a good Charlie Brown special, then what kind of human being are you?  It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is such a classic Halloween thrill!  Charlie and his buddies can help you get hyped for just about any and every holiday.  The wah-wah-ing never gets old!

For those who are unfamiliar, check out the Wikipedia page.  Then get ready for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving playing this Thanksgiving at 8pm on ABC!

(From 2008)

What's YOUR favorite Charlie Brown special?

Make Me Something Sundays: Jack-o'-Lantern Tarts *REPOST*

I'm reposting this already to show how easily transformable my Halloween recipes are and because I happen to be using this to make our Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie!  The recipe is really that good and I've added on Martha's recipe for the Pate Brisee, which is the perfect buttery, flaky pie crust!  (I'm omitting the parts to make the top crust for my pie this week, but they still show in the recipe below.)

This is one of my more holiday-specific recipes than can easily be converted into an anytime treat! I made these for the first time a couple months ago and they turned out absolutely delicious! The recipe is from MarthaStewart.com and the photo is of my own outcome.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 12.

All-purpose flour, for dusting

1 1/2 recipes Pate Brisee (Pie Dough) (see below)

1 fifteen-ounce can solid-pack pumpkin

puree

3 large eggs

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

1 large egg yolk

DIRECTIONS

1. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one disk of

dough to a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out six 6-inch circles. Fit

pastry in bottoms of six 3 3/4-inch fluted tart tins. Trim

overhanging edges. Place tins on an ungreased baking

sheet, and transfer sheet to refrigerator; chill shells until

firm, about 30 minutes. Repeat with second disk of dough,

lining six more tins.

2. Roll out third disk of dough to an 1/8-inch thickness, and

cut out twelve 3-inch circles. Place circles on a parchment-

lined baking sheet, and transfer to refrigerator. Chill until

very firm, about 30 minutes.

3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk

together pumpkin puree, eggs, honey, sugar, 1 cup heavy

cream, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. In a small bowl,

lightly beat together egg yolk and remaining 2 tablespoons

heavy cream. Remove the tart tins from refrigerator, and

brush crusts with egg glaze. Divide filling among shells.

4. Transfer baking sheet to oven, and bake tarts until

edges are golden brown and filling has set, about 30

minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool.

5. Remove chilled pastry circles from refrigerator. Using a

clean utility knife or a sharp paring knife, cut a jack-o-

lantern face into each circle. Chill faces in freezer 15

minutes. Brush faces with remaining egg glaze.

6. Transfer baking sheet to oven, and bake faces until

golden brown, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

7. When pies and faces have cooled, place one face on

each tart.

CRUST

INGREDIENTS 

Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9- 

to 10-inch pies. 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon sugar 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled 

and cut into small pieces 

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water 

DIRECTIONS 

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and 

sugar. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles 

coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds. 

2. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady 

stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together 

without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more 

than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount 

together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon 

at a time. 

3. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into 

a disc and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and 

chill at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to 1 

month. 

I had a ridiculously tough time finding tart tins of the size it calls for, so I used some a little bigger and some a little smaller. They all turned out great!

Let me know if you try this recipe out. Send me pictures, suggestions, etc. and I'll post them!