Pumpkin bread

Yesterday, as I was putting potatoes away in the storage room (5 lbs of 'local' potatoes for $.99- a good price- even though the local was Nebraska. I need to pick up some more while they're still on sale since I'm supposed to supply mashed potatoes for 15 for Thanksgiving!) I noticed that one of my winter squash had a funky looking spot on it. This prompted me to check all of them. I discovered that two were just beginning to go bad. Yeesh, it's not even winter yet! I guess the wet year has made them too wet to store well. I'll have to keep a close eye on all of them this year.

Anyway, I ended up with two buttercup squash that needed used- pronto! So I cut out the bad bits and roasted them in the oven. You know the drill, cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, cut side down on your baking pan and cook in the oven (400) till they can easily be pierced with a knife.

I already had the oven going since I was baking wheat bread (and rye) for us (and I needed some to take for a donation to the free lunch program) so this wasn't a big deal.

But then, after scooping out the yummy insides, I was presented with a problem:

A whole bowl of squash!

That's a 2.5 quart bowl full of squash. That's a lot of yummy, nutritious goodness to use.

So I decided to make pumpkin bread. It seemed in keeping with the day- even though I'm using squash. It really doesn't matter, pumpkin and squash are pretty interchangeable. In fact, I remember hearing once that much of the commercially sold canned pumpkin is actually squash.

Pumpkin bread

Preheat oven to 350*

Beat together:

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Add in 2 cups pumpkin (or squash) puree.

In a separate bowl combine:

4 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp baking soda

Even though the original recipe doesn't call for it I also add 1/2 tsp cinnamon to the dry ingredients and some vanilla to the wet- probably about 1/2 tsp of vanilla- I'm not sure- I never measure it (oops)

Slowly blend dry ingredients into wet and divide batter evenly into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. And yes, it is important to flour them (trust me on this one from past experience).

Bake in your 350* oven for about an hour and:

Presto!

I actually made a double batch yesterday. I could have made more but I only own 4 loaf pans!

I've still got some squash puree in the fridge. I'm thinking maybe some soup for lunch, mmmmm.