A Card From Seretha

Hi;

Here is a card from Seretha that Gwin brought and shared with Laviece and me.

I asked for the card so I could scann it and share it with the rest of my siblings.

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Pumpkin Bread

PUMPKIN BREAD

We decided not to carve the big pumpkin we put on the front porch for halloween.  Robert carved the small one and we also put out the ceramic pumpkin.

From Pumpkin_Bread

The pumpkins remained on the front porch until yesterday; oh well, time flys when you are having a good time.  So yesterday the small pumpkin went to the compost bin.  The ceramic pumpkin went back in the cabinet and the big one to the kitchen.

The first thing I did was to cut the stem off as close as possible to the pumpkin.  Next I cut the pumpkin in half along the equator.  Then I scooped out the seeds and strings from the inside.

Cooking a pumpkin is easy; just put some tin foil on a baking sheet and place the pumpkin cut side down on the foil and bake until a knife goes right in with out resistance.  For this big pumpkin I set the timer on an hour and a half and it was ready.

Once cooked you can peel the skin right off pumpkin halves and what you are left with looks like a couple of bunt cakes.

I put the normal mixer blade in the big Kitchen-aid mixer and started feeding in the cooked pumpkin.  It actually filled up the mixer and I had to take some out to make room for the whole thing.  The result filled a large mixing bowl.  I also poured in the liquid that cooked out of the pumpkin halves.  This complets the preparation of the pumpkin.   What you now have is something sort of like what you would get if you purchased canned pumpkin fromt he store.

For the recipe I googled for it and found a "Quick Pumpkin Bread Recipe" at http://allrecipes.com/.  

From Pumpkin_Bread

From Pumpkin_Bread

 The way the recipe reads is:

To make one 9"X5" Loaf of Pumpkin Bread Preheat Oven To 350F (coat the loaf pan with cooking spray or buter).

INGREDIENT LIST

1/2 cup --- Unsalted Butter
1   cup --- White Sugar
2   eggs
2   cups -- Pumpkin Puree
1/2 teasp - Ground Cinnamon
1/8 teasp - Chinese Five Spice Powder
1/8 teasp - Allspice Powder
2   cups -- All Purpose Flour
1   teasp - Salt
1   teasp - Baking Powder
1   teasp - Baking Soda
3/4 cup   - Walnuts Chopped

MIXING DIRECTIONS

• Soften the butter and with a wooden spoon or spatula cream the butter in a bowl.  
• Cream in the sugar into the creamed butter with the spoon until totally mixed.
• Mix in the eggs (one at a time) until completely mixed into the butter and sugar.
• Mix in the Pumpkin Puree until completely mixed.
  
  
• In a separate bowl I whisked together the flower, spices, salt and backing powder and baking soda.

• Next add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just barely mixed. 
• Finally mix in the walnut pieces. And pour the batter into the greased loaf pan.

BAKING DIRECTIONS

• Place the loaf pan in the preheated oven and bake for one hour.  To test for done insert a toot pick, if it comes out dry then the loaf is done.  If it comes out with bits of wet batter then cook for another five minutes.

MY MODIFICATIONS AND RESULTS

Because I think my pumpkin puree was a bit wetter than normal I did cook the loves for about 15 extra minutes testing every five minutes after one hour.

Because I did not have any Chinese Five Spice powder I substituted pumpkin pie spice.

Because I had so much pumpkin puree I doubled the recipe and made two makings producing four loves.  And had enough for two more loves left over.

From Pumpkin_Bread

From Pumpkin_Bread

Saturday Morning And Sunday Morning Breakfast

We usually eat cereal for breakfast during the weekday and then on Saturday and Sunday we sometimes have a cooked breakfast.  Here are two breakfasts I like to prepare.

Buttermilk Walfles:

The recipe is from the original Joy of Cooking cook-book, my favorite cook-book.

From 11/17/12

I keep the sifted, liquid and whipped ingredients separate until just before cooking the first waffle.

From 11/17/12

Biscuits, grits, and Eggs:  With orange juice, tea, molasses, honey, butter/margarine.  The grits were a bit dry this morning because I did not carefully measure the water.

From 11/18/12

First Post Retirement Bike Ride

Yesterday was the two-week anniversary of the end of my full time working career.

Day before yesterday was a nice warm day so I did the 'Crabtree-Creek' ride up past the mall the end then back down to where House Creek Trail starts up.  This was the second time I've done the House Creek Trail and I really like it.  The way I do it is to ride all the way to the NC Museum of Art the get on Blue Ridge Road and take it back down the hill to the Mall where I rejoin the greenway and head back home.

Here are the stats:

24.01 ... KM ----- (A bit low by about 1km)
17.20 ... KPH ---- average
46.50 ... KPH ---- max (down the hill)
01:23 ... HH:MM -- nice ride!