For the second part of our Great Date (two “us” Mondays), we carved our pumpkin. For more about the date part, check it out here.
Don’t worry, we didn’t let those lovely pumpkin guts go to waste. I used the stringy pumpkin innards to make the most delicious bread. It’s been my breakfast every day this week! In the picture it’s fresh from the oven and buttered, but it actually tastes even better after a night saran wrapped in the fridge. It’s so good cold! I found this recipe last October.
I toasted the seeds based on this recipe, and we ate most of them in one sitting. They were so great we didn’t even need to shell them.
Pumpkin Bread
makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
3 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups of fresh pumpkin (the stringy part separated from the seeds)
1/2 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar in large mixing bowl. Add eggs, water, oil and pumpkin. Stir until blended. Add nuts. Mix well. Pour into two 9×5″ loaf pans. Bake 1 hour. Cool slightly and take out of pans to let cool on a rack.
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Ingredients
Seeds from one pumpkin (separated from flesh)
water
salt
olive oil
Instructions
For every 1/2 cup of seeds, you will need 2 cups of water and 2 teaspoons of salt.
Rinse seeds under cold water. In a pot, combine appropriate amounts of seeds, water and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. (start timer when water is at a full boil). Remove from heat and drain well. Pat mostly dry with a paper towel.
Coat a baking sheet with about a tablespoon of oil (I used one with a one inch rim to keep seeds from spilling). Spread seeds on the sheet in one layer.
Bake for about 20 minute or until they start to brown. Remove from oven and set pan on a rack to cool. Sprinkle with salt to taste.
