for thanksgiving

on the eve of thanksgiving I made bread for the first time and the first kind of bread I made was pumpkin bread. I felt it fit the holiday well. Another recipe from my the new cook book

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil (vegetable oil)
4 eggs
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2/3 cup water
1 15-ounce can pumpkin

Baking instructions:
1. preheat oven to 350°F. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans (I used two Pyrex® 1-1/2-qt Loaf Dishes); set aside. In an extra-large mixing bowl beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer on med. speed (I just hand whipped it). Add eggs and beat well; set sugar mixture aside.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Alternately add flour mixture and the water to sugar mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined (again, I whipped it by hand). Beat in pumpkin. spoon batter into prepared pans (I used a spatula to help with this step).

3. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean (It took my electric oven 75 minutes on the middle rack with the loaves covered with aluminum foil to help prevent the tops of the loaves from burning). Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks (I don't own wire racks so I took the loaves out of the pans and placed them on plastic wrap). Wrap and store overnight before slicing (I wrapped each loaf twice with plastic wrap).

When you cut the bread you can wrap each piece individually or individually Ziploc bag the pieces. Keep them in your car or bag during the cooler fall/winter months and they will be handy to give to people who look like they could benefit from some homemade bread. Some other items homeless people I've met seem to appreciate are socks and gift certificates to fast food restaurants (I like to choose places that have dollar menus).