SpruceHill

Pumpkin Gingerbread

It is the perfect time of year to pull out those fall recipes. I have been craving pumpkin bread so I thought I would share my pumpkin gingerbread recipe with you. It is a twist on the your traditional recipe for pumpkin bread.

Ingredients

• 4 Eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups of Sugar 
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of turbinado or raw sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two loaf pans.
2. In a large mixing, combine eggs, oil and sugar; beat until smooth. Add water and pumpkin, beat until well blended. 
3. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder and spices. Slowly add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between two prepared loaf pans. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
4. Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour.

 

This recipe fills the house with the smell of fall! Enjoy!

Printable recipe will be available on Tasty Kitchen in my recipe box.
  

Hot Fudge Sauce

I thought I would post a recipe today to celebrate the fact that one of my Tasty Kitchen recipes is posted on Pioneer Woman Cooks today. Yup! Is that cool or what? I have been having so much fun over at Tasty Kitchen making friends and finding new recipes. Go on over and check it out if you haven't already.

This is one of my all time favorite recipes. It is from my Aunt Janie and is a family favorite. I remember going to her house as a kid and she always had a pot of this hot fudge sauce on the stove. It made me very happy!

The Ingredients

2 cups of sugar

4 squares or ounces of bakers unsweetened chocolate

1 cup of  heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

4 Tbs butter

 Combine  sugar, chocolate and heavy cream in a double boiler or sauce pan stirring constantly until all are combined and brought to a slow boil about 10 minutes. cCool slightly and stir in vanilla and butter.

That's it! Super simple and quick, the best over ice cream or my favorite angle food cake and vanilla ice cream. It is a great combination.

Jamming with Blackberries

On Friday we all headed over to my Mom and Dad's house to do some berry picking. They have the most amazing bushes. Branches bending over with the weight of ripe juicy sweet berries.

I have a lot of memories of our farm growing up when I pick blackberries. We had bushes there too. Amazing bushes. Picking now sends me reeling back to the past. Yes there are some good garden memories up there bumping around in my head. These definitely overshadow the rotten tomato fights and weeding the enormous garden on the hottest day of the summer when my parents made us all go pick a row and start weeding.Where was I going with this? Oh yes the blackberries!

 

I have always wanted to make my own jam and on Saturday I did just that! It was so satisfying to make and can my own jam. I can not describe the feeling of complete cooking accomplishment. Growing up my Mom canned EVERYTHING I never thought I would do any myself, but I did and it was fun!

Here is what you need

• 5 cups Fresh Blackberries
• 7 cups Sugar
• 1 box(es) Fruit Pectin
• ½ teaspoons Butter
• 12 canning jars with two piece lids

Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water, or in the dishwasher. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use.

Crush blackberries thoroughly, one layer at a time.

STIR pectin into fruit mixture in saucepan. Add butter to reduce foaming, if desired. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn’t stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

 

LADLE immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with 2-piece lids making sure your lids are dry. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on a cool dry surface. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. (If lid springs back, lid is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)
You will hear the tops popping when they start to cool. This means they are sealing. It was so exciting standing there listening to all the jars popping away. It was very satisfying, my life is so glamorous!

 

 

 Yup that is right you do not have to use a canning pot! It is so easy and doable. Try it you just might get addicted to canning jelly. I did!

*Printable recipe can be found on Tasty Kitchen

Fresh Crab and Avocado Bruschetta

• 1 whole Sweet Red Pepper
• ½ whole Purple Onion
• 3 whole Ripe Red Tomatoes
• 2 whole Avocados, Diced
• 1 clove Garlic, Diced
• 1 bunch(es) Fresh Cilantro
• 1 bunch(es) Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley
• 2 cups Lime Juice
• ½ cups Lemon Juice
• 2 teaspoons Brown Sugar
• 1 pound Jumbo Lump Crab Meat

Preparation Instructions

In a large bowl dice first seven ingredients.

Before dicing the tomato squeeze the juice out of the center of the tomato to make dicing easier. Combine juices and brown sugar, Add juice mixture to the diced vegetables to make sure the avocado does not turn brown.

The crab meat is the best part of this recipe, depending where you live it might be hard to find. One of the perks to living in Maryland is fresh crab meat pretty much every month of the year! If you live in an area where it is difficult to find crab meat you can use steamed shrimp instead of crab meat. Pick Lump crab meat to make sure it is free of stray shells. Add crab meat to veggie mixture and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for up to 3 hours. Serve with a fresh crusty sliced baguette.

 Enjoy!

 A printable recipe is available on Tasty Kitchen.