Pineapple Pumpkin Bread

I have had enough of perusing all my magazines and cookbooks for the perfect dish for Thanksgiving.  I no longer want to see the inside of the grocery store.  I just want to enjoy my time at home with my family.  Why do I put all this pressure on myself to come up with this fantastic menu that’s going to knock everyone’s socks off?  My inner self or ego whatever you want to call it somehow thinks that I’m being  judged by some great food editors so I must out perform what I did last year! Why can’t I just keep it simple?  No, I  have to cook two turkeys.  One on the grill and another in the oven.  Why do I want to cook two desserts?  You’d think that I was running a restaurant where everyone gets to place an order.   This is going to stop this year.  There I have said it.  No more trying to find perfection.   What was wrong with the perfection that I made last year or the year before that?  I am sticking to my guns and making my tried and true recipes that will please everyone and not drive me insane!   Before I started blogging three years ago I did not have this problem, but now when I cook a dish I say to myself, ” Cook a new recipe that you will be able to blog about it.”   I can kill two birds at once.  Then the ultimate goes wrong as it did this past weekend.   Two of the recipes that I chose were complete duds.  I mean they were bad.  Both went into the garbage and I was back to square one at eleven o’clock on Saturday night and lunch was to be served at one on Sunday.  Serves me right.  I should do as I tell my students.  DO NOT try a new recipe when you are having guests.  So it is totally my fault.   You are my witness I have turned over a new leaf!!  And to make myself feel better about my kitchen disappointments  I got myself into the kitchen and whipped up my new favorite bread that is great for the holidays, but truthfully I love it all year-long.

One way that I keep my sanity throughout the year along with trying to get a few pounds off my hips is by walking with my Tennessee friend, neighbor, and colleague.  We have been walking in the early hours of the morning,  in the summer heat and humidity, when the wind chill was in the single digits, and certainly when I did not want to get my body out of the bed for six years.  Knowing that she’ll be waiting on me I have to show up.  It’s mega peer pressure let me tell you.  Anyway,  we’ve had many hours to share what is going on in our lives in the last six years and I would say that seventy-five percent of the time we talk cooking.  We both have a passion for it.  Last year she shared this recipe for Pineapple Pumpkin Bread and it is wonderful.  I just love it in the morning with a cup of coffee.  It is perfect with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger that just screams holidays as it permeates the kitchen  when it’s baking .  Deliciousness!   Now I am not one for anything super sweet, in fact I’m that weird one that takes the icing off the cake before eating it.  I love that this bread is not overly sweet, but if you wanted that type of indulgence a good addition would be a cream cheese frosting or a light glaze made with powdered sugar and your favorite flavoring.

Here is the perfect way to start your holiday season easy, moist, and irresistible  Pineapple Pumpkin Bread brought to me by my friend Jane and her mother Kay.  Now it is here for you to enjoy as much as I have for the last year!

Pineapple Pumpkin Bread  from Kay Wice 

• 3 1/2 cups Plain Flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 16 0z. can pumpkin
• 1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup pecans, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.
3. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar,baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
4. Add eggs and oil.  Mix well.  I used a mixer for this step.
5. Add pineapple, pumpkin, and pecans.  I mixed these in by hand.
6. Pour into loaf pans.
7. Bake for about 40-45 minutes.     Check doneness with a cake tester.  (  I found that the cooking time varies depending on the pan that is used so watch them carefully)

A few side notes to ensure that you have good results:

• I have used three different types of loaf pans.  The one that I have had the best luck with is this 2-qt. Corningware loaf pan.  It makes a higher and prettier loaf.  With the leftover batter I filled these 2 individual loaf pans.  I probably could have filled three.
• I used three different glass loaf pans and found that the cooking time varied 5 – 10 minutes.  You will have to watch your bread carefully.  Once I didn’t cook it long enough and it was a little gooey in the middle.
• This bread freezes very well and is great heated in the microwave for a few seconds.