I have a stack of recipes that are loose and unbound. They are either hand written, or printed from the internet and emails. When I want a recipe, I pull out the stack and start shifting through it. I am the only person in the house who can touch the stack. I know exactly where a recipe should be and they should never get out of “my” order.
Huge panic erupts when I cannot find a recipe. The thought or idea that I have lost or miss placed a recipe is devastating. Yes, yes, yes, I know, I should have a better system for keeping recipes, but I am a procrastinator and a creature of disorganized chaos.
Two weeks ago, I made pumpkin bread. This weekend I went looking for the recipe and it was nowhere to found. I went through the stack of recipes twice and could not find it. My over active imagination started churning with the “what if’s.” What if it got thrown away when my husband cleaned the kitchen? Did Lily, our paper-shredding cat, get her paws on it? Was it mistaken as scratch paper and used by the kids for math homework? Gasp!
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| Lily, A.K.A. The Paper Shredder |
So panic with setting in, I start pulling cookbooks out of my cabinet and riffling through them. This is one of those recipes, I do not need to read what is on the paper; it is burned in my memory. Though without the paper in my hand, I cannot remember any of it besides canned pumpkin.
After emptying the cabinet, the recipe is nowhere to found. My kitchen is a disaster, and Lily was stalking recipes that have fallen on the floor. Dejected I sit down at my computer, only to look over at the printer. Yep, sitting on top of the printer is my recipe for pumpkin bread. I placed it there to scan into the computer, in case I ever lost the paper copy.
Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16 oz can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie)
3 cups of all purpose flour
3 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg (if you have the time, grind it fresh)
1 teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoon of baking powder
** Optional you can add either add 1 cup chopped walnuts or pumpkin seeds**
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare two 9X5X3 inch loaf pans by buttering and flouring.
In large bowl beat sugar and oil until blended. Mix in eggs and pumpkin.
In separate bowl sift remaining dry ingredients, and then slowly stir into pumpkin mixture.
Divide batter between the prepared pans, sprinkle with nuts and bake for 70 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on wire racks.
This recipe can be used to make one dozen pumpkin muffins, prepare tins as above or use cupcake papers. Bake for 20 minutes, insert toothpick to check doneness
