Thanksgiving, the ultimate foodie holiday

Honey and Walnut Pumpkin Bread

Since Thanksgiving is just a few days away, I will be baking like crazy tomorrow. I'm tasked with bringing the desserts -- pumpkin pie and apple pie. This is quite a foodie holiday, isn't it? The food at Christmas is always great as well, but for this holiday, it's really all about the food.

I saw a friend at church yesterday and she was excited but nervous about making her first Thanksgiving meal for her family. It wasn't too long ago that I was in her shoes. The one thing I learned from making turkey on Thanksgiving is that it's not as difficult as you might think. I'll leave it to the experts (1-800-BUTTERBALL) to give you tips and tricks about turkeys, but I remember thinking after making my first one that I should make more turkeys throughout the year since it was fairly simple and provided great leftovers. Perhaps the most difficult thing on Thanksgiving is coordinating all the side dishes -- baking or reheating so that every dish is perfectly warm when you're ready to eat. For that, all I suggest is to prepare as much as you can ahead of time and have a few helpers in the kitchen.

But since I'm only tasked with making dessert this year, I'll give you some recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth. As I said, I'm making pumpkin pie and to let you in on a little secret, I use the recipe on the back of the Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin can. The pumpkin pies have turned out perfectly every single time, so why mess with a good thing? In addition, I found a more healthy pumpkin bread recipe from Whole Foods. It was delicious, but a little too healthy-tasting for me. However, a good friend of mine said that it suited her tastes perfectly.

Whatever you make (or just buy) for Thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful food-filled day with friends and family!

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie
(Courtesy of Libby's)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 can (12 fl. oz) evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell

Method:
Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.

Bake in preheated 425 degree F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F; bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Note: Do not freeze pie, as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.

Note #2: 1 3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice may be substituted for the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, however, the taste will be slightly different.

Honey and Walnut Pumpkin Bread
(Courtesy of Whole Foods)

Ingredients:
Canola oil cooking spray
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup oat bran or wheat germ
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
6 tablespoons cane sugar
1/3 cup canola or sunflower oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cups fresh or canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch loaf pan with canola oil cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, oat bran, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda. In a second large bowl, combine sugar, oil, honey, milk, pumpkin, egg and vanilla then add to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in walnuts.

Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan and bake until cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack then remove from pan and set aside to let cool completely.

Serves 8-10

Nutrition
Per serving (1 piece/113g-wt.): 320 calories (150 from fat), 17g total fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 25mg cholesterol, 170mg sodium, 39g total carbohydrate (5g dietary fiber, 19g sugar), 7g protein