banana pumpkin bread.

the end of summer has come and gone although 70 degree days are still gracing us with their warm presence on our backs. with the end of anything always come a new beginning. the seasonal change of autumn has been a favorite of mine since childhood. while the return to school and the closing of the pool caused anxiety and depression; the smell of new erasers, jumping in crispy leaf piles and hand-picked apples could usually ease the tranisition to fall.

as september weeks pass, we've already seen the local farmers markets carrying piles of bright orange pumpkins ready to make an appearance on your table if not ready for carving in a short 6 weeks. pumpkin-banana bread has been a recipe i've only made a few times in the past years but to me really says fall in all the ways it should. it's a warm, hearty bread made healthy with some simple substitutions that most of you should have in your pantry and can be enjoyed simply on its own, always better topped with butter (come on, its low-fat, you can add some budda) and my personal choice, toasted lightly and smeared with a generous dollop of natural peanut butter.

for this banana pumpkin bread recipe, i adapted from a few recipes i found on the good old Internets.

first i gathered my dry ingredients

1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup oatmeal

mix together gently with a fork and set aside.

then find all your wet ingredients:

2 mashed ripe bananas
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon canola oil (or any other flavorless oil)
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/3 cup skim milk (unpictured, sorry)

mix sugar and eggs first till yellow and light, then add bananas, pumpkin, apple sauce, oil and milk.

then you'll want to spice it up!

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon molasses
pinch of cloves

once you've added your spices, then add your bowl of dry ingredients in three stages till just combined. then fold in 1/3 cup chopped walnuts for texture before pouring into a loaf pan coated and floured with cooking spray.

bake bread at 325 for 60 minutes or until your toothpick or in my case fork comes out clean.

cool for about 5 minutes or until you can't stand it anymore.
the milk is pretty key to enjoyment of this said bread too. but its optional of course, just a general rule for myself that baked good are always improved with the assistance of icey cold milk.

after munching on some bread and playing tennis, nelzo used his snazzy new hitchcock application purchased from a bday app card from george to storyboard a little bread movie about a typical exchange we may have had on any given baked good.

**props to papa c. for use of his sick nikon which took the best pictures to date. **