Pumpkin Shortage

This past week, hubby and I were listening to the national news when Brian Williams announced that there would be a canned pumpkin shortage this year. He said, after Thanksgiving, Libby's canned pumpkin might become scarce because there was so much rain, the pumpkins rotted in the fields. I immediately looked at hubby and said, "Maybe we should pick up a few cans, just in case." He scrunched his face and answered, "Why? We don't even like pumpkin pie." "No," I said, "But you sure do love my pumpkin bread." His expression changed. "I didn't think about that," he said.

Then, yesterday, we were talking about food for Thanksgiving when he announced he'd like to have some pumpkin bread NOW. Guess he'd been thinking about it since we were talking about it the other night. Since I always make it for Thanksgiving anyway, I went ahead and baked.

Here's the recipe, in case you'd like to try it. This stuff is moist and spicy, and it's great for giving to family and friends during the holidays.

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease bottoms only on 2 regular loaf pans. (If you want to use as gifts in your goody baskets, use those small disposable pans, will probably make 5 or 6 little loaves.)

Beat together:

2/3 cup shortening

2 -2/3 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

until creamy.

Add to mixture:

1- 15 oz. can pumpkin

2/3 cup water

and mix until blended.

Blend together:

3- 1/3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 -1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. allspice

Blend into pumpkin mixture until well mixed.

Lastly, blend in:

1 cup black walnuts (black walnuts give it a fabulous flavor, but you can use regular walnuts if you prefer)

1 cup raisins

Pour into pans and bake for at least 1 hour. I start checking at the 1 hour mark, but mine usually take about 15 minutes longer. You can test by sticking a toothpick into the middle of the loaf or touching the tops with your fingertips.

When they're done, allow loaves to cool, then wrap in wax paper and aluminum foil and store in refrigerator. These will keep for quite a while and they also freeze well. The flavor is at optimum after they cool. Try a slice with your morning coffee or slap on a dollop of whipped cream and serve as dessert. Enjoy!

Devon

Slo Wri-tah

Yesterday, while most people were visiting with family, hunting Easter eggs, or whatever they decided to do to celebrate the holiday, hubby worked most of the day so, left to my own devices, I got in a good deal of writing time. Since the subject of speedy writing, of just pouring the words onto the page, has become an issue lately, I've been keeping track. No matter how I try, a good writing day for me is around 1,ooo new words on the page. I've found I spend about half my writing time producing new words. The other half, I spend going over the material I wrote the previous day or two and tweaking, layering in, etc. Most people tell me not to do this, but I have to. First of all, it brings me up to speed with where I left off in the story. Second, it brings the writing I have produced one step closer to being a finished product. Sorry all you prolific speed writers out there, but I just can't bring myself to let it all rip and end up with a first draft that will require intensive editing afterwards. I'd end up with a mess. I'm slow, but sure, and I've decided I'm comfortable with that. If I can consistently produce 1,000 words a day, that will give me a finished manuscript in 3 months time. That's plenty fast enough for me.

I hope you all had a good Easter weekend. I made the Pockets of Lemon cake yesterday. That thing is rich! I mean, sickeningly rich. One serving and I'm good in the sweet department for the rest of the week. Hubby liked it. He had a slice this morning with his coffee before going to work.

Another brewhaha in romanceland came to light over the weekend. Amazon has deranked most of the GLBT and erotic books listed on its site. Which means, they don't come up on the home page search engine. Since this caused such an uproar, Amazon is now trying to claim it was a glitch in the system. But there's documented evidence that someone made a conscious decision about this new policy. If you're interested, you can read all about it over at Dear Author. All of yesterday's posts (3 total) were dedicated to the controversy. Never a dull day in Romanceland.

Okay. I'm off to tweak another chapter and fill in a couple of missing scenes. Hope you all have a pleasant, productive day.

Devon

A Simple Cake Recipe

Easter is only a week away so I thought I'd share a recipe for a simple to make, yet yummy, dessert. I got this from a Kroger mailing. About twice a month, I receive an envelope from them with coupons and recipes. They send special mailings for holidays.

Pockets of Lemon Cake

Cake: 1 white cake mix.

Filling: 1 (3.4 oz.) box lemon instant pudding & pie filling, prepared

Frosting: 1 (16 oz.) can lemon or vanilla frosting and 1 (8 oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Preparation: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13X9 inch pan with flour no-stick baking spray. Prepare cake mix as directed on package. Spread batter in prepared pan. Drop pie filling by heaping teaspoonfuls evenly onto batter.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until edges pull away from pan and top is golden. Cool cake in pan for 45 minutes or until completely cooled.

Combine frosting and whipped topping in medium bowl; blend well. Spread over cooled cake. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Makes 16 servings.

It doesn't get much easier than that, and that picture is making me hungry. :o)

Enjoy!

Devon