Recipe Review: My Mom's Pumpkin Nut Bread

It's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's pushing 90 degrees and smoggy. Those of you out there in Wisconsin or other snowy locales who watch the Rose Parade on tv every year and dream of sunny, warm Christmases, trust me on this: Endless days of sunshine can be just as depressing as rain, especially when it comes to this season when fuzzy sweaters, sipping warm cider in front of a fire, hot ovens filled with yummy things, and snuggling under blankets all contribute to engendering the ever-elusive Holiday Spirit. When you can't comfortably have or do any of those things without risking heat stroke, how are you supposed to get all cheery about the winter holidays? It's a challenge. But I've been trying. It helped tremendously that yesterday the fabulous Miss Kelly hosted her annual Turkey Party--an event that is fast becoming my all-time favorite holiday. But my attempt at holiday cheer first began a few weeks ago during a brief spell of cooler weather (highs in the 60s, woohoo!) when I baked a batch of my mom's pumpkin nut bread. The Best Ever.

Here's what you'll need:

• My mom's recipe (See it there all stained with years of repeat performances? It makes me happy just to see that worn-out old scrap of paper. You can't have it, but you can have the recipe.)
• 1 large can of prepared pumpkin
• 5 cups of flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 cup shortening (Uhm, I never said this bread was healthy.)
• 4 cups granulated sugar (Yikes! I hope my whole-grain-loving mother-in-law isn't reading this...)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 eggs (Oh, Lord, help me.)
• 1 cup water (There we go. Water is good for us.)
• 1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat your oven to 350. (If you have a diabolical oven that hates you and lives to make your culinary life a living hell like mine does, then you should set it for 275-300 and pray that it eventually settles at around 350.) Cream the sugar and shortening together in a big bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs and blend well. (Ooooh, that looks like cake batter, doesn't it? Now I want cake. Sigh.) Sift all the dry ingredients and spices together. If you're like me and don't have a real one, you can use the poor girl's sifting method. It works just fine and is waaaaay easier to clean than my mom's old hand sifter that has little pebbles of dried flour stuck in it that have probably been there for 30 years. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the sugar and egg mixture. Add water, pumpkin, and the nuts and mix well. Pour the mixture into three greased bread pans (or a whole mess of mini bread pans or like a million muffin cups). Bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean (I start checking it at 45 minutes, but it usually takes a lot longer than that to be done). When you're all finished, you'll have these gorgeous ladies smiling up at you from your counter. Yumminess! This makes a great gift and it also freezes well--we still have two loaves in there now waiting to be taken out and thawed for Thanksgiving with the fam.