Pumpkin Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

I had 3½ cups of fresh pumpkin in the freezer from last year and I have 2 new pie pumpkins sitting on my dining room table now so I better use up the frozen stuff. Thought I'd make a pumpkin bread and pie but needed 4 cups of pumpkin so I looked for a recipe using pumpkin and bananas and found this one from Closet Cooking

Pumpkin Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

A moist, light and fluffy pumpkin banana bread with Greek yogurt that is perfect for cool fall days and pretty healthy as well.
Servings: makes 1 loaf  (my note:  very moist -YUM!)

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Total Time: 1 hours 10 minutes

Printable Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree (homemade or store bought)
2 large over-ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)

Directions
Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a large bowl.
Mix brown sugar, pumpkin puree, bananas, eggs and yogurt in another large bowl.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients followed by the pecans.
Pour the mixture into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Bake in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown and a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes.

Happy Halloween

We went to a pumpkin carving party at Ann's before Halloween. I wasn't going to do a pumpkin but I brought one anyway along with an old pumpkin carving kit I had.
I made these cupcakes to bring.

When Ann's neighbor Nancy said she would clean out my pumpkin if I would cut the top off of it, I decided that would be a good deal. Once I got the top off and looked inside I thought that it would be pretty easy for me to do myself and I did.  But that was as far as I got.
These are the pumpkins that other people did.

And these are more.

When I got home I decided to carve the pumpkin using my kit.  I didn't know how old my kit was, but when I opened the book of patterns, the pages were pretty yellow and there was a coupon in there for Halloween candy that expired Nov. 2000.  Guess I had it for a while.
This was the cat that I did and I just love it.

This is what it looked like without the light.

Pumpkin Dutch Apple Pie

I was going to make an apple pie but then I looked at the centerpiece on my island - a cooking pumpkin.

So I looked for a recipe that uses both and found this one that I'll try tomorrow and add the picture.


Pumpkin Dutch Apple Pie

Fresh Pumpkin

I had a fresh pumpkin and after making that delicious pumpkin pie at Greta's I thought that I should make one using the pumpkin I had before we left home.  This was a real easy way for me to cook the pumpkin.
First I cut some holes in the pumpkin, almost like eyes if I was carving a jack-o-lantern.

This is so the air can escape.  It is much too hard to cut the pumpkin without softening it first, especially with my bad shoulder.  I put it in the microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Then I cut the top off and cleaned out the insides.

I cut it in quarters to make cleaning easier.

Using a serated knife to scrape off any stringy residue worked real well.

Then I put it in a large bowl with a tablespoon or two of water, cutting the pieces to fit and microwaved on high for first 10 minutes and then another 10 until it was really soft.

After it came out of the microwave, let it cool so it can be handled.  The pumpkin should scrape off the shell real easily and then you can use a stick mixer to puree it and make your favorite pumpkin pie recipe.   I used the tried and true Libby's recipe because that's what I used at Greta's.  But I realized that I definitely need to refresh my spices because hers tasted so good with all the brand new spices.

 Libby's Pumpkin Pie Recipe

• 3/4 Cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsps. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz.) Libby’s Pumpkin or 2 cups fresh pumpkin
• 1 cans (12 fl.oz.each) Carnation evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4 cup volume) deep dish pie shells

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
Pour into pie shells.
Bake in preheated 425 degree F. oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.;  bake for 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.  Serve or refrigerate.

And while I was at it, I used a cup of the pumpkin to make my favorite recipe for Pumpkin Nut Bread.  The recipe must be at least 40 years old.  I posted it here last year --> Pumpkin Bread
but just below is the actual recipe that I saved all these years.  It came in our RG&E (Rochester Gas & Electric) bill eons ago.  I cut everything in half but used 2 eggs and added some craisins.  Next time I'm going to try using fresh cranberries since I still have a cup of pumpkin that I put in the freezer.