Since I began blogging I learned that if there is one thing that die-hard home cooks love, it’s seasonal food. While I appreciate pumpkin in October, cranberries in December and strawberries in June, their arrival at the farmer’s market or grocery store means more than just having a new item on the shelf: it symbolizes a new season and in the case of pumpkin, Fall, my favorite season.

This week, in lieu of my regular worknight dinner post, I’m kicking off an entire week to my favorite Fall ingredient: pumpkin. Pumpkin pie might be reminiscent of Thanksgiving, but there are plenty of ways to enjoy pumpkin in pumpkin chocolate chip squares, pumpkin scones and even in spinach pumpkin linguine, well before Turkey Day. Even though you can buy canned pumpkin year round, it just seems, well, sacrilegious to have it in July. And I’m not even religious at all.

I adapted this recipe from the The Good Home Cookbook (which you can purchase from my Amazon store and a portion of the proceeds help support In Good Taste). The recipe called for canned pumpkin puree (not to be confused with pumpkin pie filling) and although high in sugar, the fat content is reasonable with canola oil used instead of butter.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Makes 2 Loaves

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 large eggs
1 (16-ounce) can pure pumpkin
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Grease two 9×5-inch loaf pans, line the bottoms with wax paper or parchment paper, then grease the paper.

2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat the sugar and oil in a large bowl until blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Then beat in the pumpkin. Add the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Fold in the nuts, if using. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

4. Bake for about 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely before serving. Remove the wax paper before slicing.