I made Pumpkin Tea Bread today. It is a recipe I got from a friend of mine and has become one of our family favorites. It is super moist and flavorful.

Pumpkin Tea Bread

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 3 large eggs
• one 1-lb can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350F

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Mix with beater, adding ingredients one at a time: sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin. Then add 1/2 cup flour mixture at a time. Mix thoroughly with beater. (This is where the mixer will burn up!)

Cook in tube pan (we use a bundt) for 1-1/4 hours, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Serve topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, however it is best on its own.

Beer Bread

This is one of those no fail recipes that is a gem in my recipe box. I love the simplicity and the flavor is wonderful. Good enough to be served to company, this is one I encourage you to try.

3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
12 oz. any type beer

Mix dry ingredients together and then add all the beer at once and blend just till moist. Batter will be very sticky. Pour into a greased loaf pan (when I am in a hurry I use a 9x13) and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Bakers Secret

I made what my grandmother called "bakers secret" and tried it and this stuff is WONDERFUL. It works better than I could have imagined. It is a pan release and I tried it out with a few different things and absolutely nothing stuck to my pans. I was most surprised with the cornbread I baked in an old aluminum baking dish. Normally this would have stuck on the bottom for sure but not at all with this stuff.

Bakers Secret

1 c shortening
1 c cooking oil
1 c flour

Using mixer blend all ingredients together and store in cool cabinet. Use a pastry brush to coat bottom and sides of pan. Even works in place of greasing and flouring a cake pan.

Garage Sale

I went to a few garage sales Saturday and this tray is the only thing I came home with but it is a great tray. It was only $1 and is oven, microwave and dishwasher safe and really heavy. I could just see it piled high with DH's fried catfish or chicken. It is just sitting on my counter because it is too big to fit in my cabinets....could be why it was sold so cheap...LOL. If I have it for a while and don't use it I will bake some cookies or a cake to put on it and give the whole thing as a gift to someone.

Garage sales and thrift store shopping are two of
my favorite things to do. I always feel like I have uncovered a hidden treasure when I get something great for almost nothing.

I warned you

I did say earlier that I a bad about keeping up with things and I have really proven that statement to be true. I have done some sewing lateley.
This is a paperback book cover I made for a friend. It turned our pretty good I thought and she seemed pleased with it.