I keep a half bushel basket on top of my refrigerator for my root vegetables and squash. Yesterday, I realized that I had not looked in the basket for a while. So, I brought it down and found a pie pumpkin. I had bought several of these pumpkins this fall and this pumpkin had not been used over the holidays. I decided to cook the pumpkin overnight using my crock pot.

You can wash a pumpkin, use a fork to puncture some holes in the skin, and place the entire pumpkin in the crock pot for about 6 hours. However, my pumpkin was just a little too big for my crock pot; so, I cut my pumpkin into several pieces and placed it into the pot and allowed it to cook overnight.

This morning, I opened the crock pot and found a perfectly cooked pumpkin. I scooped the pumpkin away from the skin and put it in my blender to make it into a puree.

With the snow blowing outside, I decided to make some warm pumpkin bread.

I don’t know about any of you, but I have been trying to get my healthy diet back on track since the holiday. So, to make this bread fat free, I substituted flax meal and applesauce into a typical bread recipe.

Fat Free Pumpkin and Flax Bread

Mix together:

1/3 cup Apple Sauce

1 cup Sugar

Add 2 Tablespoons Flax Meal

 

 

 

1/3 cup Molasses

1/2 tsp each: nutmeg and cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

 

 

Mix together:

1 2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon soda

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

then add to the above mixture.

Pour the batter into a very lightly greased and floured pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.    Yummy!!