Pumpkin Bread...MMmmmmm....

It's going to be 96 degrees here today and feel like a sauna with the humidity. I was watching the weather news this morning and it's going to be like that for the next week. My son asked me when summer was going to be over not ten minutes later. Since he has already started school I said that summer was already over. "Noooo, mom, the season, the season. It's too hot." My sentiments exactly. Unfortunately, August will not be much better. Sometimes it's worse. Uuuhh.

So in my desire for the cool winds of fall to hurry up and arrive, I thought about this great recipe. Pumpkin Bread. Now I was never a really big fan of pumpkins in recipes, but this one is truly a winner. I made this for Thanksgiving last year. My sister brought a friend with her whom I had never met. He normally did not like pumpkin either but loved this and asked me for the recipe before he left. When I made this last year, I used fresh pumpkin that I roasted in the oven with a little cinnamon and sugar, but canned works well also. I have to admit, it was a pumpkin left over (uncut) from Halloween decorations that was still perfectly good, they seem to last forever. It was, however, a pie pumpkin or so the sticker said.

Ingredients:
* 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
* 4 eggs
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 2/3 cup water
* 3 cups white sugar
* 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

If you slice it like the photo and want something to spread on it, here is what I use - really good:
* 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

For Spread:
Beat the cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt together with mixer until smooth.