Honey & Walnut Pumpkin Bread

This loaf is the perfect blend of spices to welcome Fall into the kitchen. I used a can of organic pumpkin puree (with no sugar or spices added). If you have extra time, make you're own puree by roasting slices of a sugar pumpkin until soft and puree until smooth.

Canola oil cooking spray
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup oat bran or wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice**
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cups fresh or canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

**Make your own pumpkin pie spice. For a total of 2 teaspoons mix the following: 1 t. cinnamon, 1/2 t. ginger, 1/4 t. ginger, 1/4 t. allspice

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch loaf pan with canola oil cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, oat bran, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda. In a second large bowl, combine sugar, oil, honey, milk, pumpkin, egg and vanilla then add to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake until cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack then remove from pan and set aside to let cool completely.

Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Browned Butter Sauce

Every cooking session begins with a good bottle of wine...

...and some great appetizers, like caper berries...

....and caprese salad with homegrown tomatoes.

Now here's the recipe I used. No need to be exact with the ingredients. The pasta is a simple egg pasta: 2 cups flour and 3 eggs, pulse in a food processor until it resembles coarse meal, then knead for 1-2 minutes until smooth and elastic. Remember to let the pasta rest for 30 mins - 1 hour.

Cut the pasta in 8 pieces before rolling out. I use the Kitchen Aid attachement (totally worth the money and much easier then the countertop-rolling-machine-thing)

Each ravioli piece has a heaping teaspoon of filling so there's no need to make a lot of filling.

I'm missing my ravioli cutter so I just used a round cookie cutter.

These pieces can be cut, sealed and then frozen to make for later.