Pumpkins and Gourds and Pumpkin-Banana Bread

Hello, Dear Friends, I hope that you had 

a wonderful weekend and found some time

to make yourself happy :)

Something that is so important. 

When you are happy, you can spread the joy

in a world that clearly needs a little kindness.  

Ramblin' Man and I have been busy preparing

the house for winter - well, mostly it has been 

Ramblin' Man :) He took last week off work

and was a very busy handyman. 

He cleaned the gutters, the chimney, filled the woodbox, and 

did a million other little chores on his 'honey-do' list. 

I baked him treats and helped when I could....

while keeping up with the everyday chores,

which sometimes seem never-ending. 

But I do it with joy, because I know that there

are those who have lost their homes and would 

dearly love to tend to them once again. 

I also had a little fun decorating with all the pumpkins 

and gourds that I found at the pumpkin patch! 

The old trellis that my daughter gave me

was put to good use. 

She gave me two, one is in my kitchen. 

Here it is, with the beautiful morning sunshine

beaming in. We had a lovely, warm and sunny weekend. 

By 'warm', I mean it was in the 60's! haha! 

We are definitely experiencing some cooler fall weather

here in Western Washington State. 

I hung these beautiful, colored corn-cobs and hoped 

that the birds didn't discover them right away. 

So far, so good......

Dried cornstalks from the pumpkin patch,

and a bundle of 'Dock' plumes that I picked 

myself from my wild and crazy garden, are tied next to it. 

Dock is a very beneficial herb, but it is actually

the root which is used. I don't have enough 

to harvest the root, but I will spread these seed plumes

around when I am done with them. 

These are rangy and weedy, so they will only go in 

outlying areas. 

You can read more about the health benefits of Dock, Here.

I found some unusual pumpkins and gourds

which I stacked in and around my collection

of galvanized buckets. 

xoxo

I crafted this wreath a few years ago. 

My little coal stove hosts a few Cinderella pumpkins. 

My daughter made the white tool caddy in 

shop class years ago. 

When I went to school, girls took sewing and cooking

classes and boys took wood and automotive 'shop'. 

So glad that there are more choices these days. 

There was actually a club in my public high-school called 

'Future Homemakers of America'! 

I took advantage of the sewing and cooking classes

and took both for two years, 1 hour each, every day. 

They were full-credit classes back then. 

I was happy that I did, because now I can sew and cook

 anything I desire. 

I also took Algebra and Geometry. 

Math does come in handy for sewing and cooking, too! 

My little red wheelbarrow gets a rest from gardening 

duties to showcase some pretty fall flowers. 

I'll plant these in the garden later......

The lawn needs a little mowing. 

The weeds are taking over.....

Ramblin' Man has been busy.....

I would mow it, but I can't even start the darn mower. 

I try and try, but I can't seem to pull the starter 

cable hard enough. 

Finally, I give up in frustration. 

So instead, I go inside and bake us a treat......

Pumpkin-Banana Bread

Makes two loaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Grease two loaf pans - set aside. 

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1/3 cup cooking oil

4 eggs

3 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 and 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger 

2/3 cup water

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

3 med. mashed, ripe bananas

3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Beat sugar, oil and eggs in large mixing bowl. 

In separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients. 

Add flour mixture and water, alternately to sugar/oil/egg mixture,

blending just until mixed. 

Add pumpkin and mashed bananas. 

Stir in nuts. 

Divide batter evenly into two greased loaf pans. 

Bake 50-60 minutes or until wooden toothpick 

inserted into middle comes out clean. 

Cool completely before serving. 

xoxo

xoxo

Yum! 

You can't taste the bananas, but they make the bread 

wonderfully moist without having to use a lot 

of oil or other fat. 

Ramblin' Man gives it a double thumbs up! 

Now, hopefully, he will mow the lawn :) 

xoxo

Today I am linking with:
Cooking and Crafting with J&J

Won't you join the fun?

xoxo