{Healthy} Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Back a few weeks ago when all of you normal people were baking red velvet cupcakes and heart shaped cookies, I was being strange and baking pumpkin chocolate chip bread. You all know how I go nuts over pumpkins in the fall, and I couldn't satisfy my craving for something chocolatey and pumpkin. I could have gotten in my car and driven about two miles to a local bread company, but I had the morning off work and decided to try and come up with a healthy version myself. Not until I had devoured a muffin that I had posted on Instagram, did I realize that others might want the recipe. Click went the camera for this one picture.

Is this truly healthy? I don't know, especially when you stuff your face since it is so delish. I substituted the oil with unsweetened applesauce and the pudding with Greek yogurt. That makes it much more healthy in my mind.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread / Muffins

Ingredients: 
2 cups sugar (next time I'm going to try honey or agave)
2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup Greek vanilla yogurt
4 large egg whites
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin spice (I guessed with both of these spices and adjusted)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Directions: 
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into 2 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

*I halved this recipe and it made 6 muffins and one loaf. The muffins didn't take as long to cook--I started checking after 30 min.

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

 

Lately I've been pinning and making tons of pumpkin recipes--everything from pumpkin lattes to baked pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast. This recipe for pumpkin french toast is by far the best that I have cooked. I'm still trying to get my pantry in order and one of the things that I haven't purchased is syrup. How can you eat french toast without syrup? Well...I drizzled a little extra butter and sprinkled a little extra brown sugar on top right before serving and it was pure perfection!

 

 

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

 

Ingredients:

3 1/2 – 4 1/2 cups 1-inch bread cubes

7 eggs

2 cups milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

3-4 Tbsp. brown sugar for topping

walnuts for topping

 

Directions:

1. Cut bread into 1-inch cubes. Place in a 9×13 lightly greased baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and pumpkin butter until well combined. Pour over bread and push down with a spoon or your hands until it’s all soaked and mostly covered. Let it sit until the bread absorbs all of the egg mixture. Optional: It works well if you let it refrigerate overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, uncover and top with brown sugar and nuts. Bake for 35-45 minutes or golden brown and no longer wet.

4. Serve immediately with maple syrup, honey or agave nectar.

 

 

Fall Snack

I often find myself needing a little bite of something to eat, but not wanting to take the time to make something. This pumpkin seed snack is the perfect combination of salty and sweet, healthy and satisfying. It is beyond easy to whip up. Store it in an air-tight container on your counter for easy access for a handful or two.

 

Pumpkin Seed Snack Mix

 

1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds, roasted

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/2 cup dried dates, chopped

1/2 cup unsalted almonds

1/2 cup chocolate morsels

 

 

This is how easy it is, folks. You take 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin seeds and 1/2 cup measurements of everything else.

 

 

And then mix them together.

 

 

Dirty dishes? Hardly. A good snack? Of course!

 

 

Pumpkins + Beer

I realized today that the month of October is going by very quickly, which leaves just over a month to decorate with pumpkins. Any type of fall party should have pumpkins incorporated into it somehow, whether on the mantle, lining the back steps or even as pumpkin whoopie pies. One of my favorite ways to use pumpkins at a party is as an ice bucket. It makes your party all the more festive. How do you decorate with pumpkins in the fall? 

While trying to find images of pumpkin ice buckets I stumbled upon these tasty morsels. How yummy do these pumpkin beer pretzels look? Click here to see the recipe and step-by-step instructions on how to make them.