HealthiFood: Perfect Pumpkin Bread

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Perfect Pumpkin Bread

Image from Microsoft Clip Art.

I'm in love with pumpkin! And it's so good for you: low calorie, high fiber, high in vitamins. I have been searching for an awesome pumpkin bread recipe, and I think I might have finally found it! Really moist, warm and spicy, with A LOT of pumpkin, and even better tasting the next day. Feel free to substitute out more white flour and oil, as you wish. Original recipe from Food for My Family. Makes two 8" loaves (each cut into 12 slices, or 24 servings per recipe). My alterations save you 23 calories, 4 g fat, 43 mg sodium, and 3.5 g sugar and add 1.4 g fiber and .6 g protein per serving/slice.

Perfect Pumpkin Bread

Sift together dry ingredients:
6 T ground flax seed meal
1 c brown sugar
2 c whole wheat flour
1 c white flour
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp cardamom (or replace with a 1:1 blend of cinnamon and nutmeg)

Whisk wet ingredients in a separate bowl:
2 T canola oil
1/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 1/2 c canned pumpkin
1/2 c nonfat buttermilk (or 1/2 nonfat milk soured with 1/2 T lemon juice)

Combine wet and dry ingredients until smooth. Pour into two greased 8" loaf pans. Back at 350° F for 70-75 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes before inserting onto cooling rack. Serve warm or cool completely and wrap tightly in the fridge to serve the next day.

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The HealthiFood Program: One to Four

1. Lower Fat
Most recipes can be adapted to cut the fat in half through substitution (of things like ground flax seed meal, applesauce, etc.) or elimination. Another easy way to lower fat is to cook with lower fat options, like low or nonfat milk products. Usually you can't tell the difference when it's cooked in, and you can save A LOT of calories and fat grams.

2. Better Fat Choices
We all know that nonfat isn't usually that good. Instead of eliminating all the fat and richness from recipes, the HealthiFood Program aims to replaces bad fats with better fats. HealthiFood uses olive oil, canola oil, ground flax seed meal, and naturally-occurring fats as much as possible to reduce hydrogenated and saturated fat content as much as possible.

3. High Fiber and Protein
Fiber is essential to good health, especially in the long run. The HealthiFood Program increases whole grains and fiber content by using whole wheat flour, oat flour, yellow corn meal, and ground flax seed meal. These substitutions also add protein.

4. More Vegetables
Using vegetable puree addition techniques of the Sneaky Chef and Jessica Seinfeld, the HealthiFood Program enriches recipes with vitamins and more fiber while lowering the calorie content per serving.

No Gimmicks

Sometimes the Nutrition Facts I provide may surprise you. This is because I usually post how much of a dish I actually eat. If you wanted tone-downed, unrealistic serving sizes to make all recipes look diet, this isn't the place. However, usually the serving size given will be for your whole meal, such as 1/9th of a 9x9 lasagna or 1/4th of a round of Rosemary bread. If you aren't in a habit of understanding serving sizes, start here and now, and definitely apply it to the packaged foods you eat.