Okay, so it has been pointed out that my 'blog' aint really a blog, but just a display of random projects - so here I go! I am going to write a bit more (or shall we say bore more?) :).

One of my greatest challenges as a wife & mom is the whole cooking thing. (wha?!) Yep, not exactly my favorite thing to do - spend two hours cooking to gobble something up in less then 2 minutes... Ever since I decided to start chewing my food (epiphany in my twenties coming from a family with eight kids), I actually 'enjoy' food, and fill up before I get sick. This 'enjoying of food' and the fact that my husband loves a warm cooked meal (a man thing?) - I started putting more thought into creating a healthy meal plan. Here is this week's fall plan - most recipes from Skinny Taste Blog:

Ha - there's my lazyness - last two days of the week are fish (freezer to oven BAM! done!) and whatever I made in the beginning of the week (freezer to microwave BAM! done!)

Okay, lets cut the [healthy] crap. The real reason for this post is to share my favorite fall indulgence, a recipe given to us for our wedding by a friend of my husbands family: Pumpkin Ribbon Bread

Cream Cheese Filling: 6 oz cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tb. flour, 2 egg whites. For filling combine in bowl - set aside.

Bread: 1 cup pumpkin, 1/2 cup apple sauce, 2 eggs whites, 1 tb. canola oil, 1 2/3 cup flour, 1 1/4/ cup sugar, 1 tea. baking soda, 1/2 tea. salt, 1/2 tea. ground cinnamon, 1/2 tea. ground cloves. In a bowl beat pumpkin, egg, egg whites, applesauce & oil. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, clove; add to pumpkin mixture. Divide 1/2 batter in 2 8" x 4 " load pans coated with cooking spray. Spread each with filling then top with remaining batter.

Bake 350 degrees F for 40 - 50 minutes Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire rack.

Brenda Fleming | New Mexico Art