Would this even be a real food blog if we didn't feature pumpkin chocolate chip bread in the fall? Call me a sucker but I love love love when the pumpkin flavored deserts and treats start making their debut after labor day. This treat just sings cozy on up with me in your socks and long johns and enjoy yourself. This bread has a deep rich flavor of chocolate, pumpkin, and spice. You will probably regret not doubling it so you can freeze yourself a second loaf for next week. Don't say I didn't warn you. 

Ingredients: 

2 eggs

3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cups brown sugar

1 can pumpkin puree (about a cup and a half) 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips 

Directions: 

Mix together all of your ingredients in a standard mixer in the order listed above. Pour batter into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 65 minutes. 

This is a wonderful recipe to double or triple. You can make loaves for your neighbors and they will probably be so grateful they will rake your leaves for you. 

Enjoy!

Sometimes my favorite recipes aren't truly recipes, they are just great meal ideas that you can take and run with. Avocado toast is one of those types of ideas. There are so many variations you can make with it. The crisp toast, the buttery avacado, it just makes my mouth water. My favorite way to make this toast is with a fried egg. The salty egg that oozes over the cold avocado and toasty bread, its just breakfast perfection. Good for you protein, fats, and filling whole wheat carbs, what's not to love? 

Ingredients: 

2 peices of parmesean rosemary bread, sliced and toasted

1 avocado, sliced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 egg, fried 

Simply toast your bread in butter in your pan. Then add a little more butter and fry your egg sunny side up until the white is set, but the yolk is still liquid. Salt and pepper your egg. Meanwhile, slice your avocado and spread it over your toast. When your egg is done, serve it atop your toast while still warm. 

Hope this simple breakfast idea gets your creative culinary juices churning for other simple yet delicious ideas. Enjoy!

If you are looking for a wonderful roll recipe for the holidays, look no further. Peggy is known for many wonderful recipes, but her delicious homemade rolls are always on the top of my list. They are soft and buttery, and the perfect accompaniment to any meal.  

Ingredients: 
2 tbs dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup warm milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
4 cups flour

Directions: 
Dissolve yeast in water in a large bowl, let stand 5 minutes. Beat eggs well and add to yeast. Scald your milk and stir in sugar and salt. Let cool until warm. Add to yeast mixture. Add half of your flour, beat well with a fork. Gradually add the remaining flour to the dough. Keep the dough rather sticky. Lift the dough out of the bowl and grease the bowl on all sides. Knead the dough for about 2 minutes. Cover and let rise 1 hour. Punch down dough, knead for 15 seconds. Then let rise for another hour. Form into roll shapes and place in buttered pans. Let rise for another hour. Bake at 375 for 12-17 minutes or until light golden brown. Yields 1 1/2 dozen, but Peggy always doubles or triples the recipe because they get eaten so quickly!

Enjoy!

This week I want to highlight some of my favorite easy meals. We are a pizza house over here. Peggy makes the most delicious homemade pizza. Pizza is a cheesy, carby delight, what's not to love? It's also relatively inexpensive to make for a crowd, and the Nelson's love to entertain. Well my husband recently introduced me to a super simple cheater way of making last minute pizza. It's super delicious, and takes less than 3 minutes to put together! 

What's the secret? Using a loaf of french bread rather than making homemade dough! In this particular photo I used a delicious seeded honey wheat loaf, but we've had lots of success using everything from plain french bread to asiago cheese loafs! The best part is you can buy a bunch of loafs and simply freeze them. That way they are waiting for you whenever you are having a "I'm feeling lazy and I don't want to cook tonight" moment. It will save you from running to get take out, and its way more delicious! I promise. 

Ingredients:

Any loaf type bread 
Fresh mozzarella cheese
Your favorite jarred pasta sauce
Fresh Basil 
Balsamic Glaze 

Simply slice your loaf in half, cover each side with sauce, top with cheese, basil, and your glaze. Pop it in a 400 degree oven until the cheese is nice and golden and bubbly. Tada! A super simple, super satisfying meal that you can whip up in less than 3 minutes. If you don't have baslamic glaze, you could just do regular balsamic as a drizzle. We also add pepperoni, chicken, olives, whatever pizza toppings you have laying around. This is a super flexible dinner idea. We hope you enjoy!