I made pumpkin bread this morning. It’s the first day of October, so it seemed fitting. Sue decked our house out with fall decor so filling the house with pumpkin smell seemed to be the next step. I’m doing my best to be gluten-free, so I searched for recipes and adapted one to my liking.

Ingredients
3 ½ cups multipurpose gluten-free flour mix (I used Bob’s)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp all spice
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
4 large eggs
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup orange juice
2 cups Libby’s pumpkin puree
3/4 cup walnuts (or other nuts), chopped (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour 3 bread pans. (with gluten-free flour)
2. In large bowl, add all dry ingredients, mix well.
3. Add all other ingredients (except nuts and chips), mix until smooth and creamy.
4. Fold in nuts and chips
5. Bake in preheated over for 1 hour or until toothpick poked in the middle of each loaf comes out clean.  Mine took a little less than 1 hour. Cool in pan. Enjoy!

It really turned out delicious and moist! The original recipe had 3 cups of sugar and I took it down to 2 1/2 but I think it would be just as good with 2 or even less. The apple sauce and orange juice add sweetness. I might keep playing around with this recipe to see if I can get it to be even healthier! I know I can substitute Greek yogurt for the oil so I will try that next time. Let me know if you try any good variations.