Self-made lunch

The Seedless Grape stomach is very full and happy at the moment, thanks to Cook's Illustrated. For lunch, I brought some leftover beef stroganoff that I made over the weekend, plus one of the last bits of tiramisu that I made for last week's Grey's Anatomy feast. Both were delicious, and both came from the outstanding Cook's Illustrated website. I have a web membership ($15/year) and it is well worth the price!

For an afternoon snack, I also have a slice of pumpkin bread (plus chocolate chips!) that I made on Saturday at the same time as the beef stroganoff. Cook's Illustrated actually doesn't provide a recipe for pumpkin bread, but I cobbled together my own recipe from CI's banana bread recipe plus this recipe from Epicurious. The pumpkin bread didn't rise as high as I would have liked (for instance, the banana bread recipe rose much higher), but I still have a remaining cup of canned pumpkin to try another loaf. And, regardless, the inside is nice and moist. Very tasty.

Mealtimes are seriously my favorite times of the day. I love having good food to eat while I'm at school; it really brightens up an otherwise boring day.

Recipe for Seedless Grape's pumpkin bread, Take 1:

Mix and set aside:
1 3/4 c all purpose flour
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (although next time I'll probably bump this up to 2 tsp)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 c chocolate chips (Cook's Illustrated likes Nestle's Semisweets)

Melt and cool:
6 Tbsp butter

Mix the butter with:
1 c canned pumpkin (Libby's)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 c plain yogurt

Fold the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Pour the batter into a 9x5" loaf pan that has been sprayed with baking spray (non-stick spray with flour added). Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes, turning around the loaf pan halfway through to ensure even baking. Cool on a rack in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out of pan and cool entirely. Enjoy!