Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

It has taken me many years of married life to discover that one of the secrets of good cooking is having a great recipe to begin with. Here is my mom's pumpkin bread recipe which is both easy and delicious. It has become our holiday "give-away" food. Just a tiny loaf of homemade bread can speak volumes to an individual. When Nathan was a freshman at Mandarin High I made four loaves, one for each of the coaches. Each year near Thanksgiving we brought the loaves to the coaches to express our gratitude for their service. One year we decided to make a few extra loaves to bless our neighbors and a couple of workers at the local Publix store I frequent. You would be amazed to know how this simple act of gratitude has become the springboard of building relationships. A couple of years ago we needed to invest in extra pans as our loaf count grew to include the employees where Ed works, 10+ Publix workers, our neighbors and of course our beloved coaches where this all began. Through this annual "give-away" friendships have been formed and many opportunities to share the Gospel have been experienced. The Publix workers have become my friends whom I look forward to seeing every Wednesday morning. My grandchildren come with me to Ed's office to distribute the loaves on behalf of our family. And although Nathan has been gone from the team for 3 seasons now I still enjoy my annual pilgrimage to the school gym to visit our good friend, Coach McCarter. We have many things to give thanks for again this year and we're so thankful for the friends the Lord has added through the years. ~ Brenda Edwards

Pumpkin Bread:

3 cups of sugar

1 cup oil

4 eggs

2 cup of pumpkin

2/3 cup of water

3 1/2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Mix together the sugar, oil, eggs (room temperature is best),pumpkin, water. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Bake in 2 large loaf pans at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes. (For large quantities I triple the recipe and use the smaller aluminum pans and shorten the baking time to begin checking them with a toothpick after 25 minutes or so.)