Strawberry-Banana Muffins - sugar free

Strawberries and banana in a muffin that is sugar free. YUMMMM.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
2 bananas, mashed
2 Tbsps. vanilla Greek yogurt
2 tsps. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup strawberries, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°F.
In a large mixing bowl, blend together applesauce, butter, egg, bananas, Greek yogurt, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients, and mix in strawberries.
Scoop batter into lined muffin tins.
Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then lower to 350°F and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Bread

Think of a soft, moist, spiced, dense pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving. This is it! The cream cheese layer is like having a layer of cheesecake baked into pumpkin bread.

Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients for Bread:
1 large egg

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup liquid-state coconut oil (canola or vegetable may be substituted)

1/4 cup cup sour cream (lite is okay; or Greek yogurt may be substituted)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2  teaspoon baking powder

1/2  teaspoon baking soda

pinch salt, optional and to taste
Ingredients for Cream Cheese Filling:

1 large egg

4 ounces softened brick-style cream cheese (lite is okay)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions for Bread:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray one 9x5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
Bread - In a large bowl, add the the first ten ingredients, through ground nutmeg, and whisk to combine.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, optional salt, and fold with spatula or stir gently with a spoon until just combined; don't over mix; set aside.
Turn about two-thirds of the batter out into the prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and pushing it into corners and sides as necessary; set aside.
Directions for Cream Cheese Filling - In a large bowl, add all ingredients and whisk to combine. Alternatively, mix with a hand mixer.
Evenly pour filling mixture over the bread, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and pushing it into corners and sides as necessary.
Top filling with remaining pumpkin batter, smoothing the top very lightly with a spatula as to not disturb cream cheese layer and pushing batter into corners and sides as necessary. Coupons
Bake for about 48 minutes or until the top is domed, golden, and the center is set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Note this is tricky because the cream cheese never gets totally solid so the toothpick test isn't the most accurate. Tip - Tent the pan with a sheet of foil draped over it at the 35 minute-mark if you feel the tops and sides will become too browned before center cooks through. Baking times will vary based on moisture content of pumpkin, cream cheese, climate, and oven variances. Bake until done; watch your bread, not the clock.
Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving. Bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Yield: one 9x5-inch loaf, about 10 slices

Thanks to myhoneysplace.com for the recipe

Pumpkin Pecan Cobbler

Nothing like Fall weather and an abundance of Pumpkin! Also try Great Pumpkin Cookies from Tastes & Treasures cookbook page 162.


Pumpkin Pecan Cobbler
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Pumpkin puree
1 3/16 cup All purpose flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cloves
1 1/4 cup Granulated sugar
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 cup Butter or vegetable oil
1/4 cup Pecans
1/4 cup Milk
1 1/2 cups Water, very hot

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium sized bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and spices. Set aside.
In a smaller bowl, stir pumpkin, milk, melted butter and vanilla together to combine. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix to create a thick batter. Pour into a small 8-inch casserole dish with high sides.
In a separate bowl, stir sugar, brown sugar and pecans together. Spread over the top of the batter evenly. Pour hot water over the entire thing (without stirring a thing) and bake for 40 minutes or once the middle is set. (Be sure to place on a baking sheet in case it bubbles over.) Cool 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with more pecans and vanilla ice cream.


Thanks to laurenslatest.com for the recipe.

Tasting Party for Tastes & Treasures Vol II recipes

Lee Rogers, Carolyn Mendoza, Delores Tomasek, Hostess Mary Parker,
Leslie Christiansen, Linda Corderman

Mary Parker's home was a perfect venue with good friends and fine wines, tasting recipes for the Historical League's new cookbook, Tastes & Treasures, A Storytelling Cookbook of Historic Arizona Volume II. Tasting Parties are a wonderful way to critique the recipe for flavor, presentation, ingredients and helpful hints on how to make it. The Evaluation Sheets get filled up with suggestions and comments. The excitement for Volume II is building with these historic venues and their foods.

Jolene Beard, Cathy Shumard, Lee Rogers, Bonnie Newhoff, Linda Fritsch, Lindy Isacksen,
Julie Moore, Delores Tomasek, Carolyn Mendoza, Renee Donnelly, Mary Parker, Margaret Baker

Historymakers meeting with Linda Whitaker

Always knowledgeable about storing information for AHS library, Archivist Linda Whitaker met with Historymakers Legacy Project members to discuss the amazing materials the Historical League has collected since the Historymakers program started in 1992. Storing these valuable documents and photographs and making them accessible to the public is an ongoing project.

Archivist Linda Whitaker, Margaret Baker, Nina Filippi and Zona Lorig and Ruth McLeod (not pictured) meet
in the AHS Library, AZ Heritage Center at Papago Park

Eating Locally and Beyond

Sunflower Sprout salad topped with Watermelon Radish

Creating a new cookbook involves so much more than recipes. Cookbook committee members Cathy Shumard, Leslie Christiansen and Ruth McLeod attended a seminar at ASU School of Nutrition and Health to learn about eating local, eating healthy and helping the environment. The Third Annual Food and Thought Event: Eating Locally & Beyond was very informative and interesting.

Lon's Chef Joe Hobson

Cathy Shumard, Leslie Christiansen
Ruth McLeod attend the demo

Chef Joe Hobson from Lon's at Hermosa Inn demonstrated two creative and appetizing salads along with squash soup for the attendees. Lon's will be featured in Tastes & Treasures Volume II.

Dr. James McWilliams, Texas State University History Professor and Author of Just Food:Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Rsponsibly gave a power point presentation filled with facts and research. We left the event wondering if we can all be vegetarian - eat less meat and still get protein? Dr. McWilliams offered some alternatives for meat . . . insects, oysters farming, lab meat, roadkill . . . and got some interesting responses from the audience.

Pioneer Museum in Flagstaff

The wonderful day trip to Flagstaff included an informative stop at Arizona Historical Society's Pioneer Museum.

Sharron McKinney and daughter Lexie

Lexie's son built this for his
Eagle Scout project

Published by the League for AZ Centennial

Q & A on the front porch