Recipe Makeover: Nancy's Pumpkin Bread

Every year for the past 5 years, a friend of mine brings a much anticipated and appreciated loaf of pumpkin bread over as a holiday gift. And every year I think to myself that it just might be one of the best-tasting pumpkin breads I've had. Well, this year I asked her for the recipe.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did warn her that I would be "messing with" her recipe by lowering the fat, saturated fat, and sugar and switching to half whole-wheat flour. If you are a sweet potato fan, then by all means use cooked, pureed sweet potatoes in place of the canned pumpkin.

Here's what happened nutritionally:
The calories decreased from 258 to 169 and the grams of fat and cholesterol were chopped in half, saturated fat was cut by 2/3rds, and fiber doubled.

Nancy's Light Pumpkin Bread

Photo: Elaine Magee

Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup lite pancake syrup or maple syrup
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
6 tablespoons lowfat milk or fat-free half-and-half
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with foil or paper liners, or if making bread, coat a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with canola cooking spray (dust lightly with flour if desired); set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine all the wet ingredients by beating on medium speed until well blended.
3. Pour the dry ingredients, all at once, into the mixing bowl and beat on medium-low until blended, scrape sides of the bowl and blend again.
4. Fill prepared muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter or pour all of the batter in the prepared loaf pan. Bake until top of muffins spring back nicely after gentle pressure (about 30 minutes). If making a loaf, bake for about 70 minutes.

Yield: makes 12 muffins or 1, 9 x 5-inch loaf. If you want to make 2 loaves or 24 muffins, just double the recipe.

Nutritional analysis per serving: 169 calories, 3 g protein, 29 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat, .5 g saturated fat, 3 g monounsaturated fat, 1.5 g polyunsaturated fat, 18 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 185 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 27 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .4 gram, Omega-6 fatty acids = 1 gram.

Original recipe contains 258 calories, 10 grams of fat, 1.5 grams saturated fat, and 36 mg cholesterol per muffin or slice.

NOTE: If you want to add the Cinnamon Vanilla Glaze - In a mixing bowl, combine 1/4-cup light cream cheese, 1/2-cup powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons fat free vanilla creamer or similar, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Related Topics:

• Healthy Cooking with Elaine Magee, RD
• Healthy Cooking Newsletter - recipes, kitchen and shopping advice in your inbox

A Healthy Use for Your Cookie Jars!

Got cookie jars? If you happen to be looking for a great use for cookie jars that you want to keep on your kitchen counter but you don't exactly keep copious cookies around...I've got a healthy use for your cookie jars.

Convert your cookie jars into tea jars!

Photo Credit: Elaine Magee

It's a great way to keep an assortment of tea bags conveniently located near your stove where you boil your water. This year I handed some winter cookie jars filled with an assortment of tea bags to a few of my friends and they loved it (at least that's what they said). You can make them more "gifty" by wrapping them up in cellophane and adding colorful ribbon. Here's a photo of the cookie jars I gave to my friends this holiday.

Drinking more green tea is a great New Year's resolution too for two reasons, the health benefits (from the antioxidant phytochemicals in tea) and the fact that if you are drinking tea, you are less likely to be drinking something with calories like soda!

Related Topics:

• WebMD Video: Green Tea for the Skin
• Green Tea Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
• Green Tea Puts Sleep Apnea Woes to Bed?

The Food Synergy Gift Bag!

I'll admit it - I'm a gift basket maniac. I love creating designer gift baskets for friends and family. Each basket has a theme, though (it usually falls under the category of pampering yourself or inspiring romance.) You fill the baskets with the thickest, softest, most comfy socks, the best CD you can find, wonderfully scented candles...you get the picture.

But I don't stop there (I told you I am a gift basket maniac)...Given that I write books; I also like to give books packaged with food gifts. For example, for my book THE FLAX COOKBOOK, I've given the book with a pound of ground flaxseed and a cute tablespoon measure. For my book, FRY LIGHT, FRY RIGHT! I've given it with a nonstick frying pan and canola oil sprayer and Teflon spatula wrapped like a gift basket.

For my new (and favorite) book, FOOD SYNERGY, I'm going to give it in a re-usable canvas shopping bag along with 7 of the 10-synergy superfoods that are nonperishable like:

1. Nuts
2. Ground flax (comes in 1 pound bags)
3. Extra virgin olive oil (small or large bottles)
4. Canned tuna (for fish)
5. A bag of whole-wheat pasta or a small bag of whole-wheat flour or a package of whole wheat Boboli Pizza Crust (for whole grains)
6. A fun box or can of green tea (choose a fun flavor like tropical green tea or blueberry green tea or chai green tea)
7. A can or jar of fancy marinara or pizza sauce (for tomato and tomato products)

Including the 10 synergy superfoods will surely get the food synergy gift bag recipients started on the road to a higher level of health courtesy of food synergy secrets.

The whole shebang will run you about 13 dollars for the book (on an internet bookstore) + 99 cents for the re-usable canvas grocery bag + $16 for the food synergy superfoods = $30

This is a great last minute gift, especially if you need a something for someone dealing with the four chronic diseases spotlighted in my book: diabetes, cancer, stroke and heart disease.

Related Topics:

• WebMD Video: Food Baskets for Seniors Are a Welcome Treat
• Top 10 Food Synergy Super Foods