The Awesomeness of Community Cookbooks

I have a love affair with community cookbooks.  What is a community cookbook?  These are usually cookbooks put together as fundraisers for churches, boy scouts, PTA groups, or made for families and friends to share and sold locally in a community.  They contain some great, down-home recipes that are easily made from ingredients already in your cupboard and usually don't list some weird ingredient that is only going to be used for this particular recipe and costs more than all remaining ingredients put together. (Who keeps fermented Yak milk around anyway?)

These recipes are hearty, often feed a lot of people, are pleasing to the eye and palate, and are shared by folks who know how to get a meal on the table.  Some of my very favorite, tried-and-true recipes are from these books and range from appetizers, salads, and main courses to cakes, cookies, and just some generally fun stuff like Karo syrup finger paint for kids.  

Anyone who knows me knows I love these, and with the internet being so popular, they are harder and harder to find.  I always look for them if I go to garage sales or estate sales and have quite a collection. After a while, you begin to recognize names in the cookbooks and know the recipe associated with that name is going to be a winner.  The photo above shows some of my favorites, but I have many more.  I treasure my collection and hope to share some of the recipes from these books (with credit to the cook, of course), along with some of my own recipes in the near future.

Two Ingredient Pumpkin Spice Bread

The leaves are beginning to change, and temperatures are cooling.  That means it's time for pumpkins!  What better way to usher in fall than with a little pumpkin spice bread? 

I'm usually skeptical when it comes to certain recipes, particularly when it comes to baking.  Lately, however, I've been fascinated with recipes that contain only 2-3 ingredients.   I love to cook, and I love simple recipes, but some are a bit too simple.  Sometimes taste or consistency is sacrificed for ease.  Well, not with this one!   It was moist, tasty, and oh so easy! 

Pumpkin Spice Bread:
1 Package spice cake mix
1 Large (29 oz.) can of pumpkin*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix ingredients well, until all lumps of cake mix are smoothed out.  Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.   Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely, then slice and serve with powdered sugar or cream cheese frosting. 


*I've seen some recipes that say to use the smaller can of pumpkin.  I tried it and did not care for it at all.  The batter was more like clay or putty, and it was nearly impossible to spread in the pan.  In my opinion, the larger can yielded better results.