December days - 6 and a recipe

I mentioned in the pumpkin bread* post that one was for friends coming round.

Several of us in our church have begun writing letters to people who have suffered in various ways for what they believe. Like women who have lost their husbands due to persecution or false imprisonment. You may remember the letters I did last year for the ALAW peace theme. Barbed wire and flags. We wanted to do more than display something like my letters.

This month we are sending Christmas cards and words of encouragement to children in a home in a South American country. They have lost parents to some of the guerrilla fighting or drug wars where they live. (Drug runners not quite happy with the idea of someone speaking out against what they are doing!)

It was quite fun to look up Spanish words for Christmas greetings and copy them into the cards. And even better to think of how that card might bring a bright spark for someone who has been through so much.

Others from the church are also involved and the group that can meet up here changes each time.
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* underatopazsky asked about the recipe for the pumpkin bread. It is a recipe from an American community recipe collection. I 'translate' it to British!

Shaker Pumpkin Bread
My husband grows pumpkin and winter squash(like butternut) on his allotment. After removing the seeds, I bake my pumpkin or squash till soft and then peel it when it has cooled, followed by pureeing it in the food processor. I freeze it in batches of 2 cups or 16fl.oz. as most of my pumpkin recipes call for that amount.
(tsp. = teaspoon)
I have adapted the spices because we don't like as much cloves as they originally called for.

1-Blend/Cream together with a mixer.
3/4cup(6oz) marg
2 cups(14oz) sugar

2-Add these ingredients and mix thoroughly.
2 eggs
2 cups (16fl.oz)pureed Pumpkin (or 1 tin of pumpkin if you can find it in the shop)

3-Add next ingredients to mixture and stir well
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda(Baking soda)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

4-Stir in
2 cups (16 oz.)plain flour(all purpose flour)

5-Optional: Mix in
1 cup (8oz)raisins, sultanas or dried cranberry.

6- Turn batter into prepared loaf pans.
Makes 2 normal Loaves or 3 if you use small tins. It calls for greased loaf pans. I lined the bottoms with greaseproof paper.

7-Bake at 325°F (170°C or 160°-fan assisted) oven. Bake for 1 hour.(I would check with a skewer at 50 min just in case.)
For the small loaves I did it for 40 min and it was fine.

8- Leave to cool 10 min on a baking rack and then turn out.

VERY lovely with cream cheese spread over a piece.
(Peel the greaseproof paper/baking parchment off and set to cool completely if you want to put some in the freezer.)

Any questions, just ask.