where summer meets fall

It's funny.

When summer and fall collide.

These few blended weeks as we switch from one to the other.

The tomato plants are heavy and reach down to the earth, where they mingle with the leaves that have traded in their green for gold and fallen to the ground.

It's only days apart that we are opening our windows to catch the cool breeze, and then lighting the first fire as the mountains collect their snowfall.

I want to bake. 

And bake and bake and bake. 

But we still have summer produce begging (please!) to not be forgotten. 

Pumpkin seems to sneak it's way in to everything this time of year (cookies! cakes! pies! soups! pastas! dog biscuits! (really-saw it--the internet is weird))

But we still have zucchini lying around......we were so excited to see him early summer (is zucchini a him, do you think?), and now we scoff at him and throw him to the side for his brighter, bolder, bigger cousin,
The Pumpkin.

So I decided to join the two. Summer meets fall, mixed together in a loaf of warm bread.

Pumpkin and Zucchini Bread

(where summer meets fall)

this bread is 100% whole wheat, and lightly sweetened. I don't like overly sweet breads (I'd rather add a bit of honey as I eat it if I need to.) If you like your bread on the sweeter side, you might want to boost the sugar (honey) a bit.

Ingredients

1/4 c browned butter (for browned butter instructions see here)

1 c raw honey

2 large eggs

1 3/4 c pumpkin puree, canned or fresh (if you want a how to on making your own roasted pumpkin puree, see this post)

1 cup shredded zucchini

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 c whole wheat flour

3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 c rolled oats

1/4 c flax seed

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 TBS ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour one 9x5 loaf pan.

In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix.

In a mixer, combine browned butter and honey.

Mix in eggs until well combined, about 1 minute.

Mix in pumpkin puree, zucchini, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.

Slowly add in dry ingredients, a little at a time, until just mixed in. Do not over mix.

Pour into pan and place on bottom rack of oven, and bake for 40-50 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

enjoy!

happy weekend!