Sunny Side Up Nutrition - A cooking, nutrition and family feeding blog to simplify your life

I love holiday picture books. I have memories from when I was a child of special holiday books being brought out of storage in December, along with the Christmas decorations. The books felt rare, special and full of excitement and magic. I could sit for hours flipping through these books that I hadn’t seen in a full year. Some had stories of families at holiday time, with images of snow, gingerbread houses, and candy canes throughout. Others were books about different holidays and cultures and how people celebrate. I loved books about the food people traditionally cook for different holidays and if there was a recipe included, I’d be sure to try it out.

One book I remember well, and has been reinforced by several big screen movies, is The Grinch That Stole Christmas. You may know the story: the Grinch is an unhappy being that systematically steals Christmas from the Whos of Whoville. He dresses up like Santa Claus and jumps down chimneys, stealing presents, decorations, even Christmas trees.

How Diet Culture Steals the Holidays

When I think about how diet culture has seeped into the holiday season, it feels just like the Grinch. Diet Culture is the Grinch that tries to steal the holiday joy. Diet culture, the belief that eating a certain way is morally superior to other ways of eating and the idea that certain body types are better than others, has found its way into all aspects of our culture. The holidays are no exception.

The Grinch is:

Holiday recipe ingredient swaps to make it “healthier.”
Comments about holiday season weight changes
Saying you’ve been “bad” when you eat a traditional holiday food.
Comments about what others are eating/not eating at a gathering
Worry about more desserts being around this time of year

Focus On What is Important

The holidays will be different this year, due to the pandemic. There will be smaller gatherings and many of us will feel grief from not celebrating in the ways we always do. This year, more than ever, I want focus on what is important to me this holiday season and keep diet culture out.

So, over the next 6 weeks. We’re going to be posting about how to not let diet culture steal the holidays. We will be posting 12 tips throughout the holiday season of how to stay grounded in feeding yourself and your children, and how to focus on little glimmers of joy. We will be using the hashtag #dietfreeholidays and invite you to follow along and use the hashtag in your posts, too!

Why would I share a pumpkin bread recipe when there are already millions out there? I’ve made many of those recipes and this one from The Foster’s Market Cookbook that I’ve adapted over the years is my favorite. One more pumpkin bread recipe can’t hurt! Especially THIS recipe for 2 loaves of delicious, full-of-flavor, moist pumpkin bread!

How are you taking care of yourself this week?

How are you doing this week? It’s been a stressful week that’s for sure! Diving into activities that I love helps manage stress.

Baking and cooking are activities that have always helped me cope. I can lose myself in them completely. As you might guess, I’ve been baking and cooking a lot this week! One thing I’ve baked is pumpkin bread. The weather is turning chilly (sometimes) here in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) and the leaves are turning which means it’s time to bake pumpkin bread. The leaves are also turning near Lancaster, PA where I took this photo a few weeks ago during a walk with my in-laws.

Some quick breads are too sweet for me, or too dry, or not flavorful enough. This recipe takes care of all these issues and what you get is a not-too-sweet, moist, flavorful loaf (actually 2 loaves) of pumpkin bread!

This bread tastes even better the second day and the third, if there’s any left! I often freeze one of the two loaves. I like to make this in small loaf pans during the holidays and give friends four little loaves.

This recipe for Spiced Pumpkin Bread makes 2 loaves.

Breakfast and snack ideas

I love having pumpkin bread for breakfast or a snack. A simple slice of this pumpkin bread is satisfying on its own. That said, here are a few more ways to serve this delicious pumpkin bread:

Toasted and topped with salted butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar
Alongside a mug of hot apple cider
Toasted and topped with almond butter (or sunflower butter) and a drizzle of maple syrup
Served with a side of maple yogurt and toasted pecans
Topped with a nut butter (or sunflower butter) and thinly sliced apples
Leftover pumpkin bread (or any quick bread) works well in bread pudding

Speaking of sweets – what we say matters.

Did you have a chance to read Anna’s latest post? She writes about the importance of language around food, in particular sweets at Halloween. But, the advice in her post is relevant all year. Especially as we go into the holiday season and there tends to be more sweets around. Click here to read more on how to talk about sweets.

Posts from our November 2018 and 2019 archives

Spiced Pumpkin Bread-One More Pumpkin Bread Recipe Can’t Hurt!

A full-of-flavor, moist pumpkin bread. The recipes makes 2 loaves so you can share one or stash it in the freezer for next week.

Adapted from Spiced Pumpkin Bread from The Foster’s Market Cookbook by Sara Foster

Author: Elizabeth Davenport

Scale

Ingredients

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon + ½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon + ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Pinch of ground cloves

2 ¼ cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup canola oil

One 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

½ cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Butter and flour two 9 x 3 inch loaf pans (or you can spray them with Pam)
Into a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Whisk to combine.
Put the canola oil, sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until well combined.
Add the water, pumpkin and vanilla to the oil, sugar and egg mixture. Whisk to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine. Don’t over mix the batter.
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared loaf pans. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Check for doneness at the 50 minute mark by inserting a toothpick into the top of the loaf. If it comes out clean, the bread is done baking.
Remove the bread from the oven and place on cooling racks. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before turning the loaves out of the pans.