Easy Eats: Pumpkin Bread

It’s offical: pumpkin bread is the new banana bread. You heard it here first, folks! If you remember the great banana bread debate of early quarantine (come to think of it, I never did figure out my favorite recipe) then you know I love me some quick breads. And you know who loves them more than I do? My mom. My mom loves to bake bread. Every kind of bread! Sandwich bread. Whole wheat bread. Dinner rolls. Seriously, all of the bread. And she makes it all from scratch!

So, it goes without saying that come fall, I always have a hankering for my mom’s famous pumpkin bread. Her cranberry bread is pretty dynamite too. And, while she would happily mail me a loaf or two, my childhood staples no longer jive with my tummy. Sigh. And so began my quest to find a bomb.com pumpkin bread recipe.

You’ll never guess where I found it. Seriousy, you’ll never guess. OKAY I WILL TELL YOU. It’s from a box. Gasp. I know. I KNOW! I am Midwesterner you guys. We don’t make things from boxes. If I don’t make my pancakes, cupcakes, birthday cakes and who knows what else from scratch I pretty much feel like I’m cheating. Funny enough, because of my dietary preferences I often make things from scratch simply because – let’s be honest – boxed mixes are not always very allergen/sensitive friendly and aren’t great on my tummy either.

Enter Simple Mills. Also, this post is 100% not sponsored (but that would be dope). I’m just a gal that freaking loves to find easy hacks for my clean-ish lifestyle and that is pretty much Simple Mills’ MO. I snagged their Pumpkin Muffin & Bread Baking Mix on a whim thinking it would never live up to my childhood dreams. It proved me wrong.

First of all, I can confidentally say that I pretty much made these from scratch because every single ingredient is also in my kitchen cabinet. Here they are: Almond Flour, Organic Coconut Sugar, Pumpkin, Arrowroot, Organic Spices (Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves), Organic Coconut Flour, Baking Soda, Sea Salt. THAT’S IT! All I had to do was add eggs, water and (avocado) oil.

For reference, here’s Stonewall Kitchen’s (a pretty fancy brand if I do say so myself) boxed ingredients: Malted Wheat Flour, Sugar, Pumpkin Puree (pumpkin, sugar, water, lactic acid, erythorbic acid), Molasses, Spices, Baking Powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate), Pumpkin Powder, Sea Salt. And for the record, it says it contains gluten, dairy and soy. Shoot!

You can also snag Pillsbury’s mix for under $2! And here’s what else you’d be getting: Sugar, Enriched Bleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin, Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Wheat Starch, Dried Pumpkin. Dextrose, Contains 2% or Less of: Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Calcium Phosphate), Cellulose, Cinnamon, Canola Oil, Nonfat Dry Milk, Corn Starch, Spices, Salt, Propylene Glycol Esters of Fatty Acids, Distilled Monoglycerides Cellulose Gum, Sodium Stearoyl, 2-Lactylate, Yellow 5, Citric Acid and BHT (Antioxidants), Red 40. Are you floored right now? Sugar is the first ingredient and there are gums and colorants. Yuckkkkk.

Okay, back to Simple Mills. This Pumpkin Muffin & Bread Baking Mix is $7.99 (or $6.99 if you shop at Thrive Market) so yes, it’s pricier, but still not as much as the Stonewall mix ($9.99). I love that I can pronounce the ingredients and know exactly what I’m eating and how it will make me feel.

I also love that I can jazz it up to make it my own! This time around I simply chopped up some pecans and pepitas, popped them into the mix and drizzled them on top. Easy peasy and ready in minutes!

I’ve been eating this delicious loaf for breakfast or dessert with almond butter, salt flakes and pumpkin pie spice on top. Are you drooling yet? Me too! Snag yours from Thrive Market and get a free gift ($24 value) when you join with this link. I just ordered more and plan to make it as soon as it arrives! Now it just has to pass the mom taste test 😉

For more Fleury, don’t forget to check out all of my other mom-inspired recipes: Fleury’s famous chili, Fleury’s fluffy (and dairy free) mashed potatoes, stovetop oatmeal and an interview with the woman herself! Now, off to eat some pumpkin bread.

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Pumpkin Bread with Simple Mills

The easiest, most delicious paleo pumpkin bread ever!

For the bread

  • 1 box simple mills pumpkin muffin and bread mix
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup oil (use 1/3 for muffins!)

For mixing in

  • pecans
  • walnuts
  • pepitas
  • cacao chips
  • chocolate chips
  • coconut flakes
  • raisins
  1. Heat oven to 325 for bread, 350 for muffins

  2. Whisk eggs, water, oil in a large bowl – add mix and mix until well blended.

  3. Pour battern into lightly greased loaf or muffin pan

  4. FOR BREAD: Bake 15 minutes then loosely cover with aluminum foil and bake another 23-33 minutes or until center of loaf bounces when pressed. Cool 10 min before removing from the pan.

  5. FOR MUFFINS: Bake 15-20 minutes. If using liners, let cool completely before removing.

There are no preservatives so make sure you store the final product in the fridge or freezer!