Yummy Butternut Cranberry Bread With Whole Grains

If you read this blog a bit, you know we love winter squash at Aagaard Farms - us, the goats, the chickens: we're all eating squash!  We grow about eighteen kinds, and are fortunate to be able to store them for winter use.  We're always interested in new recipes.  I receive a fantastic e-newsletter from Simple Bites (use the link and go sign up now!), and this past week, it contained a fabulous link to an article on whole grains from Good Life Eats.  We're really committed to using more whole grains, for the health benefits as well as great taste, and there are some great tips in the article for using, storing, grinding and such.  It also contained a recipe for a whole grain pumpkin cranberry loaf.  Just so happened the night before, I had used part of a butternut squash in a chickpea stew so it seemed like it was 'meant to be' that I should try this loaf.  I had put the butternut not used in the stew in the oven to roast while I was cooking so it was ready to go!

Now, the recipe calls for pumpkin, and I have some 'Sugar Pie' pumpkin here but the butternut was roasted and ready to go.  You can replace any winter squash for another in any recipe - it will just change the outcome slightly.  Using butternut instead of pumpkin probably gave me something a little sweeter and a little smoother.  Once you've baked or roasted a squash, you just need to break it up with a fork or hand blender to get exactly what is in a can without preservatives, colorings, BPA or whatever else.  You've got the goodness of just plain, unadulterated squash.  If you'd like a little review of roasting and preserving winter squash, check out this post here.

Here's the recipe link: it called for whole wheat or spelt, oat and barley flour.  I had organic whole wheat, unbleached white and spelt.  Worked well, the result was a moist, dark loaf.  The cranberries add a nice 'zing'.  The recipe called for a little bit of the spice cardamom, which I didn't have, but I just used a  wee bit more of the other spices called for.  Really like this loaf - that recipe is a keeper!  And good to know that Farmer Man is getting his grains!  You don't have to tell them it's good for them - right?