Food that Tastes like Fall

Today I spent the day with my wonderful partner/boyfriend watching football (and watching the Cleveland Browns win! Seriously, I said "win"). Before all of this, I had the overwhelming urge, not sure what brought it on, to make something semi-sweet and tasty.

I decided to make some bread. I looked around to see what we had on hand at the house (I definitely did not feel like going to the grocery store this morning, so if I didn't have the things to make bread I would've figured out something else that didn't require spending any additional money).

I am not really one to get into the seasons. To be quite honest, I do not know that I have a "favorite," nor do I feel any particular connection to weather or nature; however, I do love the flavors generally associated with fall--you know, slightly sweet, spiced and warm.

What is better than cinnamon and ginger? Nothing. Seriously. NOTHING.

So, I decided to make carrot bread. I looked up a few recipes on teh good ol' Internets, combined them to suit my wishes and came up with a scrumptious result:

 

This was taken after warming it up and spreading on some Earth Balance. AMAZING.

Recipe: Nik's Fall-Flavors Carrot Bread

Wet Ingredients:

1/3 c. agave nectar or honey
1/3 c. oil
1 mashed-up over-ripe banana
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 grated carrots (I used 2 medium and 1 small)

(Mix these together quickly in a small bowl)

Dry Ingredients:

1 3/4 c. flour (I used regular old unbleached all-purpose, but I am sure whole wheat for half would be great and actually nutritious)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs. ground flaxseeds
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Dash of cloves
1 tsp. nutmeg
Fresh grated ginger (probably around 1 tsp. or so)
Dash of pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
Handful or two of raw pepitas

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mix wet ingredients into the dry. DO NOT OVERMIX. I mixed gently with a spatula. It seemed a little dry to me, so I added about 1-2 tbs. of unsweetened applesauce (you could probably add soy milk or water).
3. Spread evenly into a greased bread pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

I would recommend, as noted above, serving it warm with a little bit of Earth Balance or other butter substitute. It's already half-gone, so I would definitely put this one down as a major fall flavor success! I think that this would also be good without the carrots as a spice bread; however, it would need something else added to it (I am thinking pumpkin would be delicious).