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A Lighter Pumpkin Bread

11/21/2024

Last week I got the hankering for pumpkin bread. I love its creamy texture, its pumkiny taste, especially when slathered with cream cheese.

So I got out my mother's old recipe for pumpkin bread, and I pulled all the ingredients out of my cupboards, and I discovered that I was in trouble. My mothers old recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups of vegetable oil, and I had just a little bit in the bottom of the bottle: definitely not 1 1/4 cups!

I live high up in the mountains. The closest grocery store is 20 minutes away. Did I want to drive 40 minutes just to get my craving filled? Not me. Instead, I did some tinkering with the recipe. What I ended up with was better tasting and healthier for you, too! I hope you give this recipe a try, and you agree with me.

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 TBS. oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
7 oz. canned pumpkin (if your measuring cup doesn't have ounces,
this is halfway between 3/4 and 1 cup)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°

Beat eggs, sugar, oil, applesauce, and pumpkin together until fluffy.
Mix in dry ingredients, blending well so that everything is evenly distributed.
Pour into a greased and floured bread pan. Smooth the top.

Bake for 1 hour, or until the top bounces back when lightly pressed down with your finger.

When not tinkering around in the kitchen or running to the store for supplies, Jennifer Bohnhoff writes historical and contemporary fiction for middle grade through adult readers. You can learn more about her and her books here, on her website.

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Hidden Gem: Pueblo Montaño Chainsaw Sculpture Garden

11/14/2024

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Sometimes the most interesting but unknown places are hidden within plain sight. That is certainly true of Albuquerque's Chainsaw Sculpture Garden. Located off Montano, just east of Coors Blvd, the sculpture garden is one of the trailheads for the Paseo del Bosque hiking system. It includes picnic tables and a public restroom. The address is 4100 Montaño Rd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87120.

The story of how this sculpture garden came to be is an interesting one. In 2003, some teenagers were playing with fireworks when they inadvertently sparked a wildfire in the bosque. The fire spread to over 250 acres and damaged a lot of land and trails along the riverfront. One of the firefighter who helped to put out the blazes was named Mark Chavez. Chaves is a chainsaw artist in his free time, and thought that turning the charred cottonwood trunks into sculpture honors both the natural beauty of the Southwest and the fire itself.

One of the sculptures depicts an eagle rising like a phoenix from the flames.k Another shows a firefighter, perhaps a self-portrait (?) standing upon a slain dragon. This is more significant if you know that the word “dragon” is what being firemen call especially bad fires. There are also sculptures of coyotes, beavers, fish, turtles, roadrunners and cranes, all animals who live in the area. And to remind children to stay out of arroyos, there's a sculpture of La Llorona, the legendary ghost/witch who drowns children who go where they shouldn't, unless a firefighter or other hero rescues them.

If visiting the sculpture garden is not enough, you can continue your adventure with a walk along the Paseo del Bosque trail, a 16-mile multi-use trail that runs through the cottonwood forest that follows the banks of the Rio Grande.

When she's not hiking, Jennifer Bohnhoff is writing. The author of over a dozen books, many of which are historical fiction for middle grade readers through adults, Bohnhoff lives in the mountains east of Albuquerque. You can read more about her and her books on her website.

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The Little War: Children's Propaganda in WWI

11/7/2024

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War impacts everyone; world wars, even more so. Now through February, the National WWI Museum and War Memorial in Kansas City is hosting an exhibit which explores the lives of children swept up by the storms of World War I while adults were fighting on the front line and supporting the war effort.

Black and white photograph of American soldiers and a small girl. The soldiers and the girl all hold rifles over their right shoulder. Photo: object 2023.122.1 in the Museum collection. https://collections.theworldwar.org/argus/final/Portal/Default.aspx?component=AAAS&record=16235ede-63d9-4183-b069-bc8362c450f1

Although everyone wants to shield children from the horrors of war, it seems that no one wants children to be completely unaware of war. The objects on display for this exhibit clearly show that society wanted children to believe that their fathers and their country were fighting for a just and important cause. People wanted their children to feel like they, too, were fighting for something important.

Picture: Joseph D. Marcelli wearing the play uniform made by his father, a tailor in New Jersey. Object ID: 2011.50.1 in the museum collection.

One way that adults tried to indoctrinate children was with uniforms such as the one pictured above. The museum also shows miniature nurses uniforms emblazoned with red crosses, so that girls could also play their part in imaginary war games.

Another way that children learned to hate the enemy, and therefore war against him, was by ridiculing the other side. Nursery Rhymes for Fighting Times took common Mother Goose rhymes such as Humpty Dumpty, and adapted them to make the Germans, especially Kaiser Wilhelm, look ridiculous.

Such propaganda seems horrible and jingoistic by today's standards. At the time, they were commonplace. The impressionable young minds of American and British children were being fed a clear lesson: that loyalty and commitment would win the war against an enemy that had to be defeated. Molded by the first truly global conflict, the children who grew up during World War I became the adults who had to endure the horrors of World War II. I wonder if they wouldn't have become The Greatest Generation had they not been trained into it in childhood.

Located in Kansas City, the National WWI Museum and Memorial is America's leading institution dedicated to remembering, interpreting and understanding the Great War and its enduring impact on the global community. Click here for more information about its collection or visiting the museum.

Jennifer Bohnhoff in an author who lives and writes in the mountains of central New Mexico. She wrote about World War I in her historical novel, A Blaze of Poppies.

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A Lighter Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Hidden Gem: Pueblo Montaño Chainsaw Sculpture Garden

The Little War: Children's Propaganda in WWI

ABout Jennifer Bohnhoff

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