RECIPES OATMEAL-APPLESAUCE BREAD

       OATMEAL-APPLESAUCE BREAD

      There is a story that goes with this recipe. So let me give you the background for it. After my mom died, I did some of the cooking but I always had to follow a recipe. If we didn't have all the ingredients, then I didn't cook. My dad finally told me you are not a good cook until you go in the kitchen and make a meal without anything to use except your imagination. I didn't pay much attention until I had a family of my own. Then that advice came in  handy.

            My children thought that everyday after school it was snack time. I couldn't go to the store every day so it was cooking time. One morning I cooked oatmeal and had a little left over so I decided to make some oatmeal bread. I pulled out an old cake recipe and adapted it to fit. But when it came time to add the milk, I didn't have any. So I looked around and substituted some applesauce. I knew that banana bread didn't have much liquid so I thought applesauce would work and it did. This is what I came up with. from 1976. Since then I add 1 cup of chopped apples to this recipe and it is delicious.



1 cup of butter or margarine softened            1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups of sugar                                       1/4 tsp cloves
2 1/2 cups flour sifted *                                1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs slightly beaten                                    1 cup applesauce
1 cup chopped nuts                                      1 cup raisins
1 cup cooked oatmeal                                  1 cup chopped apples

Mix butter and sugar together until well blended. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Add cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to flour. Mix oatmeal and applesauce. Add flour alternately with the oatmeal mixture. Add oatmeal, raisins, and apples last. Stir with a wooden spoon as this mixture will be thick. Spoon into a greased and floured loaf or tube pan.Bake at 350 F. for about one hour. Be sure to check in about 50 minutes as ovens may vary.

*I used self-rising flour but you can use all purpose flour and add 1 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.
Serve this warm with apple butter or honey butter. It is also good with cream cheese or cinnamon butter.yum yum

When I first made this bread, my kids had gone in the woods behind our house and picked up hickory nut and their Granny Ruby and I cracked them and put them in the freezer. The next time I made it, we went to Whitfield County where Granny Ruby use to live and gathered black walnuts. Now I just use pecans or walnuts. It is still good and I make it for the holidays.

Thank goodness for a smart dad and a mother-in-law who grew up in the country.