It's beginning to feel a lot like fall!

Last weekend was pretty chilly here and it got me into a fall mood. I love the fall, it most definitely my favorite season. Not only is the air cooler and crisp, but fall brings football (woohoo!!), bonfires, the smell of burning leaves, the smells of apple pie, and pumpkin! I had seen a recipe back at the beginning of summer on Cook like a Champion for a pumpkin bread and now I really wanted to try it! I was kind of curious about the use of pumpkin and chocolate together. I had never had that combination before. It works wonderfully together! This bread is so incredibly moist and not too bad for you either, since it's orginally from Cooking Light. It's a win, win!

**NOTE**I made this bread again, but I didn't have chocolate chips or pure canned pumpkin. I used Libby's pumpkin pie mix in place of the pure pumpkin and left out the chocolate...it was awesome as well!!



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup fat-free vanilla pudding (or fat-free vanilla yogurt)
4 large egg whites (or 2 eggs)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (you could also use walnuts or pecans)
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into 2 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.