Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bread

I've been trying over the past week or so to make a meal every couple of days to stuff in the freezer for when the baby comes. I'm on a bit of a cooking/baking roll, as you can tell if you check out the What I made this week section of my blog.  So far I've managed to quickly whip up:

mom's spaghetti sauce:

mom's chili:

and chickpeas in curried coconut broth: 

plus, some hot coconut ginger shrimp with jumbo shrimp for dinner one night:

The doctor had originally recommended that I be induced for this baby, at around 38 weeks (aka next week!). Logan was born only 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital and since second babies tend to be even quicker, she was concerned that I might end up giving birth on the side of the highway. And though I'm not thrilled at the idea of being induced, having a roadside baby doesn't excite me much either (nor does the idea particularly appeal to Jerome!). So we'd decided to go for induction. And I'd been busy thinking I had no time left to get my freezer full so that I wouldn't have to cook for the next 6 months.

And then yesterday, I found out that this baby is apparently more than content to keep hanging out in my belly (with my increasingly sore back), despite what the doctor had planned for her. So it seems that we're not going ahead with an induction next week as planned, unless the baby changes her mind between now and early next week. So we'll see... in the meantime, it just leaves more time for me to cook and spend time alone enjoying Logan before the chaos of two hits!

Because of my recent cooking/baking binge, never mind our birthdays and Thanksgiving, we now officially have way more dessert in this house than any 3 people could possibly eat before it goes bad... I whipped up this pumpkin bread with the pumpkin left over from making pumpkin pie. Luckily, this can be frozen, so we all had a slice and I'm sticking the rest in the freezer. I believe that I got this recipe from someone at the Health Unit, once upon a time... Lyne...?? Monique??? I vaguely remember someone bringing it to a potluck. It's yummy and quick to whip up. I reduced the sugar and find there is no difference in taste.

2 C flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 eggs
1 C mashed cooked fresh pumpkin
1 C sugar (I used 1/2 C)
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar (I used 1/3 C)
1/2 C milk
1/4 C vegetable oil
6 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 
1 C of dark chocolate chips)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices until well blended; set aside.  Beat eggs, pumpkin, sugars, milk and oil in large bowl with wire whisk until well blended.  Add dry ingredients; stir just until moistened.  Stir in chopped chocolate.

2.  Pour into greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

3.  Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour.

Makes 18 servings.