pumpkin gingerbread

When it comes to Thanksgiving recipes, I've already covered the basics: stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, apple pie, and more. But let's face it: unless you're hosting for the first time, you probably have a recipe or two of your own.

But what about the morning before Thanksgiving? See, I bet you didn't put much thought into that, did you? Usually over the holidays you can count on a house full of visiting family, and they need breakfast! And you need to get started on the turkey, so you know what's a great idea? A simple, easy, totally delicious recipe that they can enjoy -- perfect for getting everyone into the holiday spirit a little early!

For this recipe, I tried to focus on an ingredient that was great for your skin and perfectly for the holidays -- and I settled on pumpkin! Pumpkin has tons of Vitamin A, which jump-starts the skin cell renewal process and helps give you youthful, radiant skin. It's also a great source of Vitamin E, an antioxidant that protects and repairs your skin (Vitamin E is also found in Simple Skincare Protecting Light Moisturizer, one of my favorites)! So you're doing good for your skin as well as your body -- think about that when you go for seconds!

And for more awesome skin-loving recipes, check out Simple Skincare's Skin-Loving Food and Nutrition Pinterest board!

Pumpkin Gingerbread

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1/3 cup water

1/2 of a 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9" by 5" loaf pan.

Mix together sugar, oil and eggs and beat until smooth. Add water, pumpkin, ginger, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon and beat together until well blended.

Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder to the mixture and blend until evenly distributed. Pour into the loaf pan and bake until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour.

For the icing, mix together powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Start with one tablespoon of milk and increase in small increments until the icing is pourable. Pour onto the gingerbread, cut and serve.