Butternut Squash and Gingered Pear Bread

I like to think that everyone is on the same brainwave length as I am, but I fear that is not the case.  Which is probably really good news for the rest of the world.

We are having our house painted and decided to change the color.  Since we currently have a fairly dark color on the house, the company doing the painting is putting a primer on first before applying the new color.  The primer is a whitish shade.

So while talking to my parents the other day, I explained this to them and told them that the top half had been done.  I explained that we were changing to a dark(er) grey and sent them a picture of the work in progress.  About a minute later, my father texted back, “Nice color.”

“That’s just the primer,” I explained, and sent him a picture of the swatches on the house, highlighting our choice in blue marker.

“Oh,” he sent back, “I like that color better.”

Thinking that this was just my father misunderstanding me, I brushed it off.

Later that day, I texted the same picture to someone else with basically the same explanation.  They also told me that they liked the color. I once again explained that it was the primer they were looking at and sent them a picture of the swatches.

“That’s definitely better,” they replied.

So I am now convinced that A. I am not correctly explaining what primer is, B. I am not correctly explaining why grey is or C. I should just give up and let people see the finished product and ask me why I didn’t tell them that we were getting the house painted.  Surprise!

Ingredients:

• 2  1/4 cups oat flour, sifted (measure before sifting)
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1  1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 heaping Tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 1 cup butternut squash puree (I actually used canned for this recipe)
• 1 stick (8 Tablespoons) of butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup maple syrup

Topping:

• 1 pear, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/2″ slices
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients flour through arrowroot)  In a small bowl, combine all wet ingredients (squash through 1/2 cup maple syrup).
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Pour into a greased bread pan and allow to sit for 5 – 10 minutes.
4. While the batter is sitting, toss the pear slices in the 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup and 1/2 teaspoon of ginger.  Arrange the slices on top of the bread, pressing down very lightly.
5. Bake for 40-50 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Enjoy!