vegan butternut squash and pear bread

My daughter's fifth-grade teacher is very very sweet (in addition to being an awesome teacher). She writes me very nice thank-you notes for everything I give her. When I sent muffins to the fifth-grade team, she told me how they all appreciated them at their team meeting, and how the other teachers were so pleased and enjoyed them so much. When I gave her cookies, she told me that her husband had eaten them all in one sitting. When I sent in fudge at Christmas, she thanked me profusely and told me that she was impressed with the variety.

Notice anything amiss? I didn't either...

Until I learned that she is a vegan. Which means she didn't. eat. any. of. the. stuff. I. made.

She didn't want to seem unappreciative, and she didn't want to lie... so she passed it on to her friends and family, and reported back to me how much they loved it all. It was a very gracious way to accept the gifts, in my opinion.

So, this week I decided to make it up to her. I turned one of my recipes for pumpkin bread into a vegan butternut squash version, by leaving out eggs and milk, and using vegetable shortening and apple sauce instead. Then, because the batter seemed a little thick still, I added two shredded pears. The juice from the pears worked well in making the batter seem more right.

For your vegan needs, here it is!

1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups sugar
1 cup butternut squash puree
1 cup vegetable shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 pears, cored and shredded

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray 2 loaf (or 5 mini loaf) pans with vegetable cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, combine applesauce, sugar, squash, shortening, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients.

Fold the dry ingredients into the squash mixture, and fold to combine. Add the pears and stir just until combined.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is beginning to brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let sit in the pans for about 10 minutes, and then turn out on a rack to cool.