Last night was the Art of Hospitality Workshop featuring Taylor and Leeann Mason founders and owners of Ma(i)son. Let me tell you, what an inspiration these guys were. Wow. My concept of hospitality was challenged, deepened, and forever changed. As Taylor said, true hospitality is a little intangible and can be hard to nail down. It was as if all the pieces fit together when I heard his interpretation of hospitality. We will be sharing a bit more about the special night on the blog Friday. But for today, let me just share my biggest take away….Hospitality meets our core longings as a person and my favorite part….hospitality can be so SIMPLE.

Hospitality is something our team believes in and is intentional about including in our day to day way of doing life and business. From the way we make clients feel at meetings, to birthday gatherings, to things as simple as team meetings over lunch. I served this pumpkin bread at our last team meeting. The girls approved and suggested I share it with you all. There is something about fall friuts and vegetables. They are hearty, flavorful, and comforting. Cabbage, sweet potaotes, red beets, kale, and squash. I love them all. Homemade pumpkin bread is one of my favorite fall time treats.  This pumpkin bread is loaded with raisins and walnuts….which makes it even more flavorful and hearty. Add in a cup of fresh coffee, open a window to let that crisp fall air waft in, and you have yourself a perfect start to a fall morning. It also works quite nicely as an afternoon pick-me-up or dessert after dinner. An added bonus, it smells wonderful when baking. I hope some of you will give this fall bread a try. Let us know what you think!

Pumpkin Swirl Bread
Prep: 15 min|Bake: 65 min. + cooling

Filling:
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

Bread:
3 cups sugar
15 ounces pumpkin (I used squash from a local farm)
4 eggs1 cup canola oil
1 cup water
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisens
1/2 cup chopped dates

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour three 8×4-in. loaf pans. In a small bowl, beat filling ingredients until smooth.
2. In a large bowl, beat sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and water until well blended. In another bowl, whisk flour, pie spice, soda, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and cloves; gradually beat into pumpkin mixture. Stir in walnuts, raisins and dates.
3. Pour half of the batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Spoon filling over batter. Cover filling completely with remaining batter.
4. Bake 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in bread portion comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Wrap in foil; refrigerate until serving.

What is one of your favorite fall time treats? Let us know and include a link….we will try one at our next team meeting and let you know what we think!!