Pumpkin pie...bread..no, pie...bread?

So today I ventured outside of the cocoon that is my festively decorated home for something other than an errand for the first time since commencement and spent the day with my friend Jill (she of last year's videotaped scavenger hunt). Because I'm sure that any day now we're going to uncover that we really are related, she thought it would be a great idea to hang out, talk, and bake up a storm for all of our neighbors. I mean, God forbid we just hang out and eat cookies. We. Will. Be. Productive!

Our baked goods of choice this year were several pumpkin breads. Last year, while I was putting together a far too complicated "upside down snack cake bread" (the ingredients provided to me in a cute jar by a friend painfully unaware of my lack of culinary skills), and loaves and loaves of banana bread for my neighbors, Jill turned out the most delicious pumpkin bread I have ever tasted. So this year, I decided that the best way to make up for our loud dogs who occasionally have escaped into the neighbors' yards, was by giving them each a bunch of pumpkin bread. What's not to love about pumpkin bread?

Now I will gladly admit to you that cooking is not my forte. Cooking is one thing not tied to my fragile ego. I instead pride myself on my analytical skills, my memory, and other cognitive features. So you would think that buying the ingredients would be easy as pie for me (the pun is coming..). And I thought it was, until I put all the cans of pumpkin on Jill's counter, and realized I had not read two of three cans correctly and purchased "pumpkin pie mix" instead of regular canned pumpkin (and there's the pun..yes, intended). For someone who (to quote "Pretty Woman") "went all the way" in the college, you would think that reading would not be a problem. Right.

But, Jill came to the rescue. She had me read out the ingredients on the pie mix (pumpkin, sugar, water, spices), and then said, as though it was the simplest thing in the world, "OK, so we'll just not add any sugar to that batch, and add only a little water, and it will be fine."

And I'm not sure how it happened, which probably underlines my complete lack of culinary gifts, but the pie/bread actually tastes just fine. The consistency is a little off, but it tastes just like pumpkin bread. And if it looks like a duck, and tastes like a duck..? Right.

Having said that, I of course can't let my neighbors think I can't complete a task as basic as purchasing the correct ingredients, as thanks to Paula Deen baking has become -the- thing southern women use to prove their women-worthiness, so I will be giving them the real pumpkin bread. If I can figure out which one it is.

Will the real pumpkin bread please stand up?