With just 4 ingredients and a few minutes of prep, you’ll have a fun and yummy Bible treasure hunt ready for your family.

Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread:
1 Box Spice Cake Mix (Duncan Hines brand works best)
1 15 oz Can of Pumpkin
1/2 Cup Water
1 Bag of Chocolate Chips (any kind, but Durbins prefer Dark)
Recipe can be made without chocolate chips, buy why would anyone do that?!  😉

Prep Ahead Instructions:
Gather your 4 ingredients and print out the list of verses consolidated at the bottom (in maroon).
Cut the verses apart and hide them as follows.

• Spice Cake Mix –
  Carefully open the box, insert John 6:35, and reseal the box with glue or tape so it looks unopened.
• Can of Pumpkin –
  Carefully take off the label, tape Matthew 5:16 to the back of the label, and put the label back on the can so it looks untampered.
• 1/2 cup water –
  Fold and tape Psalm 42:1 to the bottom of the measuring cup so that the cup sits as flatly as possible.  A measuring cup that isn’t see through is preferable.
• Chocolate Chips –
  Tape Psalm 119:103 to the seam of the back side of the bag, folding it so it will show as little as possible.
• Big Mixing Bowl –
  Tape Psalm 34:8 to the bottom of the bowl so that the bowl sits as flatly as possible.

Pre-heat oven to 350.
Grease & flour 2 loaf pans. (Spray works fine.)

Teachable Moment Time!
God’s word is like a treasure hunt.  We have to make time to dig into it and explore its depths.  Doing so will bring priceless blessings.  Today we are going to remind ourselves of that by going on a Scripture treasure hunt with our recipe!  As I tell you each ingredient to put into our big bowl, you have to find the hidden verse.

Box Spice Cake Mix
Read and discuss the verse once it’s found.  Then, dump the mix in the bowl.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.   John 6:35

1 15 oz can of pumpkin
Read and discuss the verse once it’s found.  The connection here is that pumpkins are often used at jack-o-lanterns this time of year.  Then scoop the pumpkin into the bowl.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

1/2 cup of water
Read and discuss the verse once it’s found.  Then, pour the water into the bowl.
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.  Psalm 42:1

NOW blend these ingredients with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer for a full two minutes.

1 Bag Chocolate Chocolate chips 
Read and discuss the verse once it’s found.  Then, pour the bag of chips into the bowl and mix by hand with a large spoon.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  Psalm 119:103

Pour the batter evenly into the greased loaf pans.  As your child is helping pour and scrape the batter into the pans, see if he notices the verse on the bottom of the bowl.  Read the verse, discuss, and then ask him if he sees a clue in the verse as to what to do next. 
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.  Psalm 34:8
Taste the batter!

Bake both loaves at 350 for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
It’s delicious eaten warm.  We often microwave it a bit if we are eating slices later on.  It can also be made into muffins or mini-muffins.  Just adjust the cooking times.  This bread freezes well, but ours never makes it to the freezer!  We love that it makes two loaves, because often we eat one and give one away.  I watch for sales this time of year for the ingredients and stock up.  It’s not unusual for us to make as many as 15-20 batches of this between Sept – Dec each year.  We LOVE it and it’s the aroma of fall in our home.  I bet it will become a favorite of yours, too!

For further discussion –
“I hid verses in our ingredients for fun, but where does the Bible say we should hide God’s Word?  And, why?”
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11
Consider following that up with finding a verse or two in Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments to memorize and continue discussing.

Cut and paste verses from here into a printable document for use in your own hunt:
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.   John 6:35

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.   Matthew 5:16

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.   Psalm 42:1

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!   Psalm 119:103

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.  Psalm 34:8

Cooking with Scripture:
Bake up a batch of your favorite baked goodies with your children.  While they are cooking, pick a verse applicable to whomever you are surprising with the treats.  Your children can write the verse on plain paper, note cards, or even with a permanent marker on the baggies that will hold the treats.  If you have a child that can’t write, let him decorate around the verse.  Some suggestions:

 “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Mark 12:31
We love these treats and hope you do too!  Thankful you’re our neighbor!

Or,

“A cheerful heart is good medicine.”  Proverbs 17:22
…So is chocolate!  Hope these treats bring cheer to your heart!

Have fun delivering these goodies that will bring smiley faces and happy tummies!

Snacking with Scripture: 
Use Alphabits Cereal or Cheez-It Scrabble snack crackers to write out words of verses, or the first letter of each word.  As each letter or word is eaten, see if your child can still say the verse.

See if you know the rest of this verse.  If you need a hint, look up Proverbs 15:1.

Whether your children are itty bitty, or teens, serving others by preparing and delivering meals can be blessing to your family as well as the recipient family.  We take meals for friends and family who have had surgery, babies, lost a loved one, or other situations where a meal would help bring relief.  I know first hand the huge help of receiving meals from church friends after we had both of our babies as well as from when my mom was on hospice and right after she went to be with the Lord.  And, while growing up I was blessed to have the example of a mother who made almost as much food for others in need as she did for us!

When my children were little, I set out to find the perfect recipe combination for our family’s meal ministry.
It’s requirements were that it be:
*child friendly to make
*not too eccentric so even young and picky eaters would enjoy it
*easily duplicable so we could prepare batches for our own family at the same time
*made from a number of pantry or freezer items that we could keep on hand.
*made from only a short list perishable ingredients so I could run to the grocery store and remember the items by memory and not have to pick up too many things.

Here’s what I came up with – Hawaiian Ham, Seasoned Green Beans, and Pumpkin or Strawberry Bread (sometimes I’ll throw in some packaged Hawaiin rolls, too!)

Hawaiian Ham

Fully cooked ham (about 2 lbs)  (Can be already sliced in pkg)

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

6 or more pineapple slices

Arrange ham in one layer or a little overlapping in an ungreased large rectangular casserole dish.  Combine brown sugar and mustard; spread over ham.  Top with pineapple slices.  Pour excess pineapple juice into bottom of the dish.  Bake in 375 degree oven for 10 minutes or until heated through.

Tip:  I usually just take this unheated and give heating instructions.  Whenever I find foil casserole pans on sale for 10 for $10 at our local grocery store I stock up for this purpose!  Be aware that the liquid can sometimes slosh out in transit.  To prevernt a messy car clean up, I usually set the pan on a towel in my floorboard.   Much easier to throw the towel in the wash than clean the car floorboard!  Can you tell I’ve learned from experience?!

Seasoned Green Beans

1 16 oz pkg frozen cut green beans

3 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp butter

7 tsp brown sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp chicken bouillon granules

In microwave-safe bowl, combine the first six ingredients.
Cover and microwave on high 3 minutes, stir, and then 3 minutes more.

Tip:  I put all the ingredients in a gallon ziplock (without cooking it) to make it easy to deliver.  That’s cheaper than trying to buy disposable tupperware.  The recipient can just dump the bag contents into a microwavable bowl and be ready to zap and eat!

Pumpkin Spice Cake (Our fall bread recipe.)

Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix (This brand is a must.  For some reason, the other brands don’t turn out as well for this recipe.)

1 can pumpkin ( about 15 oz.)

1/2 cup water

Optional:  Add Chocolate chips and/or nuts. (We love dark chocolate chips mixed in!)
Optional:  Sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar before baking.  (We usually skip this.  It’s yummy enough without it!)

Beat the cake mix, pumpkin, and water for two minutes in a large bowl.  Stir in chocolate chips or nuts if desired.  Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes.  You can tell when the cake is firm.  This bread may also be frozen (but it never lasts that long here!)

Tip:  This recipe smells and tastes like the fall season!  Because of that, we only make it mid-Sept through December.  That helps it keep it’s special seasonal charm!  We are so in love with this recipe, that we literrally make a batch of this at least once a week throughout that time!

Strawberry Bread(This is our go-to bread recipe any other time than fall.)

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 pkg. (10 oz) frozen strawberries, thawed

4 eggs, well beaten (these can be beaten in the well of the big bowl)

1 cup salad oil

Combine and mix thoroughly all dry ingredients.  Make a well in center of mixture and add in liquid ingredients.  Mix by hand and add strawberries.  Pour mixture into 2 greased, floured (just spraying PAM works, too) 4×8 inch loaf pans.  Bake 1 hour at 350 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  After cooling, refrigerate.   This bread may also be frozen.