The chilly weather led me to buy cranberries yesterday.  That of course left me with a bag of cranberries in my fridge (really, I never buy cranberries except at Thanksgiving!)  After a quick kitchen inventory and recipe investigation, Cranberry-Orange-Nut Bread seemed like the perfect Fall recipe.  It also gave me an excuse to try out the mini-loaf pans I bought recently.

Cranberry-Orange-Nut-Bread

• 2 c. flour (I used 1 c. white and 1c. whole wheat)
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/s tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 c. cranberries
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• 1/2 chopped nuts (I used pecans)
• 3/4 c. orange juice**

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and grease the pans
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together
3. Add the beaten egg, oil, orange zest and juice, stir
4. Mix in the cranberries and nuts
5. Pour into the pans and bake ~55 minutes (~30 minutes for the mini loaf pans)

I know you’re not supposed to cut bread while still warm…but it is delicious that way!

**Ok, I didn’t actually have 3/4 c of orange juice because I only had one orange and no juice in my apartment.  I was able to squeeze out approximately 1/2 cup of juice and then supplemented with 1/3 cup of milk and the recipe came out fine.

After a couple of busy weeks and no time to grocery shop (and thus no cooking!), I just ordered from Peapod instead.  Which was pretty convenient because I don’t own a car, I’ve been studying for midterms, and they now have decent selection of natural and organic foods under their Nature’s Promise Line.  (Although I was slightly bummed they were sold out of a few items!)  Coupled with my Boston Organics delivery (which I am still loving).  I have a full fridge again!  Rejoice!

So to celebrate, I made creamy butternut squash polenta and pork chops with cinnamon apples and cranberries for dinner.  Anything with apples and cinnamon in the Fall is always a winner in my book.  I would have liked a larger squash to polenta ratio with my side dish, but not bad for a first attempt!

So when I fail all my mid-terms this week, we’ll know why.