Holiday Cranberry Bread

I believe this may have been a Pampered Chef recipe that came with a stone quad-mini-loaf pan.

Holiday Cranberry Bread
3/4 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 c. oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 T. grated orange (use the peel and fruit and juice, discard large pieces of membrane - a food processor works great. Just cut into several pieces and process)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract

2-1/2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped toasted almonds or pecans (toasting brings out extra flavor)
2 cups chopped cranberries

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, stir together milk and lemon juice until milk is slightly thickened (about 1 minute). Add the next 6 ingredients and beat until well blended. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until just well blended. Do not over beat. Divide batter between 4 mini loaf pans (or two regular loaf pans) that have been greased and lightly floured. Place in a 325 degree oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans for 15 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a rack. When cool, drizzle tops with glaze. (optional, but very festive). Yields 4 mini loaves or two regular loaves.

Orange glaze:
1 T. orange juice
1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar
1 tsps. grated orange peel
1 T. finely chopped nuts.

My notes:
I cut frozen cranberries just in half.

I put the slivered almonds on a cookie sheet in the oven until lightly browned. Then I chop them when cool. Be sure to reserve the 1T for the glaze.

Works just as well in regular loaf pans

When cooled and glazed, freeze for maybe an hour. Then take out of freezer, slice, then wrap for freezing. Prevents a crumbly slicing job later.

I grease (Pam) the pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Springtime race plans

There is quite a bit of cross-training, hill running, tempo runs, and long runs between now and March, but here are my plans for Spring:

3/13 long run
3/21 Human Race 8K
3/28 long run
4/3 Ron Daws 25K
4/10 long run
4/17 Trail Mix team (12.5K)
4/24 Get in Gear 10K
5/2 Eau Claire Marathon

These dates are between traveling basketball and track/soccer season for my girls and I'm able to run more races. Most of the year I am a fan of my kids' sports and I do a lot of driving.

--Mark

simple winter goals

Lose 15 pounds to get to a good racing weight by the end of January.

Rebuild a good running base while cross-training on half the days I workout.

Keep focused on the longer term goal of running a good marathon in Eau Claire on May 2nd.

--Mark