Thankful for Cranberries

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Today I am thankful for cranberries.

Ah yes, you may think, cranberries and Thanksgiving.   And while many folks enjoy some form of cranberries on Thanksgiving, that is not my main reason for being thankful for them.

Nope - - - I have a better reason than that.

I am thankful for cranberries because they are a MAJOR player in the economic health of our county.

This is paper and cranberry country.

Our paper industry has been forced to pare down to the bone, but cranberry marshes are still alive and well.

I've posted before, here and here, about the fact that our county is the largest producer of cranberries world wide.   And our economy is THANKFUL for those tart little red berries.

Very thankful.
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But I AM also thankful for cranberries to EAT at Thanksgiving.

I'm not much of a fan of cranberry sauce, but I do love me some cranberry bread.  I'm going to give you a recipe for an easy and tasty variety.

1 2-layer size white cake mix
1 small package of vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
1/4 cup oil
Zest of one orange
Juice of one orange
Enough water added to the orange juice to total one cup of liquid
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen cranberries, halved
1 4 oz package of chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, cream the eggs and oil until smooth.
Add the cake mix and pudding mix and blend until dampened through.
Pour in half of the orange juice/water mix.  Blend until smooth.
Add the orange zest.
Slowly add in the rest of the water mixture continuing to blend until everything is smooth.
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Drop in the cranberries and nuts, mixing just enough to cover all the berries and distribute them evenly in the batter.

Grease and flour two bread pans thoroughly.
Divide the batter between the two pans,  smoothing it out until it is even.

Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
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Place the finished loaves on a cooling rack for a few minutes, slide the blade of a butter knife along the edges to loosen the loaves, then dump them out on the rack to finish cooling.

Now, here's the REALLY important part - - -

Slice a thick generous slice while the bread is still warm from the oven.
Slather on real Wisconsin butter.
Eat before anyone can stop you.

It's Thanksgiving - - - be thankful you can indulge because we are so blessed in America with plenty of food and to spare.
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