Whole Wheat Cranberry Orange Loaf Bread & French Toast

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to start cooking some real food and blogging about it! It was a really great experience to share with you my baby/toddler food experiences, but now that I am in my second trimester and have more energy than I have had in months...

I've been a cookin' machine!

My husband actually asked me if I was feeling okay, because every night this week we have had a home cooked meal and he hasn't had to scrummage the fridge for something other than hummus and a bag of grapes.

(Prego me=terrible wife)

But let's not go into all the things that i've been 'skipping' since growing this little chickpea inside me, and let's focus on the food that I have been stuffing my face with.

Carbs.

I love carbs...bread in particular. Bread taste heavenly when your pregnant...then again, so does ketchup...

But you see, I love flavorful breads. Not just the regular old whole grain bread with seeds, those don't get me all hot and bothered. It's the banana breads, lemon, and sweet fruity breads. Am I weird?

I've had these lovely freezer burned cranberries in my freezer for only heaven knows how long...

I'm guessing they are as old as Baby Boo, which is kind of disgusting, isn't it? They have actually been in 3 freezers because we've moved 3 times since having Baby Boo...That's more disturbing.

None the less, why not make bread with said cranberries. Nothing a little warm water and defrosting can't solve right? :-)

Whole Wheat Orange Cranberry Loaf Bread

Adapted from THIS recipe from Lick The Bowl

Ingredients:

2 c. whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 c. coconut sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

dash of salt

sprinkle of nutmeg

3/4 c. fresh squeezed orange juice

1 TB. orange zest

2 TB. applesauce

1 egg beaten

3 tsp. maple syrup

1 TB. vanilla

1 1/2 c. cranberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions:

Gather your ingredients and preheat oven to 350:

(not pictured, vanilla and baking powder)

Juice your oranges:

Mix your dry ingredients (including sugar) together, and then mix your wet in a separate bowl. Combine wet and dry. Fold in the cranberries.

Pour batter in a prepared loaf pan and bake for 40-50 minutes. (I did 45) It will be a harder loaf compared to banana bread, which is a little softer. Make sure to stick a toothpick in the middle to make sure it's all the way cooked.