I made a test loaf of cranberry orange bread and ate 75% of it before I remembered I needed to take a picture if I wanted to post the recipe. My second try was even more delicious AND I managed to wait until it was cool to take it out of the pan so I had a nice loaf for photos. It’s definitely a dessert bread, but who says you can’t have dessert in the morning with a cup of coffee, dessert at noon with a little butter and two slices of dessert after dinner? Cranberry orange bread, as well as artisan bread, reminds me of the holidays, although I can’t quite remember why. It’s also a good way to include cranberries with Thanksgiving in case you’re one of those crazy people who don’t like real cranberry sauce and for those who already have too much on their plate, consider getting some fresh bread from your local bakery for some delicious options.

Cranberry Orange Bread

12 oz cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1 egg
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 Tablespoons orange zest (about 1 medium orange)
3/4 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Combine the cranberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup orange juice in a bowl. Stir well and let the berries soak while you mix the batter. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Combine the wet ingredients in a medium bowl and stir well, making sure to fully beat the egg. Add the wet ingredients and the berry mixture to the dry ingredients and stir. Use a spatula to scrape the bowl and make sure it’s fully combined. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan (approximately 9x5x3) and bake at 350 for one hour or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Use the tester or a toothpick to poke holes in the top of the loaf.

Mix 1 Tablespoon water and 1 cup powdered sugar in a small bowl. Add a splash or two of orange juice until you get a good drizzling consistency. When the loaf has cooled a little, run a sharp knife around the edge and flip the pan over to release the bread. Put the cranberry orange bread right-side up on a plate and drizzle with the glaze. Eat and enjoy.

Yum yum yum yum. I will say, 12 oz of cranberries is a lot of cranberries, as you can see from the sliced shots. You can adjust the amount of cranberries down (or add more orange zest if you want it to be EXTRA orange-y) without affecting the recipe or cook time.

I have a pain in my right side that I don’t THINK is an internal organ exploding, but if it could be. What I’m saying is, if you don’t see me on Facebook or Instagram at all tomorrow, maybe text me?

Sunday:

Devil’s Hopyard – either it was named after the time the devil was seen jumping around in the pools at the bottom of the falls or after a landowner named Dobble who had a farm near there.

It’s very warm.

A two photo shoot kind of day

Monday:

He takes his Christmas gift list circling very seriously.

CUDDLE TIME

Tuesday:

MOMMY THERE’S A MAN IN THE TANK WITH THE FISHES

Aquarium date with some of our favorite people

Bacon, caramelized onions, tomato, blue cheese on sour dough. JEALOUS?

Wednesday:

I can’t remember WHY I put the kitchen stools in our bedroom but the gingers enjoy them.

Special Helper Day

I like pretending that is my house.

Thursday:

GOODNIGHT CAROLINE

We have a train table he never plays with at home. But the one at the library is THE BEST.

The cat found her spot on the new couch

Friday:

I think she has her princesses mixed up.

Showing off his art at my parent-teacher conference

My kids are weird.

Saturday:

They spent the full length of a movie like this. Unfortunately the movie was Equestria Girls.

TV, screaming toddler, Facebook…and I wonder why it takes me FOREVER to get things done.

Fall in a cookie – pumpkin, hazelnut spread, butterscotch chips. Unfortunately I don’t really like butterscotch and E doesn’t like pumpkin, so we can’t tell if these are actually delicious.

I secretly just want to sleep all day tomorrow, but we’re doing more fun stuff instead. Maybe I can sleep all day on the second of never. I’ve got a date with the elliptical trainer on Tuesday and that’s almost as good as napping. Especially because of the massage bed afterwards.

Snowpocalypse! Snowtastrophe! Snowmygod! But the most exciting part of this week was actually that Caroline started preschool:

Sunday:

Saving money on my grocery bill is my new addiction.

Pizza helpers

Her hair is getting ridiculous

Monday:

Twin jammies

Twin couch nap

Twin box playing

Tuesday:

This is how she lives her whole life

Puzzles are WAY more interesting than saying goodbye to mom

The non-snow we got on Tuesday seems like a joke now

Wednesday:

Back to their Olympic training

Weirdo #1 says “Take a picture like this Mommy!”

Weirdo #2 says “TAKE MY PICTURE TOO!”

Thursday:

I pulled up in front of the school and threw them out. They loved it.

I love the gym on base – totally empty at 9 am.

Emergency snow storm supplies: APPLES

Friday:

Caroline “fixed” a lawnmower

Evan ate cheese

I made “OMG” faces at the blizzard

Saturday:

Banana bread baking

Flying dog flies out of the snow once he realized how deep it is

Official toddler measurement: WHOA.

There’s still a travel ban on state roads and highways so we CAN’T go anywhere – not that we were the least bit tempted. We have electricity, Netflix streaming, lots of (boozy) hot cocoa and homemade pizza for dinner. E got home from work before the storm hit and gets to stay with us until Monday, so basically the storm is the best thing that’s happened in two weeks.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! Please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before – it’s really fun!

Sometimes people accuse bloggers of airbrushing real life out off their posts, focusing only on the beautiful, sparkly, aspirational parts of their day to day.

I think this is true. A lot of bloggers want their spaces to be about beauty, to represent the happiest moments, to share only the best memories with the world. Lovely things get lovely compliments. It’s nice to hear approval and admiration from other people, even if it doesn’t actually mean anything. Who doesn’t want to hear “You have a beautiful home” “Your children are adorable” or “Wow, that looks delicious”. Blogs are today’s magazines, and no one subscribes to an ugly magazine.

The problem is when everything looks TOO effortless and TOO perfect. When I read Martha Stewart Living, I know those homes and recipes and children have been styled and arranged and glossed within an inch of their life. When I read blogs I assume I’m getting a real, un-glossed story – or at least one one that is more true than false. Maybe you really do look like a model, have an all white living room and eat every meal in restaurants by candlelight. In that case I am very jealous of your life and won’t say a word about the authenticity of your blog. Congrats on being awesome.

But for the rest of you? Go ahead and show me your messy house or your yoga pants or your dirty children sometimes. Tell me the story of how you planned an idyllic picnic in a meadow but a dog ran off with your roasted chicken and your kids fell in a creek. By all means be beautiful, but be honest too. I’ve never shared a moment of weakness or truth and had someone walk away disgusted. Whether it’s through photos, words, or funny misspelled kitten pictures, let’s be real friends.

Because real friends tell you they let their kids watch 11 episodes of The Backyardigans yesterday AND eat cookies for dinner. They admit that they prepped all the cookie ingredients  like a sous chef on a cooking show so she could take fifty pictures without worrying about a pound of sugar ending up on the floor. A real friend will admit that she chooses and edits her photos because she wants to show off her kids being adorable but also because she enjoys taking and choosing and editing photos. A real friend will admit she ate five six seven cookies while doing all that editing.

A real friend would also share her cookies with you, but you better hurry over since these are going to be gone really soon.

Besides the prep and a little help spooning out the dough, these cookies were totally ginger-made. I couldn’t be more proud of my tiny bakers.

This morning Caroline was doing push ups – incline push ups, with her feet on the couch and her hands on the floor – and I realized I had been sitting down for like 4 hours straight. So I had a cup of coffee, pounded this out and then went to do something productive. Nothing like an exercising 1 year old to make you feel like a lazy ass.

Sunday:

The kids built steps to reach the clementines. Evil geniuses.

“Mommy, why don’t we have ponies???” “Because your father isn’t Mitt Romney, honey.”

Painting the dining room seemed like such a good idea at the time.

Monday:

Sorry, can’t get up, it would disturb the cat.

We went to terrorize, uh, visit my friend Megan’s yarn store.

I love you, iPhone panoramic thingy.

Tuesday:

When you clean out the toy box, you discover toys you forgot about and it’s like getting NEW TOYS (p.s. My aunt made me that dress when I was a baby)

I got the box closes and we haven’t opened it since. TRUE STORY.

Pretty much how I feel every night by 8 pm.

Wednesday:

Caroline chose to sit on the bench with her blankie instead of doing gymnastics for the first half of class. Then she remembered OH YEAH I LOVE GYMNASTICS.

SUPER GOOD BRAVE BOY at the dentist

Clean teeth make you very tired.

Thursday:

Hmmm…do I look 8 years old today? Yes, I think I do.

What do you mean I can’t do pull ups on the stroller???? I hate you you’re ruining my life!

Cat nap (sorry Instagram friends, I just love this one)

Friday:

Trying to climb into the house

The only time we saw Daddy all week…and he’s leaving for work.

My Friday nights are very exciting.

Saturday:

Insisted on getting up at 6:30 am, only to climb into her brother’s bed and insist it was time to go to sleep. That face says “I DARE YOU TO DISAGREE”

3rd batch of scones in 2 days. Recipe on Tuesday.

Oops?

I can’t believe this week is Thanksgiving already – it’s so early this year! – but I love that I get to enjoy our Christmas decorations for a while longer. I’m crossing all my crossibles that E gets out of shift work in time to help us pick out a tree on Friday (FRIDAY!!!!) and I can’t wait to put up our combination Caroline’s party/holiday stuff. Winter sparkle snowflake woodland fairies FOREVA.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! I’ve been doing this for more than 2 years now, and I’m a little sad it seems to be dying out now that Amy handed the linky off to me. So PLEASE please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before. I’ll be around to read everyone’s posts and comment.