Holiday Progressive Dinner - Giving Mini Holiday Loaves this Holiday and Giveaway

*Disclaimer - I received the Country Door products to facilitate this review and assist in my holiday dinner.  No monetary compensation was received and a positive review was not required.  As with all Adventures in All Things Food & Family reviews, all opinions and experiences are my own.  

In my neighborhood, neighbors still drop off jars of homemade jam, home canned tuna and other fresh goodies around the holidays. This year I have already started my baking in order to always have a gift on hand for those generous neighbors. This week is going to be all about Hostess Gifts and Gifts from the kitchen.

Welcome back to our final week of the Holiday Progressive Dinner Series. This week I am excited to announce the week's sponsor is Country Door.

Country Door has a fabulous selection of home decor, bed and bath, for the home and seasonal items as well. I selected this Colander Set in peacock to review. With a 1 1/2 quart, 3 quart and 5 quart colander, I was able to rinse, drain and strain just about anything I needed.

I fell in love with the color, too. I am trying to slowly replace my kitchen items and keep everything in a light, Caribbean blue shade. This set fit in perfectly. The three sizes nest into each other taking up less room in my kitchen cabinet. They are also light enough that I can store them on a top shelf and fill them without worry.

I also reviewed their Drink Dispenser and Stand which was a big hit with my husband. We like to have ice tea or water with citrus slices available all day to keep us drinking. My husband comes out of the field or shop and wants to enjoy a tall glass of cold water. It holds about 3 gallons which should keep us in water this Summer.

This will also come in handy this holiday season for entertaining. I will keep it filled with holiday juice blends or water to keep everyone happy. The top is wide enough to fit in ice cubes, citrus slices, easily fill with liquid and clean thoroughly. The spout is easy enough to use one-handed and the stream of water was fast enough to fill up my glass quickly.

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This week I am sharing my favorite homemade goodies to give away around the holidays - quick breads!

Holiday Progressive Dinner 

Week 7 Recipe Links

Gifts from Your Kitchen

Mini Holiday Loaves - Cranberry Orange, Banana and Pumpkin Chocolate
at Adventures in All Things Food

Quick and Easy Homemade Candy: Peanut Clusters, Toffee Pecan Clusters & White Chocolate Snowballs at Busy-at-Home

Candied Nuts at Flour on My Face

Peppermint Patties at The Gunny Sack

5 Easy Last Minute Gifts from the Kitchen at Daily Dish Recipes

My first quick bread to share is my Banana Bread. Sweet, moist and so fast to make, I love sharing this one with family. We all have brown bananas to use up, right? I collect mine into zip top bags in clusters of 3 and they are ready to go for making banana bread.

I create this sweet bread with two bowls, a whisk and spoon. No need for a mixer.

This recipe will either make one standard loaf, or 4 mini loaves, as will the other recipes. I think the mini loaves are the perfect size for gifting. With a bow and gift tag they are easy to have on hand for those last minute gifting needs.

Banana Bread

You Will Need:

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 egg, scrambled
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1/4 c. canola oil
• 1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray your mini loaf pans with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, add the mashed banana, sugar and lemon zest. Mix. Then add in the egg and oil.

In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients and then add your banana mixture to it. Stir to combine and then fold in the nuts. Divide between 4 mini loaf pans.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the tops start to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Once cooled, wrap tightly in kitchen wrap and let sit for at least 24 hours before slicing and eating. Once cooled they can also be frozen.

Another fun quick bread to make is Pumpkin Chocolate. I freeze my own pumpkin puree during the Fall, but you can also used canned just as easily.

Pumpkin Chocolate Bread

You Will Need:

• 1 c. flour
• 1 c. dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1 c. pumpkin puree
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c. canola oil
• 1/2 c. walnuts, chopped
• 1/3 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray your mini loaf pans with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the first 8 dry ingredients. Whisk to combine. Add the pumpkin, milk, eggs, and oil and beat with a hand mixer. Beat on medium till completely smooth and blended. Fold in the walnuts.

Divide between the 4 mini loaf pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the tops start to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Once cooled, wrap tightly in kitchen wrap and let sit for at least 24 hours before slicing and eating. Once cooled they can also be frozen.

Another holiday favorite of mine is a nice, tart Cranberry Orange Bread. I use a mixture of dried and fresh cranberries to really bump up the flavor.

I used fresh Oregon cranberries. These were dry picked so they last much longer in the refrigerator. They are crunchy and tart. I like to rough chop mine so I have large pieces in my bread, but not whole berries.

This batter is much thicker than the two others. Don't let that worry you. The secret to this one is the cold lumps of butter. They will add to the moisture in the quick bread during baking.

Cranberry Orange Bread

You Will Need:

• 2 c. flour
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 c. butter, unsalted and cut into cubes
• 1 c. fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 orange, zested
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 c. fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 c. dry craisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray your baking pans with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter till you have pea sized lumps.

In another bowl, whisk together the orange juice, zest and egg. Add this to the flour mixture along with the cranberries and craisins. Stir till just combined and divide into 4 small mini loaf pans.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the tops start to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Once cooled, wrap tightly in kitchen wrap and let sit for at least 24 hours before slicing and eating. Once cooled they can also be frozen.

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