Orange Cranberry Sauce Bread and Some Pitiful Looking Food Gift Baskets

This year for Christmas I am making all our gifts.  I am giving family calendars for those who think the world begins and ends with my kids, and I have food baskets for those who know better.  The calendars I know will be a hit.  The food baskets, on the other hand, make me a little nervous.  It's not the food part I'm worried about, it's the basket part.  Hi, my name is Lisa and I can't make an eye-pleasing gift basket if my life depended on it.

This is really frustrating to me because in all other sorts of other artsy-crafty mediums (at least those I've tried) I do really well.  I'm not bragging, I'm just saying that I got a good dose when God was handing out the creativity genes.  I have a degree in art education for goodness sake.  Why doesn't all my knowledge of color and composition transfer to the mysterious art of basket arranging?  It boggles my mind, but I'm learning to accept it.  My husband jokingly told me I should take a class.  Maybe I should.

Now that I have my deep, dark secret out, I will give you a glimpse at the goodies that await inside said "sad basket":  chocolate sprinkle covered pretzel rods, spiced almonds, classic chocolate chip cookies, and  the star of the show, The Ungourmet's Orange Cranberry Sauce Bread.

If you've spent any amount of time at my blog, you'll know that some of our family members have food intolerances.  So when I cook and bake for just us, (unless it's for the kids without food allergies, which is tricky because I have to hide treats and then they have to be sneaky about eating them.) everything is gluten, dairy, and now also chocolate free.  (My allergies include, but are not limited to, egg and gluten so I often make separate meals and snacks for myself).  These ingredients are in a lot of recipes and so I longingly look at the pictures of regular ole yummy recipes and wish I could make them for someone.  Enter the food gift baskets and all my family and friends who are lucky enough to be able to eat all these goodies.  Long story short, the contents of my baskets are less than healthy and chalk full of gluten, dairy and chocolatey goodness.

I love going to the Ungourmet's site.  The presentation and pictures of her creations are beautiful and the few recipes I've been able to try are little bites of heaven.  She has many recipes for delicious desserts and savory meals, so you should hop on over and take a look.

Her Orange Cranberry Sauce Bread is moist and sweet and I suspect will be a big hit with the receivers of my gifts.  Even though they look like ugly little foil wrapped bricks in my basket, I'm hoping like an old weathered treasure chest, the gold and jewelry inside will be a pleasant surprise.

Shared at:  Delicious Dishes
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Tuesdays At The Table
http://www.whoislaura.com/
Delectable Tuesday