Orange you glad I'm on a baking kick?

As you can tell, I am on a bit of a baking kick this week. Steve is not eating desserts these days (and has shed quite a bit of weight as a result - he's looking great!), but I have found an outlet for my need to feed at an office where we're doing some work this week.

While I used fresh fruit, right off the tree, the other day, I just used straight from the carton orange juice for this sweet bread...this winter, I'll squeeze my own.

This is the sort of bread you can make the night before and have ready for breakfast as soon as you wander into the kitchen in the morning. Or, you can wrap it up tightly and bag it in the freezer for a special occasion.

At Christmas, add some cranberries to the mix for a simple holiday bread.

Orange Juice Bread

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup of shortening

1 egg

3/4 cup of milk

1/2 cup of orange juice

•                 In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Stir it up so that it's all mixed.

•                 Use a fork or a pastry blender to mix in the shortening.

•                 In a smaller bowl, beat the egg slightly, then mix in the milk and the orange juice.

•                 Add the liquid to the flour mixture and spoon the whole thing into a greased loaf pan, spreading it to the corners.

SS   Leave a slight depression in the middle.

Let it sit while the oven heats up to 350ºF, then bake for an hour.

Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian.