Vanilla Cherry Nut Bread

Hello everyone, sorry for my month long absence. I didn't realize that it had been that long, and my excuse doesn't really work anymore. This little girl has been kicking my butt for the last little bit, but I'm hoping that I will stay feeling good until she gets here. In January, well after Christmas.

Anyway, back to more important things. Like food, that's always important. I was feeling a little bored with our dinner options and decided that I would take a look at my old "What's Cooking?" magazines by Kraft Canada. I don't know if they have anything like this anywhere else, but I hope they do. I love these magazines. The recipes are so simple and usually very good. While looking for some new dinner options (wait for those in the coming weeks), I found a few recipes for some sweet things.

My energy levels are super low, so anything with no effort and minimal steps has me hook, line and sinker. This recipe for vanilla cherry nut bread hit all the criteria, so I gave it a shot. 

Vanilla Cherry Nut Bread    (original recipe)                                                  

1 cup drained maraschino cherries, halved, divided
1 can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1 pkg. white cake mix
1 pkg. Jell-O vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 pkg. cream cheese*
1 tbsp. milk*
1/2 cup icing sugar *

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Reserve 4 cherry halves for topping, or more if you will not be freezing additional loaves (4 cherries per loaf).

2. Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Add enough water to the juice to measure to 1 cup. In a separate bowl beat cake mix, pudding mix, juice, oil and eggs until blended. Add pineapple, remaining cherries and nuts; mix until just blended.

3. Pour into 3 loaf pans (I only have 2, so I had to do two batches) sprayed with cooking spray and lightly floured. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.

*if you will not be freezing any of the loaves, use the amounts listed in the ingredients. I froze two loaves, so the below ingredient amounts reflects the amount of glaze for one loaf. To store, wrap cool unglazed loaves tightly and freeze up to 3 months.

4. Beat 1/8 pkg. of cream cheese, 1/2 tbsp. of milk and 1/4 cup icing sugar until well mixed; drizzle over loaf. Garnish with 4 cherry halves.

I'm not sure if it had to do with the recipe called for 5 mini loaves, but I found that all the cherries and nuts sunk to the bottom. Maybe it was just how I stirred and poured, who knows. Either way I don't think it effected the taste or presentation. Each bite was an unexpected surprise. The loaf stayed very moist and did not taste like it was made from cake mix.

I thought it was really good, Luis was not a fan. It happens that way sometimes, and you just have to balance it out later. I loved the pineapple and cherry pieces, they were the best part to me. Luis said that if they were missing it would have been really good. You win some, you lose some. All in all it was quick and easy, and satisfied my sweet tooth.

Kerby 

Linking to:
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #229
Tatertots and Jello - Link Party Palooza 11/13/15 
eighteen25 - Show and Tell #15