Inspiration! What do we do without it? I am so glad ( actually blessed is how I feel ), to have such a wonderful community of immensely helpful and gracious ppl who inspire me in my day to day tasks. I have been meaning to empty out my pantry for so many months. This time, I gritted my teeth and actually started doing something about it. I thought that if I put down my goal in writing, I would feel responsible to carry it throughout. Hence I declared it to my fellow foodies about starting out with my first pantry item - "Fresh Cranberries". Here I was thinking it as something of a week to 10 days goal but what happened amazed me.

The amount of ideas and suggestions that came floating from all these resident experts just put an extra spring in my steps and I just went on an overdrive. I usually do some planning before I make something for the blog but this time, the energy did it for me. I went ahead and even finished off a cup of pastry flour that was waiting to be used for a while. I made this recipe and even posted it in my FB page as soon as it came out of the oven..Such was the enthusiasm that seeped in thanks to all my mates. I am happy that I managed to finish off the packet of cranberries (this uses 2 whole cups) out of which only abt 1/4 cup was left out. I finished those off while prepping...What? Don't you pop in "its and bits" while cooking? Changes I Made I adapted this recipe quite a bit from Deborah Madison's original to accommodate my needs along with making it a bit healthier. I added more whole wheat pastry flour (had to finish that off), reduced the butter and replaced it with little bit of canola oil, used fat free Greek yogurt mixed with little water to substitute for buttermilk and replaced the eggs with more yogurt to make this an eggless treat. (I was out of eggs!) Other than that, I kept it the same..I think I might have used more orange juice than asked for.. I think I added an additional 2-3 tbsp orange juice (not on purpose...I was over excited remember?!) but it did not harm the recipe..in fact it turned out to be EXACTLY what it promises in the title - "cranberries" and "nuts"...and loads of it :) with a hint of orange. I made 12 muffins and a mini loaf out of that batter. The texture was amazing. It made for a great snack and a hearty morning breakfast.