Back in the day, when I was all anti-establishment and down with the man, I would have never found myself partaking in Black Friday madness. But this year, I'm counting down the days to Black Friday because we need a new couch. Couches are expensive! Sales on couches are good! Do you know what four cats can do to a cheap couch in three years? Terrible things. Oh, the horror. (Cats: This is why we can't have nice things.) So yes, I'm doing the Black Friday thing this year. 20-year-old me would want to kick 32-year-old me in the shin.
One thing I won't be doing the day after Thanksgiving is eating leftovers because, since it's just the two of us for Thanksgiving this year, I decided not to make a big dinner. Sad, right?! Now that we live several states away, it seems silly to go home for Thanksgiving and then go back a month later for Christmas, so we're opting for Christmas this year. But if you do happen to have Thanksgiving dinner leftovers, save some cranberry sauce to make this Leftover Cranberry Sauce Bread.
Yes! You put the sauce in the bread! It has to be the chunky kind, not the jellied variety, of course. My mom went vegan earlier this year and over the summer, she sent me a bunch of her famous quick bread recipes so I could veganize them. I'm more of a cook than a baker, but I had fun figuring out how to take the dairy and eggs out of all of her recipes. I also managed to cut the sugar in most of them and add whole wheat flour too. I was pretty darn proud of myself and when I sent the recipes back to my mom, they all got her seal of approval. Which is a pretty big deal.
This is a variation of my mom's strawberry bread. I swapped out the strawberries for a cup of cranberry sauce and it works out perfectly. And if you still have leftover sauce after making the bread, you can serve it with a spoonful of cranberries on top.
More Cranberry Sauce Things!
If you're looking for other ideas, a few years ago I posted 9 Ways to Use Leftover Cranberry Sauce. And if you're still in need of a cranberry sauce recipe, here are two that I can vouch for:
Ginger Orange Cranberry Sauce // The secret ingredient is ginger beer!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
- ½ cup warm water
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup coconut milk
- ½ cup coconut oil melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup cranberry sauce not the jellied kind!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Combine the ground flax and water in a small bowl; set aside. Whisk the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. In another medium mixing bowl, whisk the coconut milk into the sugar until creamed. Slowly pour in the coconut oil, whisking to incorporate it into the sugar mixture. Stir in the flax mixture and vanilla extract, then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the cranberries.
- Use an oil mister to spray 3 mini loaf pans (3 x 5.75 inches) with oil or grease them with coconut oil. Divide the mixture into the 3 pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes, then remove the loaves from the bread pans and finish cooling on a rack.
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
You are SO right, cats do all kinds of junk to furniture (especially over 3 years!), like they run the house or something! : )
Kiersten says
Yes! They are so darn entitled. And do they ever offer to do the dishes?! Or take out the trash?! NO!
Sommer @ ASpicyPerspective says
This is brilliant, Kiersten! Hope you and your family have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!
Kiersten says
Thank you! And I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving too!
Liz @ The Lemon Bowl says
I love using cranberry sauce to sweeten non-holiday foods!! This is such a great idea!!
Kiersten says
I've just used it in muffins and bread, but now you have me thinking about other ideas. Brownies perhaps?!
Kelli @ The Corner Kitchen says
It's just the two of us this year, as well. We're still cooking a Thanksgiving feast, but as it gets closer I'm slightly more nervous than excited about all the leftovers. I will, however, be making extra cranberry sauce, so I can make this bread over the weekend...so lovely!
Kiersten says
You will have Thanksgiving food for days! 😀 The upside is that you'll get a break from cooking for a while, but the downside is that you will be sick at the thought of mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie after you've finished it all. 😉
Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
Mmmm, this looks awesome! Such a good daughter looking over the recipes for your mama!
Kiersten says
It was a lot of fun! My mom used to make quick breads alllll the time. She would send me to school with big baskets of them for the teachers. It always embarrassed me when I was a kid. 🙂
Maria Tadic says
This is such an unique idea for leftover cranberry sauce!!! I love it! It's nice that it's really transformed the cranberry sauce in something very different - yum!!
Kiersten says
It works in muffins too! I've done lots of crazy things with cranberry sauce. 🙂
Marta @ What Should I eat for breakfast today says
It's not sad at all. Tiny Thanksgiving dinner is great as well. Enjoy 🙂
Kiersten says
Yes, it's nice to have a low-key Thanksgiving too sometimes. 🙂
Katy says
This is a great idea! I tend to never have leftovers of cranberry sauce because it's so delicious it gets eaten in whole the night of, but next time I'll be sure to make a double batch to try this out!
Kiersten says
This is definitely worth saving a little sauce for! 🙂
Mallory @ Because I Like Chocolate says
I would totally make this… if I ever had any leftover cranberry sauce. But I always end up eating it with a spoon, it's my favourite!
Kiersten says
I love cranberry sauce, but it's always the last leftover we have left because I like it in small doses. 🙂 So way after all the other leftovers are gone, we are still working on the cranberry sauce!
[email protected]'s Recipes says
The bread looks super, Kiersten. The cranberry sauce does the magic, doesn't it?
Kiersten says
Yes! It makes the bread so moist and sweet and just a little bit tart. 🙂
Meg @ Beard and Bonnet says
Can I just say YUM!!! I am hoping the bed I want from West Elm goes on sale for cyber Monday because they some how forgot to mark the beds down for Black Friday. Jerks! Good luck couch hunting and braving the crowds...Black Friday shoppers scare me to DEATH!
Kiersten says
I think the West Elm sale is usually 10% off $100 or more, 20% off $200 or more, etc. Or something like that. Not that I'm stalking the sales or anything. Nope, not at all!
Holly says
Happy couch shopping! We need new couches too. Funny enough, little boys do similar damage to couches as do cats!! I am going to take a look at the ginger beer-cranberry recipe. I intended to make a version with port today but have no port in the house. I do, however, have ginger beer!
Kiersten says
Do your boys pee on your couch too? 😉 That happened when one of our cats had bladder issues last year--so gross! I think you can sub ginger beer for any liquid in a cranberry sauce recipe. I'm sure it will work!
Holly says
you might not think so...but I won't go into the joys of potty-training!! ha!
Kiersten says
Oh dear...
Emma says
I just ate a baked tofu sandwich with cranberry sauce 😀 This looks great and thanks for the links to the other cranberry sauce leftovers recipes.
Kiersten says
Ooh, I'm going to have to use some of my leftovers for that too!
Joy // For the Love of Leaves says
That is so smart! Leftover sauce or not, this bread sounds awesome!
Kathryn says
What a clever way to use up left over cranberry sauce!
Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health says
We're not going home for Thanksgiving either. Traveling is SUCH a hassle during the holidays. We usually go home at some random point when we won't have to deal with all the flight delays and other crap.
But this looks like a deliciously brilliant way to use up leftovers! I love it.
Kiersten says
Yeah, I would prefer to do that too, but our families make us feel so bad for not visiting during the holiday season! And then I feel bad! And everyone feels bad!
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
This is absolutely gorgeous! First, I love cranberries so I rarely have to contend with 'leftovers' but I love that you kept it vegan, whole wheat, and the color of the berries, the shiny cracked tops of the bread - total perfection! Pinned
Kiersten says
I stressed about the cracked tops because I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. 😉 But then I was like, screw it, it tastes good, that's what matters!
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
So in doing cookbook and baking research I came to learn that cracks in quickbreads are steam valves and are highly desired. It means that everything rose exactly as it should, all the fats/grains/water was all in check and voila, it cracked. It's the hallmark sign of a great loaf! So wear that crack proudly! And you achieved that with whole wheat AND vegan baking....remarkable!
Kiersten says
Woo hoo! I must be a genius then. Or really lucky. One of the two. 🙂
Grace @ Earthy Feast says
A Thanksgiving for two sounds so nice. We are going to overwhelm and stress ourselves out by trying to see both families.. ugh. But at least that means there's a good chance I can snag some extra cranberry sauce because I have to make this bread - it looks fabulous! Happy Thanksgiving!
Kiersten says
Oh yeah, we have had a few Thanksgivings like that. It's nice to see both families, but SO! MUCH! FOOD! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
I just made a cranberry bread too for a post coming up in a couple of days. Mine is not nearly so healthy as yours is. I love your version. I'll try that next. Num Num
Kiersten says
I can't wait to see your recipe! I like unhealthy too. 😉
Joanne says
I always make an extra batch of cranberry sauce just to keep to myself (and eat with brie! so much brie!) but I think I can appropriate some of it to go into a batch of this bread. And maybe I can even eat it with a slice of melty brie on top...
Kiersten says
Brie and cranberry sauce on everything! At all times! 😀
Kelly @ A Girl Worth Saving says
Seriously brilliant! I'm might just have to paleoize this. I'm counting down for Black Friday because I'm going camera shopping!
Kiersten says
Yay! Hopefully there will be some good deals on cameras and lenses!
Gretchen @ Two Healthy Kitchens says
I'm so sad you won't be having a big feast this year! I seriously want to invite you our Thanksgiving dinner! And then we can go Black Friday shopping! I've done it for as long as I can remember - and I always score some totally awesome deals!! And I chat with all the bleary-eyed shoppers in line! So fun! 🙂
This bread sounds SO good! I love a good quick bread recipe! And I love how smart this is to use up the leftover cranberries! I've got everything but the coconut milk. Considering the snowstorm we're getting now - I'm not going out for it! Of course it won't be vegan, but do you think regular milk will work?
Kiersten says
Aw, I want to go to your Thanksgiving for food and for snow. I miss snow! I'm pretty sure regular milk will work just fine. Coconut milk is pretty fatty, so whole milk would probably be best. Since I adapted this from a non-vegan recipe, I'm sure you could just adapt it back. 🙂
Jenn says
What a great idea! Good luck on your couch hunt. Ours is self-destructing. The fake leather is dry-rotting and peeling off. Classy.
Kiersten says
My mom had a fake leather couch that did that! Those little leather pieces were really sharp and stabby too.
[email protected] says
Hi Kiersten. I just wanted to say HI. I love your blog and you are an inspiration for vegetarian eating for sure.:) Great job! Beautiful shots!
Kiersten says
Thank you! 🙂
Anna (Hidden Ponies) says
Hahaha, Black Friday won me over last year when I got a new camera...we all get sucked in eventually 🙂 Hopefully your cats recognize the value of the new furniture 😉 Love the use of leftover cranberry sauce!
Kiersten says
I got my camera on Black Friday too! Although I ordered it online, so maybe that doesn't count. 🙂