Holiday Cooking

I love to cook around the holidays. Many of my recipes are known by who shared them with me. So, the bread below is Debi's Cranberry Bread and Janae's Banana Bread. Some loaves with nuts and others without so all can enjoy.
I love my kitchen. When we were building our house, we tried to take into consideration what would make life a little easier. Some of my favorite features are: all the food is oragnized, sometimes better than other times, in the pantry (no trips down to the basement to get an item); the cabinets are a height/width so it is almost impossible even if I leave one open (which I do frequently) to bang my head; the workspace is easy to navigate - I can put all the ingredients that I need onto a tray (cookie sheet works great too). On my list of wants is a cutting board with a food chute to help transfer food. One of my biggest challenges is transferring and pouring food. Contrast in the past was a helpful tool -now with such a restricted field and poor acuity, I find relying on blind techniques is the most effective. Whenever, I eat a piece of lemon meringue pie I remember my first victory at cooking class at the blind center. We baked a lemon meringue pie. We boxed it up and I got on the bus to come home so excited to share my pie with my family. By the time I got home after the ride on the bus, my lemon meringue pie was a mess in my box! It still tasted so sweet and such a victory. I haven't cooked a lemon meringue pie since but I know I can!