Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings

I have the week off, so I decided to get some blogging done.... Here is my contribution to Small Bites selection of ingredients this week - Cranberries.

I searched for a recipe on the internet, something easy and manageable... I thought this fits the bill. The recipe is from www.cooksrecipes.com.

Cranberry Ambrosia- Cream Cheese Spread.

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 (6-ounce) package sweetened dried cranberries (divided use)
1 (151/2 -ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained well
1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained well
1 (3 1/2 -ounce) can shredded coconut (divided use)
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Pecan halves toasted
Ginger Snaps as accompaniment

Procedure:

1. Stir together cream cheese and sugar until well blended, Add dried cranberries, reserving 1/4 cup cranberries.

2. Drain pineapple and oranges: pat dry between layers of paper towels. Set oranges aside. Stir pineapples and coconut into the cream cheese mixture, reserving 1/4 cup coconut. Stir in chopped pecans. Spoon mixture into a serving bowl.

3. Sprinkle reserved dried cranberries around the edges of bowl. Arrange orange segments around the inside edge of cranberries. Sprinkle reserved 1/4 cup coconut in center and top with pecan halves. Serve with gingersnaps.

Here are some of my alterations:

I cut the recipe in half. I used walnuts instead of pecans because it is what I had. I did not dry the pineapple or oranges in paper towel... just drained them. I also estimated the coconut I used because I did not find canned coconut, just the plastic packaged ones.

I thought this was pretty sweet. If I were to make it again, I wil cut the sugar out...