Orange-Nut-Potato Bread

• 2-3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tbsp apricot preserves
• 1/2 cup leftover mashed potatoes or 1/2 cup instant mashed potatoes
• 2/3 cup orange juice
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5x2¼-inch loaf pan with unsalted shortening. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar together until blended. Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add apricot preserves and mashed potatoes to butter mixture, mixing until blended. Add sifted dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with orange juice. Add about a third of the flour mixture and half of the orange juice at a time; begin and end with flour mixture. Beat well after each addition, scraping sides of bowl often. Stir nuts into batter. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 60-65 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center of the bread comes out clean. Remove bread from oven and cool on a wire cake rack for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and cool completely. When cool, wrap bread tightly in transparent plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store overnight before slicing.

Yield: 1 loaf