Yogurt doughnuts

Adapted from: http://theculinarycouple.com/2012/06/15/baked-sour-cream-doughnuts/

Makes 20 mini-doughnuts.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

Vanilla Glaze

• 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp. light corn syrup 
• 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp hot water

Cinnamon-Sugar

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 4 Tbsp butter

Directions

1. Preheat the doughnut maker.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and a pinch of nutmeg.
3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together yogurt, granulated sugar, canola oil, vanilla, and egg. Switch to a spatula and stir in the dry ingredients.
4. Fill a pastry bag (or a ziploc bag with a small hole cut into the corner) with the batter, and pipe it evenly into the prepared doughnut pan.
5. Cook the doughnuts in the doughnut maker.
6. Let the doughnuts cool for about 5 minutes before adding toppings.

Vanilla Glaze: Mix all ingredients.  Dip doughnuts in glaze and then in sprinkles if desired.

Cinnamon Sugar: Mix cinnamon and sugar together.  Melt butter.  Dip doughnuts in melted butter and then in cinnamon sugar.

Projects for 2014

I am terrible at keeping my New Year's Resolutions, so I have stopped making them, but I find that New Year's is a great time to reflect on what you have achieved (or not) over the past year and what you would like to change for the upcoming year.

This past year (2013) was all about coping for me as I returned to work full-time and managed to still play soccer, ultimate frisbee, volunteer and spend some time with my family.  What suffered and got lost in all of the coping was my personal projects, those little things that needed to be done like sort through my closet to cull out the old clothes, scan in all of Connor's kindergarten creations so that I can make room for his Gr. 1 accomplishments, my crafts, my photography and the list continues.

One thing that I like to think that I am good at is completing challenges.  My friend Elsbeth, a personal trainer, challenged her friends to a 30 day core challenge back in September and I was one of seven people to complete 30 days of core exercises.

In 2014 I am challenging myself to three things:
1) 365 Activities: being deliberately physically active for at least 10 minutes/day every day of the year.
2) 365 Photos: taking a photo a day and publishing it on my flickr stream
3) 12 Posts: keeping up with the seaborns blog with a post at least once/month

Wish me luck and hopefully I will be successful in these challenges.

Wishing you a healthy and prosperous 2014!

Pumpkin Chocolate chip cookies

I decided to dress up as Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween this year and one of the criticisms that I received at one of the parties was that I didn't have any treats in my basket. 

To remedy this, I went on a search for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies so that I could put them in the basket to bring to work. 

Here is the result:

And here is the recipe, for those interested:  www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies

I did adapt the recipe and used 1 cup coconut oil in place of the 1 cup of butter.  

Roasted Cauliflower Risotto

Who knew that posting recipes at dinner time would cause so many people to ask for recipes? :)

Here is the recipe for the Roasted Cauliflower Risotto from Canadian Living - the Vegetarian Collection.

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower (about 2lb/1kg)
• 3 (or more) cloves of garlic
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 onion (or 1 large shallot)
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (as son #1 was eating it, I substituted broth)
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for "garnish" (if desired)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Trim cauliflower and cut into florets.  Toss together with garlic, 2 tbsp of oil and 1/4 tsp of the salt.  Roast on baking sheet (with parchment paper on top) in oven until golden and tender, about 35 minutes.  Mash garlic with a fork.
2. While the cauliflower/garlic are in the oven, bring broth and water to boil; reduce heat to low and keep warm.
3. In a large saucepan, heat the remaining oil (1 tbsp) over medium-high heat; fry onion and remaining salt, stirring occasionally, until softened but not coloured, about 3 minutes.
4. Add rice, stirring to coat and toast grains.  Add wine; cook, stirring, until almost no liquid remains, about 1 minute.
5. Add broth mixture, 1/2 cup at a time and stirring after each addition until most of the liquid is absorbed before adding more, 18-20 minutes total.  The rice should be loose, creamy but not mushy, and still slightly firm.
6. Stir in cauliflower, garlic, cheese and parsley.   Garnish with extra Parmesan cheese (if desired).

Remembering

So this is coming out a little later than I hoped, but I guess better late than never!

This it the time of the year that we remember the ultimate sacrifices of the men and women who defend our country's freedom of the past and the present.  Even though I do not believe that war or armed-conflict can solve problems, I understand that it may be a necessity to bring the peace that I take for granted to other areas of the world.  My problems are trivial compared to the struggles of those in war-torn countries.  I am very thankful that I am living at this time and in this place.   

I always thought that it was strange that I have been interested in war stories, but upon reflection, it is not the war itself that fascinated me, but the stories of courage and perseverance of the people affected by the war.  I can't even imagine what I would do if I was in such a situation, but I would hope that I would be able to survive.  I think it is very important to remember that war affects people, it is not just a news story.

Although I do not know any fallen soldiers, I do know someone that was killed in the line of duty.  I went to high school with Chris Worden, the RCMP officer who was killed in Hay River, NWT on Oct 6, 2007.  Last week, Chris' killer was found guilty of first degree murder.  Although the conviction will not bring Chris back to his family and friends, it is nice to know that the justice system works.  It is hard to believe that Chris is not around anymore.  Although we weren't as close after high school, I don't think that I can forget his smile.  He had a great smile that could light up a room.  He is the one that I remembered this past Remembrance Day.

I was watching the movie Star Trek: First Contact (yes, I admit that I enjoy Star Trek TNG) the night before Remembrance Day and there was a scene that made me stop and think.  Dr. Crusher was describing the future (her present), where money didn't matter anymore and Earth had a completely different goal.  I wonder how long it will take us to achieve that fantasy?  Where war is history because there is something that unites us all.  I think that it would be nice to live in a world without war, hopefully I will be able to live in this world, and if not me then hopefully this will be a reality for Connor and Wyatt.

Achieving Balance

I think that I have finally found the culmination of my random journey. It has always been to find balance in my life between my family, my friends, my career and my activities.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at the Canadian Coast Guard as a contractor and I will begin my new job (and hopefully career) as a civil servant at Sport Canada on Friday.  I am hoping that this job will help me achieve the balance that I lacked when I was working at Alcatel.  As I am passionate about sport, hopefully I will be not only enjoy the company of my co-workers but enjoy the work as well.

 As my career is now on track, I can now focus on the other aspects - balancing my family, friends and other activities. 

My family life is always an adventure trying to balance my time as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter and as a sister.  As both of my sons are quite young (Connor is almost 26 months and Wyatt is almost 8 months), I believe that being a mother is taking up most of my time at the moment.  I am hopeful that very soon I will be able to achieve the balance that I crave in this aspect of my life.

My friends are also very important to me and I feel that I haven't been able to spend as much time with them as I would like.  Being a good friend is very important to me and I hope to be able to continue cultivating the friendships that I have created over the years.

My activities are the area that have suffered the most in the past few years.  Time is so valuable that I chose to spend it with my family and friends.  I am know realizing that I also need to make time for myself and my activities.  I am excited because I signed up for ultimate during the winter and I will be joining some of the other women in my neighbourhood for Pilates.  So hopefully this will allow me to be more focused in the other aspects of my life.

This new blog will allow me to track my progress at achieving the balance in my life that I have been craving.