Things I'm loving lately

Happy belated St. Patrick's Day.  Putting this out was the extent of my celebrating:

Like most people with XX chromosomes, I love to have cutesy seasonally appropriate dish towels.

And cutesy dish soap.

Palmolive?  Pfffft.  Go get yo'self some radish dish soap.  Then you'll really be living.  Know what else I'm loving?          


My doggies, finally caught in the act of tolerating each other.

Ignore the dog blankets and dog toys strewn about the kitchen floor.  Nothing like tripping over a squeaky toy on your way to the Kitchen Aid.

And another thing I'm loving?

Pink frosted donuts.  Say whaaaa?  Isn't that the epitome of things I advise people to avoid?  Yes, yes it is. 

I saw a recipe and I love the challenge of tweaking a recipe to make it lower cal while still retaining good flavor. 

 

Li'l Pink Frosted Donuts -makes six 4" donuts

Ingredients

• 1 cup white whole-wheat flour
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon dry strawberry sugar-free jello powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ cup pureed strawberries (I just thawed out some frozen ones and ran them through the blender)
• ¼ cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• a few drops of almond flavoring

Strawberry Glaze:

• 2 tablespoons softened Neufchatel (less fat) cream cheese
• 1-2 tablespoons skim milk
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon strawberry sugar-free jello powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray your donut pan with nonstick baking spray.  You could make these in a muffin tin, but what would you call them then?  Moughnuts?
2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, strawberry jello, salt, and nutmeg together in a medium mixing bowl. (You can leave the nutmeg out but it gives the characteristic donut flavor.)
3. Whisk yogurt, strawberries, egg, oil and flavorings together in a separate small bowl. Pour all at once over dry ingredients and stir only until everything is moistened.
4. Spoon batter into pastry bag or quart-size zippered plastic bag. Seal. Snip small corner of plastic bag and pipe dough into each ring.  Don't fill it more than 2/3rds of the way- half is actually best- otherwise the hole portion bakes over.  Bake for 9-10 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then invert onto a paper towel.

Strawberry Glaze:

1. Combine cream cheese and milk in a medium mixing bowl. Mix powdered sugar and jello powder with cream cheese until smooth. Add more milk (a few drops at a time) if necessary to achieve correct consistency. It should drip slowly without being runny.
2. Dip donuts face down into glaze and turn over to "dry" on a paper towel. Sprinkle with colored sugar or other edible decorations, if desired, before the glaze dries.  I chose- what else- pink sprinkles.

  And lastly, I'm loving reading the comic section first.  While eating a donut.

Per donut:
165 calories (unglazed), 250 calories (with glaze).