Daring Bakers Challenge: Doughnuts

When I joined the Daring Kitchen it was with excitement and trepidation. I wanted to bake outside the box so to speak, but I did not want to go to a butcher requesting pig blood for some unholy concoction some random stranger thought would be fun.

So when Lori from Butter Me Up announced this months challenge would be doughnuts, I breathed a sigh of relief. This was something I could get behind. Plus, I could screw over Tim Hortons in my own modest way, and that made me happy.

There were many recipe options given, I chose to go with Alton Brown's yeast doughnuts. I made one type, my all time favourite, lemon filled. I used Martha Stewart's lemon curd for the filling. This combination caused me to create little pillows of heaven. Both the doughnut and the filling were simple, easy and delicious. I would suggest forgetting about Tim's and pulling out your deep fat fryer, your tastebuds will thank you.

Look at those little pillows of delight...

One Hundred

The MS bike tour made me realize something about myself...I need goals, big ones. So, inspired by my friend Wendy, I decided to do one hundred days straight of something. She walked, but it's getting cold out and I get really wussy when it comes to bad weather. I decided on yoga, it's something I can do at home or join a class if I feel so inclined. Plus it's something new, and I think I need something new. I have been doing a yoga dvd off and on, and I like the fact it's about respecting your body, appreciating it for the work it does, and I think I need more of that in my life. This body has got me to Gimli and back, but it has also helped create, birth and feed two children. This is no small feat, and it's time I give this bod of mine the props it deserves. So here I go....wish me luck!

French Fridays With Dorie: Marie-Helene's Apple Cake

This is my first post with French Fridays With Dorie. I was tempted to join Tuesdays With Dorie, but considering I am not much of a baker really I decided against it. This however, is right up my alley. Once a week I cook something from this book, post it, and voila, I am transported to Paris via my crappy kitchen.

This week's recipe was, for lack of a better word, amazing. The cake sounds so simple, yet the combination of the ingredients turn it into something magical. It is easy, delicious, and did I mention delicious? I will be making this again and again, which is high praise considering I rarely say that about baked goods. If you don't like cooked apples, this is not for you, but you really are losing out....and you are also insane.

 I served mine with caramel ice cream, next time I think I will just use whipped cream.

 I love that it came out looking like the picture in the book.

But then there's this

After my depressing post in which I admit I'm a failure, I realized that there are some things I have accomplished in the last couple months that I'm proud of. So here they are, my non-athletic accomplishments, but accomplishments none the less.

This is the scarf I knit for Ken. It took me 9 months and it wonky and wonderful.

I made apple jelly for the first time. It set and everything and is the most beautiful colour.

 This is a hat I knit for myself. Off it looks like a gigantic condom. On, I love it.

...And then she crashed

I know, I know, I haven't posted in a while. The thing is, after the bike tour I was on a high, I was ready to do that century ride and kick it's ass. In truth however, I haven't been back on my bike. I had the best intentions, but life has a funny way of challenging you in different ways, and mine came in the form of a third kid. Not mine. I'm looking after another little one during the week and had this fantasy of taking her and my youngest on long wonderful rides while my eldest was in school. The reality of the situation was my new charge napped in the morning and afternoon. By the time her mom came to get her I was too tired to take the girls out, so my dream of a century ride this fall faded, slowly but surely. I didn't post any of this because, well, I'm embarrassed. I avoided this site like the plague wishing things were different, but alas, here we are.

My plan this winter was to take up swimming again, but the deadline for my husbands cheap gym membership came and went and he forgot to sign me up, and the drop in rates are crazy high. I've been doing a lot of walking, and I've been doing a yoga video a couple times a week but in reality I'm flailing around without a goal. So I need some help, how do you all stay motivated? What do you do to get over that feeling you've failed....again?