How to Fill the Morning

I have the worst time sleeping.  Always.  This morning when I woke at 3:30 a.m., it was time to figure out what to do.  So the logical step was to check out pinterest.  Right?

Yeah I know that can only lead to hours on hours of hanging out online.  But this time I got up and actually did one of the pins.

Cinnamon Braid Roll

It starts off by making a basic bread recipe and letting it rise for an hour.  Here is the one that I have on my fridge.  It is written on 1/2 of a poster board and takes up most of the bottom of the fridge door.  But it works for me.

After it had rested an hour I rolled it out on my marble slab.

It is a great place to work dough.

And it is a grave stone.

Yes!  You heard me right.  It is a grave marker turned upside down on my counter.  It was for my father but it had been damaged in shipping.  So the company made a new one.  This one was left for us to deal with.  The only logical step was to make it my all purpose cutting board.

I melted 1/2 a stick of butter, added 1/2 cup of sugar and lots of cinnamon.  Brushed it on my rolled out dough and folded as I made my way down the board.

When I was done, I rolled it up, removing the folds.

Sliced it in half and pulled it apart. I love seeing the layers in the bread this way.

Then just did a simple twist braid while trying to keep the exposed folds on top.

Formed it into a circle and then placed it in an oiled baking dish.

Baked it at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.  I am not great at timing food.  More of a watch and see type person.

 Next I mixed up some pre-made icing with almond flavoring and the juice from a jar of cherries.  Poured it on the hot bread making it all pretty and pink.

Then let it sit and melt in.  This is how it looked after about 10 minutes.  A nice sweet smelling glaze.

Of course I had to slice into it and make me a plate to go with morning coffee.  I had the 'ladies' pop in for breakfast and coffee.  Don't you wish you was close by?

I Can Have DONUTS Again!

Have you heard about Holey Donuts?

Well I did recently and really wanted to try them.

You see I am on this diet! Yes the dreaded 4 letter word was used--DIET!
And my all time fav food is donuts!
We all know donuts are not on diets.
Right? No WRONG!

Now we can diet and have our donuts too.
How? Well because Holey Donuts are low fat and lower in calories. The average donut has 15-20 grams of fat and as much as 480 calories? Holey Donuts created a donut with as little as 3-4 grams of fat and 150-250 calories. You'd actually have to eat 4 of their donuts to get the amount of fat in just one traditional donut. Even better is that they do not use artificial sweeteners or fat substitutes.

Well, I heard about Holey Donuts and contacted them.
I told them. . .
"I have been reading about your new venture with the low fat Holey Donuts.
I would be so excited to do a review on my blog. I am currently working on a
diet and exercise program. I have lost 27 lbs and 21 inches in the last 6
weeks. (BTW that is now 59 1/2 inches lost). And my favorite snack food is donuts. (You did celebrate National Donut Day!) Of course, I have had to cut out donuts since I have been on this diet. And I imagine that this will have to become a way of life.
Until.....I heard of your product. How amazing it would be to enjoy a
donut as a snack and keep the weight off. Please let me try out your yummy
goodness and tell others how they too can have their "donut" and keep the
weight off. "

Look at what they sent me! WHOOT! I am in donut heaven.
Holey Donuts is letting me try their donuts and tell you what I think.
I received 6 assorted donuts, 30 filled holes and 4 large cinnamon rolls.
The assorted flat had

Low Fat Classic Vanilla Frosted
Reduced Fat Vanilla Boston Cream
Reduced Fat Raspberry Graham
Low Fat Original Glazed
Reduced Fat Strawberry Shortcake
Low Fat Caramel Crumb

The donut holes assortment was

Low Fat Raspberry Vanilla Truffle Donut Holes
Low Fat Boston Cream Donut Holes
Low Fat Lemon Vanilla Donut Holes

and then there was

Jumbo Reduced Fat Cinnamon Buns

And we also received this card for FREE cinnamon buns on our next order!

So we (being College Girl, Nessa and I) tried out all 3 of the donut holes and the low fat carmel crumb donut. Now these come to you from being flash frozen so you want to let them thaw out or microwave them for just 5-10 seconds.
We chose the microwave route.
I have to say that the carmel crumb donut was thicker than I expected. It was more of a bread then the airy donuts I am use to. But...it had good creamy flavor. I did not mind something that was more substantial at all. And knowing that I was eating something that was much lower in fat made me very happy. There was only 3 grams of fat and 148 calories in this jewel. That is only 3 pts on weight watchers for those who count points.
Now I will take a donut over any 100 calorie pack of thin crisp cookies any day!
A dunkin donuts apple crumb donut has 7.5 grams of fat and 173 calories. SO there is a saving there.
Now the donut holes were a whole 'nother story. YES!
Me being the donut eater in this family of course did not take time to read the package first. No I had to just dive right in, I saw that one of the holes had some red filling. SO I ate it first. That raspberry filling was good! I enjoyed that it was sweet and still had a lil chill to it. The donut holes are not as thick as the donut so it was very enjoyable to me. Nessa had one and she felt they were a good alternative for a low fat donut. Nessa has had frozen donuts before where I had not. She felt that these were comparable but was glad to know that these were much lower in fat for us! Nessa was my biggest critic as she said there was no way a frozen non fried donut was going to be any good. Well, she would eat these! College Girl had the lemon filled (lemon is one of her favs) and said that I would have to guard all of them. She enjoyed it very much. I popped the last donut hole we had in my mouth and gasped.....no I did not read it was filled too. Oh that boston cream caught me by surprise. And I loved it!
Now 4 of these donut holes from Holey Donuts are 3 grams of fat and 158 calories....Dunkin Donuts Jelly filled Munchkins are 10 grams of fat and 240 calories. Again, it is well worth the saving is calories and fat to have a great alternative in donuts.
I compared the Holey Donuts Cinnamon Rolls at 5 grams of fat with 340 calories with Cinnabon 56 grams of fat and 1100 calories and was blown away. WOW, what a difference. Now Schwans has a frozen cinnamon roll too that is only 370 calories so not a big difference there but has 14 grams of fat and that is worth noting.

So as you can see I give them a thumbs up! Yes, that is me with my almost eaten crumb donut there. I finished it of course!!!!
And College Girl said. . .

That these were finger licking good!