Mission Trip to South Africa!

 

Some of you may remember that I had the amazing opportunity to go to South Africa during the summer of 2006.  I am excited to share with you that I have been given the opportunity to return this summer with the Bible Church of Little Rock Student Ministries!

While in South Africa this summer, we will be helping care for children orphaned due to the AIDS virus at the Muphamuzi Baby Home, doing construction on house where they live, and partnering with the local church in their current ministries!  Each of our 15 team members has been asked to raise $3,000.  We trust that the Lord will provide enough money if He wants us to go.  If you would like to be part of our support team, here’s how! 

How to support us through prayer:

-       Softening of hearts to hear and accept the gospel

-       Building up of the local church in South Africa

-       Encouragement of local missionaries who serve there

-       That we would reflect Christ and point others to Him

-       Physical health, safety, unity, and servant’s hearts for our team

-       Provision of adequate financial support

How to support us financially: Donations are tax-deductible, and checks may be made out to “BCLR” with “South Africa/Sarah Ray” in the memo.  I would be happy to collect donations of any amount, or you may mail your check to BCLR @ 19111 Cantrell Road, LR, AR 72223.   

**Online Option:  If it’s more convenient for you to donate online, you can send money through PayPal. It's really easy and takes less than 2 minutes!  Just:

1. log in and select the blue "Send Money" tab or click here
2. follow the steps, and when prompted choose to send funds to: scrockern-paypal@yahoo.com 
3. if you would like to claim a tax-deduction on PayPal donations, please email your name/address/amount to this address also!

Thank you SO much for taking the time to consider supporting my team as we serve the Lord in South Africa!

Bake-and-Shake Cake Donuts

Was hunting for a healthier version of the greasy-but-good donut this morning.  Hunted around Google and Pinterest for a while, and finally decided to make my own recipe since I couldn't find exactly what I wanted.  I found most of my inspiration here, but I wanted to make a few changes both for texture and nutrition.  Adventures in baking are always risky, because you never know if your adaptation will turn into something edible or a tasty treat for the dog.

Happy to say that I was so pleased with how these donuts turned out, I thought them blog-worthy.  These are definitely the best homemade donuts I've ever had, and I'd chose them over a donut shop cake donut any day.  The texture somewhat resembles a fluffy cupcake but the flavor is very similar to what you'd get at your favorite local donut shop, except a lot fresher and with better-for-you ingredients.
While I don't know that you could ever call any donut "healthy," these are certainly health-ier than most, but they don't taste "healthy," if you know what I mean.  If someone served me these for breakfast, I'd probably feel guilty for having a second one because I'd assume something this good couldn't be good for me.
But between the wheat flour, egg-beaters, non-fat buttermilk, sugar-free syrup, and coconut oil, they're fairly nutritious.  Decent amount of protein and healthy fats.  You could made them completely sugar-free if you skip the coating (but shaking that bag around is half the fun and great for little helping hands)!  Here's how I home-maid them:

Donuts:

·      ½ cup whole wheat flour

·      ½ cup all-purpose flour

·      3 tsp baking powder

·      ¼ tsp nutmeg (this is what gives them that authentic "donut" flavor, so don't skip it or you'll have more of a donut-shaped cupcake than a cake donut!)

·      ¼ cup Egg-Beaters

·      ½ cup + 2 Tbs buttermilk (I used non-fat)

·      ¼ cup sugar-free syrup

·      1 tsp vanilla

·      4 Tbs coconut oil, melted

Coating:

·    1  ½ cup powdered sugar

·    1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray donut pan with a non-stick spray (I used Baker’s Joy), and set aside.

Combine donut dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.  Make a well in the center, and add donut wet ingredients.  Wisk together with a fork until just combined. (Batter is still a bit lumpy at this point, but fear not...they're still going to be A-MAZING!)  

Add dough to donut pan.  Here's a simple method that I used: Scoop dough into a quart-size ziplock bag, and sqeeze all the air out.  Seal the bag and clip a small hole in one corner to pipe dough into donut pan. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step!)

Fill donut pan molds about 2/3 full. (This recipe filled my 6-donut pan, and I had some left-over dough that I poured into a ramekin and baked for 18 minutes until set.)

Bake for 12 minutes or until set.  While donuts are baking, prepare coating by sifting ingredients into a gallon-sized ziplock bag and set aside.  When donuts are set, immediately turn them out onto a cooling rack. 

While donuts are still warm, add 2-3 donuts at a time to shaking bag, and toss to coat.  Remove from bag back to cooling rack.  Enjoy the same day, or you can freeze them up to a month (if you have any leftovers)!  

I haven't tried to freeze a coated donut before, but I assume the coating would get soggy as it defrosts.  But then again, it might become like a glaze....might have to experiment with that (if I can hold on to some of the leftovers long enough)!  Hope you enjoy these Bake-and-Shake Donuts as much as I did!