Solstice

Bright mild and beautiful.
The sun around noon for the shortest day of the year.

Lemon Loaf with Raspberries

RASPBERRY LEMON LOAF


Serves: 1 loaf
INGREDIENTS
½ cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup greek yogurt. I used 0% plain
3 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon, reserve lemon for glaze
1½ cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup frozen raspberries
For the glaze
2 tbsp lemon juice
¾ cups powdered sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly coat a 9x5 pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl whisk together the oil and sugar. Add the yogurt, eggs, lemon zest and extract.
Slowly stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.
Fold in the frozen raspberries and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the loaf cool for at least an hour before turning it out onto a cooling rack.
Once cooled, whisk together the lemon juice and powdered sugar. Pour it evenly over the top.
Store in an airtight container.
NOTES
I like to tent the loaf pan with foil during the last 15-20 minutes of baking so it doesn't get too brown. I missed about 10 minutes on this one - hence the dark edges. Still good!
Frozen raspberries are less delicate and won't fall apart when folding them in.

First snow of the year

Snow on lavender

flashes

finally

some blue

a touch of blue beneath the tree

sunshine

It has been well over a week since we had any sunshine.  Today is such a treat, the sun has been out for most of the morning and the weather is really mild at just around zero.  Wore my sneakers and took the poles for a long walk around the bare streets.  Most of the neighbours had the same idea too and I had lots of chats and catching up in the mild air.  Tomorrow,  though a big storm is underway. Back to boots.

sunrise

This has been a whole week of sunshine and stunning sunrises each morning.

Another beautiful sunrise this morning

sundogs in the late evening sky