As odd as it sounds, I like to make cake and cupcakes with diet soda. I box cake mix + 1 can diet soda mixed with a whisk (not electric beaters) and baked as usual results in a yummy, light and fluffy cake despite how weird it sounds. For best results, match the mix and the sodas like this:
Chocolate or Devil's Food cake mix + diet cola, Dr. Pepper or root beer
White or funfetti cake mix + diet sprite, 7up, or fresca (funfetti w/ fresca is my favorite)
Yellow cake mix + diet cream soda or sprite
Making cakes this way instead of with eggs and oil reduces calories and fat grams in the finished product. The reason you whisk by hand is because the carbonation in the soda is what will make it rise w/o the eggs and beating it with a mixer is too aggressive and beats the bubbles out.
Today my cake baking methods have met their match. I had a box of reduced sugar Devil's Food cake mix and wanted to make weight watchers friendly cupcakes and so stirred in a can of Diet Dr. Thunder. Bad idea. Something happened chemically with the reduced sugar cake mix and the sugarless soda and created a gooey, sticky mess. Not only was it hard to tell when the cupcakes were done (the insides were still gooey after 25 minutes in the oven.....which is a long time to bake cupcakes in my oven) but when once they came out and cooled stuck to the cupcake papers so the whole thing was mangled and only the top escaped unscathed.
So word to the wise: If making reduced sugar cupcakes, keep the fat. If you want to make cupcakes with soda, use regular cake mix.
This dog just doesn't sit still! In the meantime, I had a chance to finish sweater #2 so now I have 2 FO's to show off when we had better luck with the camera today (I bribed him with bacon cheddar doggie biscuits). So I present to you the (mini) doggie fashion show starring: Jack!
Sweater #2 is a very adapted take on Buster by Berroco. Berroco's pattern is only for medium-large dogs (and jack is on the xs side of small) so with some gauge change, stitch count change, yarn change and more really it just kind of looks like Berocco's but is pretty different in construction. I used some leftover Red Heart Soft Yarn in black and size 6 needles.
1. Trader Joe's is just another grocery store and not a place where "all the weird hippie people work."
2. My family is now a 1-3 hour drive away rather than a 1 week drive away.
3. Jack is the best puppy ever and has brought Joe and I tremendous amounts of joy. If we hadn't moved back I'd still be puppy-less.
4. People don't look at you funny if you pass a stranger on the sidewalk and say hi.
5. It's normal for people to talk to not only the cashier but also the people in line at the grocery store. (I was telling this to one of my Boston friends and her was response was, "People actually do that?!?" Why yes. Yes they do.)
6. Alpacas. There are a lot of them here. I don't think I've seen a single alpaca living in Boston.
7. It's kind of refreshing to be normal again (as opposed to "punk rock Carissa from Seattle"). Yesterday I wore a long sleeve shirt under a t-shirt, a fat ball-chain necklace, a chunky leather watch with buckles, a studded belt, my hair up in a ponytail to show off my tattoo and flipflops where my dark purple nail polish with chunky sparkles could be seen nobody looked at me funny. (Or made fun of the way I talk....but that's a different story)
8. Fall lasts longer here. The enjoyable weather lingers a bit longer before becoming quite cold and I think the colors last longer, too (or at least longer before they are covered in snow). Lest I be accused of making things up...yes, we really have fall here. In fact, this picture was taken yesterday while I was driving home.
9. Hooray for no sales tax! I think I save a significant amount each year by not having to pay sales tax.
10. Even though there are the same number of hours in a day, being in the Pacfic time zone makes me feel like I have more time. For example, it's 7:00 now, but it's 10:00 in Boston. Which means I've got 5 more hours until midnight, they've only got three.
Coming home from running errands today I began to ponder dinner. I had meant to buy turkey meatballs at the store but, alas, this store did not carry them. What to make for dinner then?As odd as it sounds, I like to make cake and cupcakes with diet soda. I box cake mix + 1 can diet soda mixed with a whisk (not electric beaters) and baked as usual results in a yummy, light and fluffy cake despite how weird it sounds. For best results, match the mix and the sodas like this:
Chocolate or Devil's Food cake mix + diet cola, Dr. Pepper or root beer
White or funfetti cake mix + diet sprite, 7up, or fresca (funfetti w/ fresca is my favorite)
Yellow cake mix + diet cream soda or sprite
Making cakes this way instead of with eggs and oil reduces calories and fat grams in the finished product. The reason you whisk by hand is because the carbonation in the soda is what will make it rise w/o the eggs and beating it with a mixer is too aggressive and beats the bubbles out.
Today my cake baking methods have met their match. I had a box of reduced sugar Devil's Food cake mix and wanted to make weight watchers friendly cupcakes and so stirred in a can of Diet Dr. Thunder. Bad idea. Something happened chemically with the reduced sugar cake mix and the sugarless soda and created a gooey, sticky mess. Not only was it hard to tell when the cupcakes were done (the insides were still gooey after 25 minutes in the oven.....which is a long time to bake cupcakes in my oven) but when once they came out and cooled stuck to the cupcake papers so the whole thing was mangled and only the top escaped unscathed.
So word to the wise: If making reduced sugar cupcakes, keep the fat. If you want to make cupcakes with soda, use regular cake mix.
This dog just doesn't sit still! In the meantime, I had a chance to finish sweater #2 so now I have 2 FO's to show off when we had better luck with the camera today (I bribed him with bacon cheddar doggie biscuits). So I present to you the (mini) doggie fashion show starring: Jack!Sweater #2 is a very adapted take on Buster by Berroco. Berroco's pattern is only for medium-large dogs (and jack is on the xs side of small) so with some gauge change, stitch count change, yarn change and more really it just kind of looks like Berocco's but is pretty different in construction. I used some leftover Red Heart Soft Yarn in black and size 6 needles.
1. Trader Joe's is just another grocery store and not a place where "all the weird hippie people work."2. My family is now a 1-3 hour drive away rather than a 1 week drive away.3. Jack is the best puppy ever and has brought Joe and I tremendous amounts of joy. If we hadn't moved back I'd still be puppy-less.4. People don't look at you funny if you pass a stranger on the sidewalk and say hi.5. It's normal for people to talk to not only the cashier but also the people in line at the grocery store. (I was telling this to one of my Boston friends and her was response was, "People actually do that?!?" Why yes. Yes they do.)6. Alpacas. There are a lot of them here. I don't think I've seen a single alpaca living in Boston.7. It's kind of refreshing to be normal again (as opposed to "punk rock Carissa from Seattle"). Yesterday I wore a long sleeve shirt under a t-shirt, a fat ball-chain necklace, a chunky leather watch with buckles, a studded belt, my hair up in a ponytail to show off my tattoo and flipflops where my dark purple nail polish with chunky sparkles could be seen nobody looked at me funny. (Or made fun of the way I talk....but that's a different story)8. Fall lasts longer here. The enjoyable weather lingers a bit longer before becoming quite cold and I think the colors last longer, too (or at least longer before they are covered in snow). Lest I be accused of making things up...yes, we really have fall here. In fact, this picture was taken yesterday while I was driving home.9. Hooray for no sales tax! I think I save a significant amount each year by not having to pay sales tax.10. Even though there are the same number of hours in a day, being in the Pacfic time zone makes me feel like I have more time. For example, it's 7:00 now, but it's 10:00 in Boston. Which means I've got 5 more hours until midnight, they've only got three.Coming home from running errands today I began to ponder dinner. I had meant to buy turkey meatballs at the store but, alas, this store did not carry them. What to make for dinner then?
