YUM: Making a Cake with a Can of Soda

Yes. You've seen it on Pinterest and other blogs... I am here to tell you... IT'S AWESOME! And that easy. Box of cake mix. Can of soda. No icky fats. Just a chemical dump. LOL... who knows which is worse! All I know, it is cake and cake is lovely. I ate it for breakfast :)

I used a sugar-free devils food cake and a diet dr. pepper. I had hoped it would 'spice' up the chocolate a little. I couldn't taste it. But the chocolate was really really yummy! The cake is SO moist you will get it stuck all over your fork. I made cupcakes :)

Yeah... that's my messy desk in the background and my new Valentine card project.

Enjoy the cake!! here is the whole recipe:

One box of cake mix
One can of soda

Bake as directed on the box based on what you're using - cake pan/ cupcake pan... etc.

Some yummy combinations might be:

Yellow Cake - Cream Soda
Rainbow Chip - Cherry 7up
Chocolate - Dr. Pepper/ Cherry Pepsi/ Coke
White Cake - Orange Soda/ Strawberry Faygo?? Hmmm... Could be fun to try?

I don't know if I'd go the Mountain Dew route... but a Red Bull super caffeinated cake might be just what I need today... :) Possibly a Red Bull/ Carrot Cake??

Instant Breakfast Cookies

Yesterday, I finally got the time or well inclination... to do something I've had my brain 'baking' on. Xan isn't so excited about the last 3 flavors of his instant oatmeal. Cinnamon spice, maple and brown sugar and the original flavor. The apple cinnamon flew out of the box alright, but these last three I have to mash up bananas, add apple sauce etc. He can't feed himself with a spoon quite yet. The little fork he has is getting some limited use, but if I have some work to do early I need a good breakfast that he can feed to himself. And one can only eat so many pancakes and french toast!! Even though I've gotten quite clever at adding good things to the pancakes!!

AND my other motivation... I have also been spending too much money on Nutrigrain bars which I know darn well I could be making myself... again TIME. Ugh.

Onto packages of unused instant oatmeal equals breakfast cookie... I grabbed one of each flavor... hmmm... need flour, brown sugar, {i have no eggs...} flax meal, almond milk, and little oil... I will use more applesauce than oil... OH I will need baking aids {powder/ soda}

Here it is as I fly by the seat of my pants... IT WORKED!! I've baked these twice now. They are super soft and cake like. The oatmeal flavors are perfect together and these little babies are really inexpensive! I bought this huge box from Sam's Club... so I've got plenty of these on the way.

All you need is a bowl and a fork!! I have one of those handy ice cream scoopy things for plopping cupcake batter etc. They work perfect for these cookies. Probably holds 1/3 of cup of batter. I think it says 5 oz... Anyway, it is a great investment!

Preheat oven to 350

Instant Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies {makes 8}

3 packages of Instant Oatmeal
1/2 c unbleached flour
1/4 c brown sugar
1T flax meal {no flax meal? you could also substitute a 1/2 smashed up banana!}
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
{mix dry ingredients together}
3 T of water
2 T of almond milk
1 T of vegetable oil
1/2 c applesauce

Mix well... drop onto cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

ENJOY!!!

John thought I bought a scone mix... I kinda took that as a great compliment!! Xan devours these and I get to sit next to him typing up requests for proposals :) AHHH... ain't life grand!!

xoxo

Getting it Sorted Part II & Menu Planned!

Waking up at 5am requires my first cup of coffee to be really hot. Every other cup for some reason I can do warm... but the first cup... go figure.

Office Organization Redux

So, the office organization thing... stalled a bit. The help that I was getting had some troubles and I didn't get finished. sigh. However! This Saturday everyone has recommitted their assistance and hoping that we can get everything in order. I've also hired a "nanny"/ baby-sitter to come into our home and help me two days a week. I will let you know how that increases all of the organization and work load on the architectural end of my life... well, that is the plan anyway!

For another delay, we discovered a large nest of a former rodent tenant. YIK YUK YAK!!! So that needed taking care of for good. Oddly, we have cleaned up a lot of mouse crap and nesty materials but only one time. It makes me a bit nervous. Kind of on edge. Do we have mice? Did they move out after the year that there was no food in the house? We aren't sure what to think.

Anywho, we are moving forward with the cleaning up and painting on Saturday! I also took some advice from my friend Jenifer and posted a bunch of my Christmas jewelry on Ebay... happy to report... it is SELLING!! Woo Hoo!! Thanks J!! I am going to be putting a bunch of other things on Ebay now as well with the success I've been having.

Menu Planning

I also wanted to share a really cool menu organizing idea with all of you. I am trying it out right now with a lot of success. I ran across it on Pinterest (duh) and forgot to pin it!!! Who does that?? So I apologize for not giving credit to the original thought maker of this menu plan. I'm a bit naive with a few things in life so forgive me if this is common place for all of you but a stroke of genius to me!

First, I don't want my menu plan to be complicated... If you look at some past menu plans I've tried to work with a grocery list and had to write up the pantry items and keep track of things on hand etc... to sum up NOT WORKING. I need simple. Beyond simple actually... I need zero. So, this meal plan is by type of meal as opposed to what the meal actually is!! Get it??

For example... Your week of dinner could be broken out like this:

Monday - Soup and Sandwiches
Tuesday - Casserole/ one dish meal
Wednesday - Stir Fry
Thursday - International (Mexican, Italian, Middle Eastern... etc.)
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Leftovers!! or our one night to eat out/ order in...
Sunday - Brinner ( Breakfast for dinner!) because we love brunch.

Whew! That seriously made this week tolerable. Instead of thinking what to do... I have a "heading" for the day to work from. My little brain can think... "WHAT kind of soup and sandwich will I make tonight..." I grab my iPad and go to my Pinterest board now labeled with the above headings... and pick out something yummy!! WOO HOO!!

To spice things up next month I might shift some things around as I get comfortable and make Friday International food... Sunday is soup and sandwich... bla bla bla you get what I mean. I'm doing my menu by month because again... I need SIMPLE. But if you have the need or want for flexibility you can happily change this menu and do this by the week. My husband and I are both creatures of habit and do not mind the routine. And this keeps me from having to worry about the grocery shopping as well. Ever been grocery shopping with a 15 month old? It isn't too bad... but, you have a time limit. (insert smile here)

Other headings could be:
Vegetarian, Tapas, Noodles, Something with Cheese, Crockpot, Grilled, Burgers, Salad, Poultry, Seafood, etc.

You could also label by cuisine type, region, or :

Italian, French, Irish, Chinese, Greek, Lebanese, Tex-Mex, etc.

You get me right?? I'm still trying to get my little templates attached so bear with me... But I've included one here!! Maybe you can print it out. I hope you can print it out if you'd like. If not, email me... and I will email it to you if you'd like. I've started this one with November. But the one I email to you, you can write in the week or month for your own organization!

And let me give you a little more love here... So when I say it is Pizza night... That could be flatbread, bagel, calzone, tortilla, cauliflower crust, crustless, Chicago style... the sky is the limit... SEE... 

brilliant.

Well. at least I thought so. ;) I hope you will too. I am putting together a vegetarian Thanksgiving and Christmas menu at the moment. I've been experimenting with different dishes to see if I like them. I will share soon so if you are thinking of some veggie options off the traditional route! 

Two Pots of Coffee Kind of Day & Comfort Food

I will be the first to tell ya, I’m pretty addicted to coffee. I can honestly say I don’t think it matters decaf or caffeinated. I just love the warmness of it, the rich taste, and just black. Don’t mess it up with sugar, cream or anything. I do get the occasional cappuccino. More foam, less soy. {i don’t do cow’s milk}

My mother and brother’s are all big into coffee as well. My sis does the mocha frappuccino things. But the rest of us could drink, and mostly do drink coffee all day. When I got pregnant, I stopped drinking coffee... except in the morning. I would have 1/2 package of Via {Starbuck’s instant coffee} in a small tea mug. The rest of the day I would have water or juice. On REALLY tired days I might drink the other half of the package around 330 or 400. When I was teaching, the days seemed awfully long!

My little cup