Vegan Swing Carrot Cake (Oil Free Variation!)

Once upon a time somebody said, "Hey you know what would make this cake better? Vegetables."  That guy was a nutcase. But he made damn good cake.

I'm choosing to call this "Vegan Swing" cake because it can be made oil free and vegan or not, just by switching out two of the ingredients. This is based on Tammy Elliot's carrot cake recipe on AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs or Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil or plain unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbs vanilla
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup raisins

Instructions:

1. Start by grating your carrots. I used most of a 1lb bag.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. Mix together your eggs (fake or otherwise), oil or applesauce, sugars, and vanilla. I used 1/2 cup of oil and 3/4 cup of apple sauce in this particular cake and it turned out well. You can fuss with the proportions as much as you want.

4. Sift your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and mix together.

 5. Stir your carrots into the batter.

6. Add your raisins.

(Or don't. Probably don't. Raisins should not be in cake. They should be in cookies.)

7. Oil and flour two 8" round cake pans. If you're going oil free flour alone should be fine.

8. Pour half your batter into each pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Swap pan positions in the oven halfway through for even baking.

9. Cool in the pans for 15 minutes or so then turn them out onto a cooling rack. Observe the echinacea tea photobombing in the background.

10. Find some frosting.

11. Take your cake outside for some inexplicable reason and plop half a can of frosting on one of the layers. Spread it out.

12. Put the other cake layer on top of the frosting. It will now look like a giant whoopie pie.

13. Plop another half can of frosting on top of this layer.

14. Spread it out.

15. Cover the sides with more frosting so they don't feel left out.

That's it, folks! You now have a delicious carrot cake that may or may not be vegan. Throw some candles on top of that thing and have yourself a party.

Aladdin Reusable Water Bottle Review

So, once upon a time I went out and bought a water bottle. Then I bought another one. Then I bought another one. Then I bought two more.

These water bottles are awesome! They are the Aladdin 18oz Two-Way Lid Water Vessels and I love them.

(For those of you who can do math, yes, I said I bought five and I only show three in the picture. That is because I am a lovely person and gave away two of them.)

These water bottles come with three parts that can be deconstructed for easy cleaning and ice-filling.

Want to know my favorite things about these bottles? Here you go:

1. They Look Snazzy.
When I bought mine during the summer they came in five or six different colors. I'm not sure which colors are still available but I wouldn't be surprised if Aladdin switched them up every year.

2. They are Durable.
I have knocked these suckers off the table, smacked them against walls, and even dropped one while walking across a parking lot, and they still haven't shown a scratch.

3. They are Grippy.
You'd think the ridges would make these unnecessarily bulky, but no! They're actually very easy to hold onto and not too heavy. The whole sliding-out-of-my-hand thing was in no way the fault of Aladdin's design team but just me being a klutz.

4. They Stay Cool.
These aren't technically insulated but they do keep drinks cooler much longer than a Crystal Geyser bottle.

5. They are Affordable.
I bought mine at Walmart for $5 each. That is incredibly affordable considering the quality and the average price of other reusable water bottles.

6. They are Environmentally Friendly.
I fill these puppies up on a daily basis. Sometimes multiple times. That adds up to a lot of saved plastic bottles and a lot less crap to drag to the recycling center.

7. They Won't Leak.
These don't leak. Ever. No matter what.

8. They Don't Have a Straw.
No straw means no cleaning your straw and no weird mold growing in your straw and no lip wrinkles from sucking through a straw and you can drink out of your water bottle like a normal person drinks out of a water bottle. Imagine that


9. They Hold 18 Ounces.
I love that these bottles are bigger than your standard .5 liter (16.9oz). It always kind of bugged me that 16.9 was the standard size. It's like "What? I'm not good enough for 17 ounces? I see how it is!"

10. They are BPA Free.
I bought these right when everybody started flipping out about how leaving your water bottle in the car caused cancer. No worries with these. They are BPA free and don't get all weird and melty when you leave them in the sun. (Sidenote: Why don't you have your water with you if it's that hot out?)

11. They are Dishwasher Safe.
Need I say more?
 
These water bottles have officially made me an Aladdin convert. I would buy more in a heartbeat if they came out with new colors. (Just not pink. I don't like pink.)

You can still find these at Walmart and I've seen similar styles at Target. Go snap one (or two or seven) up for yourself!


Edit: While I was reroofing my house one of these suckers rolled off the ridge and landed in the garden. It's a little scratched up now, but it still refuses to die.

Water Bottle - 1; Roof - 0.

Chips Ahoy Brownie Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you know what this is?

If you said a cookie, you are only partially right.

This is a Chips Ahoy Brownie Filled Chocolate Chip Cookie.

It's a cookie that ate a brownie.

That you get to eat.

Brand Wars: Cheez-It vs. Cheese Nips

It's time for another episode of Brand Wars!

Today we will be discussing cheese crackers. Specifically, we will be comparing Sunshine's Cheez-It, Nabisco's Cheese Nips, and Great Value's Cheddar Cheese Baked Snack Crackers so that we can once and for all crown a reining champion of cheese crackers.

Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips: Go Buy Them

Now that Christmas is over all the candy canes and peppermint nougats will go on sale.

You are going to brave those sales and you are going to buy every bag of these you can find:

You are going to send half of them to me (because you love me) and you are going to save the rest for a secret recipe we will be doing later.

Stay tuned!

Whole Foods Haul

Today I went to Whole Foods.

This is a big deal.

Why is this a big deal?

Because I don't have a Whole Foods. I drove an hour and a half (each way) to get to a Whole Foods.

This is what I have to show for it:

Not my biggest Whole Foods haul ever, but I got some good stuff. I skipped out on produce this trip, because even though it all looked beautiful and delicious, it was pretty pricy. (I hear not being able to grow veggies in November on the East Coast may have something to do with this.) I also am incredibly proud of myself for not buying anything in the bakery. Because none of that was out of season. None of it. Like, at all.

Droooool.

Okay, sorry, back to business.

Here's a rundown on the things I bought for my mother, who didn't want to make the voyage alllllll the way to Whole Foods:

2 jars of 365 Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce - $1.99 each
Engine 2 Roasted Red Pepper Hummus - $2.99
Engine 2 Rip's Big Bowl Banana Walnut Cereal - $4.99
365 Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette - $2.99
365 Butternut Squash Ravioli - $3.69
365 Spinach Ravioli - $3.69
Subtotal: $22.33

Here's a rundown on the things I bought for myself:

365 Organic Whole Cashews - $6.49
365 Blue Corn Tortilla Chips - $2.69
365 Quinoa - $4.49
3 cans of 365 No Salt Added Garbanzo Beans - $0.89 each
2 cans of 365 Cheese Ravioli in Tomato Sauce - $1.49 each
365 Fake Spaghettios - $1.49 (these probably have a name, but really, they're Spaghettios)
365 Coconut Oil - $5.99
365 Tahini - $5.99
Zevia Grape Soda - $3.00
Whole Foods Spinach Dip - $2.99
Subtotal: $38.78

Grand Total (after tax and 5-cent thank-you-for-bringing-your-own-bag discount): $62.59

You know what I'm most excited about? The tahini.

Actually, that's a total lie. I am most excited about the spinach dip because the Whole Foods spinach dip is a gift from the gods and I firmly believe the gods do not love me because I have to drive so very very far to obtain the delicious nectar that is the Whole Foods spinach dip.

But anyway, back to the tahini. I've been looking for tahini in my local grocery stores and haven't been able to find it. Procuring tahini was one of my primary incentives for making the trip out this week. So I go through the whole store looking for tahini. I look in condiments. No tahini. I look in ethic foods. No tahini. I look in salad dressings. No tahini. I look in the other case of salad dressings. Also no tahini. I look in the seasonings. Still no tahini. It wasn't until my roommate (aka Whole Foods Caddy--what? that bag gets heavy!) pointed at the tahini jar sitting right in front of my face in the peanut butter section that I found it. Now I can make hummus. Or, you know, have the capability and ingredients to make hummus but continue to purchase it already made from the grocery store because I want to keep all the lovely hummus makers in business so they can feed their families things like hummus.

The one other thing I was specifically hoping to find at Whole Foods was nutritional yeast, which is called for in one of the recipes I'm looking forward to trying. I heard (from the girl who posted the recipe, no less) that you could buy nutritional yeast at Whole Foods in the spices section, but I had no luck finding it there and really hope I can find it at one of the super-spiffy grocery stores here. Really hope. Really really hope. You hear that, Giant? I'm hoping. You wouldn't let a nice girl like me down, now would you?

That's it for today, folks. I'm going to go park the crazy train on the couch for the evening and eat all of the spinach dip and not share any of it. Nope, not even with you.

Have a great day!

50 Bottle Water Challenge Recap

I wanted to touch base with you guys about my experience with the 50 Bottle Water Challenge.

First of all, I know now that it is possible to drown from the inside out.

Second of all, drowning aside, I think the challenge was a really good thing for me. We're not talking super-miraculous life-changing results or anything, but there were some definite improvements after the full seven days. Here's how:

1. My lips healed up....mostly. I still have a little dry patch, but overall they are much less lizzardy.

2. My skin improved. I was recovering from a makeup-related breakout, so my skin wasn't perfect, but my complexion did seem to even out a bit.

3. My hair was happier and much more cooperative.

4. I got thirsty. By the end of the seven days, when I hadn't had water in a couple of hours I felt legitimately thirsty, unlike before the Challenge when I'd look up at six o'clock and go, "Oh, I wonder if I've had anything to drink today."

I ended up completing the challenge at 11:30pm Day Seven, and despite my original intentions, I did not consume any alcoholic beverages (or any non-water beverages) all week because by the time I got my daily water quota in, the last thing I wanted was more to drink.

I encourage you to take on the Challenge for yourself and let me know what differences it makes for you!