Ahhhhh, the weekend is here!
I woke up feeling quite refreshed this morning, which I would hope, seeing as through my “granny evening” had me in bed by 11.
As soon as I walked out into the living room this morning, my little man Cody was awaiting, and was ready to play.
Then Dad came out, and I lost his attention completely. Hmmph.
What a cutie! 
For breakfast, I was once again craving cereal (what is with me?!?) so I broke into this box of Cinnamon Burst Cheerios.
Oh.My.God.
This box doesn’t even stand a chance in our house! I made sure to measure out my serving…otherwise, half the box would be gone. Although, even with my one measured cup missing, Jay’s two bowls probably did leave the box half empty.
And can you believe it? I actually stuck with only one kind of cereal – no combo today! 
Cereal + Coffee = Perfection
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In a little while, my friend Eileen is coming up to visit and spend the afternoon with me (YAY!). We’re heading to a new place for lunch which I’ve been waiting to try forever now, so I’m psyched!
So just in case you missed it, I thought I would leave you all with a copy of my guest post on healthified baking substitutes that I wrote over on Lisa’s blog earlier in the week.
Enjoy!
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So now, if you’ve ever popped over to Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life, then you probably already know that I have a huge sweet tooth, and a slight obsession with baking. Cookies, cupcakes, trifles…you name it, I’m on it.
Yeah, it’s probably a good thing that I have a full-time job to keep me out of the kitchen all day, every day.
Even still, with the amount of baking that I do, I’m always looking for ways that I can “healthify” a recipe. Whether it be a substitution, an omission, or an addition, there’s almost always something that can be done. So today, I’d like to share some of my favorites with you!
[print_this]
(all substitutes are equivalent amounts unless otherwise noted)
| If a Recipe Calls For… | Try Substituting… |
| whole milk (1 cup) | 1 cup fat-free milk OR 1 cup fat-free milk + 1 tbsp canola oil |
| cream cheese | 4 tbsp margarine blended with 1 cup dry low-fat cottage cheese |
| butter | 1 tbsp polyunsaturated margarine OR 3/4 tbsp polyunsaturated oil |
| butter (in cookies) | replace half the amount called for with unsweetened applesauce |
| sour cream | plain, nonfat Greek yogurt |
| sweetened condensed milk | fat-free sweetened condensed milk |
| 1 egg | 1 egg white + 2 tbsp canola oil OR cholesterol-free egg substitute |
| 2 eggs | 1 egg + 2 egg whites |
| unsweetened baking chocolate (1 ounce) | 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder or carob powder + 1 tbsp canola oil *Carob is sweeter than cocoa, so reduce sugar by 1/4 in recipe |
| oil (in cakes/brownies) | unsweetened applesauce OR canned pumpkin puree |
[/print_this]
**Edited to add: Feel free to print the above chart to keep handy in the kitchen!**
I’ve certainly experimented with my fair share of substitutions, but these I have found to be tried and true. What are some of your favorite baking substitutes??
Another favorite cake of mine? The Soda Cake!
All you have to do for this one is mix 1 boxed cake mix + 1 can of diet soda. That’s it! And the flavor possibilities are endless:
angel or yellow cake + diet orange soda
banana cake mix + diet root beer
cherry chip cake + A& W diet Cream soda
chocolate cake or devils food + diet pepsi
chocolate cake + diet vanilla coke
chocolate cake + diet root beer
lemon cake mix + diet 7-up
lemon cake + diet ginger ale
lemon + diet lemon
marble cake + diet cream soda
red velvet + diet cherry vanilla Dr Pepper
spice cake + diet lemon-lime
spice cake + diet orange
white cake + diet ginger ale
white cake + diet orange
white cake + diet sprite
yellow cake + diet orange
So now, hopefully I’ve gotten some of you ready to go do some baking! And just in case you’re in need of some ideas, here are some of my favorite recipes with “healthified” substitutes – soda cakes included!
Strawberry-Filled Lemon Cupcakes
Chocolate Butterscotch Cheesecake Cookies
Happy Baking!
*Don’t forget to enter my “Blueberry Muffin Larabar Giveaway!” You have until Monday to enter!
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