Diet Dessert Recipe

I found this recipe in a fantastic cookbook (the name of which will remain anonymous so that I don't catch the attention of their lawyers).  It was too good not to share:


Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
 

Here's the easy-peasy recipe:
For cupcakes:
2 Cups Moist-Style Lemon Cake Mix (half of an 18.25-ounce box)
1 Cup Diet Lemon-Lime Soda (we didn't have Diet Sprite, so we used Fresca and it was just fine)
3/4 Cup Fresh Blueberries (divided)
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Baking Powder

For Frosting (and it was amazingly light and yummy!)
1 Cup Cool Whip Free - thawed
1/2 Cup Skim Milk
2 Tablespoons Lemon Sugar Free/Fat Free Dry Pudding Mix

Optional
12 additional blueberries for garnish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the frosting first:  combine pudding mix and skim milk in a medium mixing bowl.  Using an electric mixer set to medium speed, mix for 1 to 2 minutes.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Mix in the Cool Whip and refrigerate until the cupcakes are ready to be frosted.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, soda, egg, and baking powder.  Stir until blended and lump-free.

Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray.  Evenly distribute cake mixture among the 12 sections.

Place half of the blueberries on top of the cake mixture in the cups (about 3 to 4 berries each).  Bake in the oven for 8 minutes.

Remove pan from the oven and evenly distribute remaining blueberries among cups, pressing down slightly to keep the berries from rolling.  Return pan to the oven and bake for an additional 7 minutes, or until cupcake edges are slightly browned. 

Let cupcakes cool completely, then evenly distribute frosting among the tops.  Add a blueberry to the top of each cupcake, if you like.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 12 servings, each are 3 PointsPlus for Weight Watchers new program.

New Year, Old Resolutions

It seems like every year, January rolls around and I say "this is the year!"  My resolutions always involve my weight.  

Sure enough, I started Weight Watchers again (though I'm too cheap to pay for the meetings).  At first, I was just going to list everything I eat on my phone just so I could be cognizant of my intake.  But, there are just so many wickedly cool Android apps for counting Weight Watcher points that I decided to go whole hog (so to speak).

Speaking of hog...when you weigh as much as I do, it's almost a daunting task to actually consume 31 freakin' points in a day.  Yeah, 31.  And that doesn't count any "weekly flex points" or "activity bonus points."   Here it is, 10 p.m. and I'm munching on Ritz crackers just to try to hit my point level, and I still have 10 points left to blow.  

I also decided that I could only use my excuse of "too much work to do" for so long before I had to accept that I deserve a little bit of fun time.  So, I laced up my sneakers and did 30 minutes of Wii Fit.  It's a lot of fun, but I seriously doubt that it has much benefit in exercise.  It takes almost an hour just to get in the 30 minutes of countable exercise, but it's fun, so I'm gonna do it.  Pictures will NOT be forthcoming as seeing me swinging my hips to imaginary hula hoops is not a pleasant sight.  

I did have a pleasant surprise, though.  I looked back to see what my weight was on January 1, 2010.  On that date, I was 233.5 pounds.  A month ago, I was down to 218.  Woo hoo!  Admittedly, the Christmas snacking hit me hard and I'm up another 5 pounds again at 223.5.  But just realizing that I lost 15 pounds this year without trying at all (I certainly never had the time to exercise and I didn't diet at all) was amazing.  The only change I made was that six months ago I bought those Skechers Shape-Ups shoes.  I didn't think they'd help me lose weight, I bought them because they are comfortable.  But I'm convinced that those missing 15 pounds are from the shoes.  Now...I just need to stay away from the damn Christmas cookies so I can continue the downward slope.

Nookie Time

I bought my B&N Nook ereader in March.  That has resulted in a couple of changes in my life:

1. I no longer read magazines in the bathroom.
2. I no longer buy books (Nook lets me download ebooks from the library).
3. My TiVo queue has grown quite extensive as I prefer reading to watching TV.
4. I don't mind standing in line at the grocery store at all...it just means I get to read a page or two in my book.

But being the gadget guru, I'm always looking for the newest/best gadget out there.

After months of anticipation, Barnes and Noble finally announced the new version of their Nook ereader today.

Rumors were that it was going to be everything I wanted:

• 7 inches (instead of the 6 of the original Nook)
• Full color e-ink screen (instead of original black & white e-ink)
• Portrait or landscape mode (instead of just portrait)
• Full screen touchscreen (instead of just the 1-inch strip at the bottom)

Well, it didn't matter that my Nook was functioning perfectly well.  I knew I had to have it.  I planned to drive to Akron to pick it up as soon as it was available.

Today, they presented the new Nook Color.  What was announced was everything in the rumors...except...it is an LCD screen instead of color e-ink.

 

Nobody who has ever read on an e-ink screen will ever read books on an LCD screen.  First, you can't even see the screen if the sun is out.  Second, LCD screens flicker hundreds of times a minute...you just don't notice it, but your eyes do.  That's why computer work gives folks headaches.  

 Here's a microscope view of an LCD screen versus an e-ink screen:




Here's a magnified view of an iPad LCD screen




  




 And here it is on an e-ink screen












Plus, you can't read a book out in the sun on an LCD screen.  Go ahead, look at your camera or cell phone and try reading when the son is glaring on the screen.  On e-ink displays...no problem.

So, the bad news is that Nook Color is LCD.
But the good news is that since it is LCD instead of e-ink, I save $250.

So, no new Nookie for me.  I'd like to have color, but since I mostly read novels, black and white is just fine.  I will miss having the landscape orientation, though.  Sometimes, it's just nicer having the display wider than it is long.

Purple Power

Those folks on Facebook are always coming up with new ways to get a bunch of people to do something as a group.

We've had the "bra color for breast cancer" thing where you are only supposed to post what color your bra is (without any explanation other than posting the name of the color) and similarly the "purse placement" where you list the place in your house that you keep your purse (both of which I managed to be as sexual as possible by answering "nude" to the first one and "well, I don't like big ones, so I usually just go without" to the latter).


Today was "Wear Purple Against Homophobia."  With all the lesbians I know, I'm surprised there weren't any "purple-people-eater" comments, but maybe I'm the only one with that sick of a mind.


All four of my family members wore purple, but what surprised me was how many of my friends - married, single, gay, straight, young, and old - did the purple thing, too.  I have amazing friends!

Twilight Dreams

Two years ago, mom offered to make me a quilt.  All I had to do was pick a pattern and chose some colors and she’d do the hard stuff.  Am I lucky, or what?

What I didn’t realize was how hard it would be to find a pattern I liked.  I’m not a “traditional quilt” kind of girl and the concept of “scrap quilting” drives my brain bonkers.  I like things neat and organized and orderly (and for those of you who have seen my housekeeping abilities…hush!).

I scoured mountains of quilting magazines and books, and then I found the one I wanted.  It had the rather boring name of “Strips and Strings” or something like that.  But I fell in love with the picture.  It’s basically just a quilt that starts off in ivory/pale lavender and radiates darker towards the edges.

So, Mom started gathering material in varying shades of purple.

This is the center of the quilt.  

 

See all those strips?  

They become the individual blocks of the quilt.  I watched my mom make this thing from start to finish and I STILL can’t figure out how she could take a bunch of solid pieces of material and create this masterpiece.  She’s a quilting genius, I tell ya!

 

A few more of the darker strips going on the quilt.

The top is done!   

Since the only place big enough to pin together a queen-size quilt is the middle of our living room floor…down Mom goes to her hands and knees.  It’s awfully nice that Harmony and Melody are there to help. 

 

And of course, Harmony wants to help hand-sew the binding on the quilt, too.  (Melody’s there, too, but you can’t see her because she’s our “tunneling” cat and she’s buried herself under the quilt by Mom’s feet.)

 

And here it is…Twilight Dreams.   

Gorgeous doesn’t begin to describe it.  It’s ALMOST worth cleaning my room and making my bed occasionally just so I can admire it. 

Covering my Assets

Last week, I finally bought my Barnes and Noble Nook eReader.  I was thrilled, but it didn't take long for me to realize that without a cover of some sort, it was just not practical to take anywhere.  

I searched the Internet and found a few nice covers.  Then I went to www.oberondesign.com and my search ended.  They have custom-made journals and eReader covers in about 20 different designs. The first one I saw was called "Tree of Life" and I fell in love. I balked at the price, but I just couldn't get it out of my head.  I showed Mom, fully realizing that she thought the Nook was a waste of money and she'd talk me out of spending even more moolah on a cover.  Nope.  She took one look and said "It's gorgeous!  Happy birthday!"  I ordered it that night.

Since they are custom made and they wouldn't receive the order until Monday, they said to expect the cover to ship between 14 to 21 days after ordering.  So...I still had the Nook that couldn't really be carried anywhere because the screens would get damaged floating around in my purse.  Mom to the rescue.  She's a whiz with the sewing machine, so I asked if she could make some sort of sleeve for it.  As usual, she took a rough idea and made something perfect.  Not only did she let me pick the fabric, but she quilted it with a cushioning layer of batting and even took the tattered cover off of an old junk book to reinforce the front of the cover so nothing could poke the screen.  She rocks.

 

The day after she made the cover, I got the email saying "it's been shipped!"  Yeah...a mere 4 days after ordering, the item was already in transit.  I received it today.

The front cover is gorgeous.  They created a custom pewter button to hold the cover closed (and even sent a matching charm for free).  The leather is incredibly thick and they even say there is no problem with folding it completely back - something I'd never do for fear of it cracking if they hadn't assured me it was okay.




This is one of their "wrap-around" designs which makes it just as gorgeous on the back as the front.  

 

The Nook looks like it is barely being held in place, but Oberon has a video showing their "shake test" and trust me, it's secure.

 

I feel bad that Mom went to all of the work to make me a sleeve that I only used for one day.  She's already been hired (for the price of "eternal love and back scratches") by Beth to make a netbook cover because Beth was so impressed.  
   

Gonna Have Nookie in Bed Tonight!

Given my severe lack of anything resembling a sex life, there are only three things that give me pleasure these days (kids notwithstanding):
1.  Books.
2.  Technology.
3.  Food.

So, of course, when the eBook readers came out, I started looking at them.  They were ridiculously expensive, too large to slip in a pocket, and the books were overpriced (between $10 and $20 no matter how long the books were available as cheap paperbacks).  

I decided to go ahead and just use my cell phone as an eBook reader.  Cool.  It covers #1 (Books) and #2 (Technology) perfectly.  Sit there reading a story while munching on a bag of Fritos and I hit the trifecta!

I've been happy...except for the cost of the books, of course. 

 

But then, I discovered that Ohio's public libraries offer free eBook loans.  Woo hoo!!  About 10% of their selection are available as .mobi books (which you can put on any smartphone).  Yay!!  But it didn't take me long to realize that most of the books I really wanted to read were in ePub format, which would require reading on my computer (not gonna happen) or purchasing either a Sony Reader or a Barnes and Noble Nook reader.  After checking them out, the Sony Readers are really junkie.  The Nook is awesome, but overpriced ($258).

So the devil on my shoulder sat there whispering in my ear.  "You know, you read a book every two weeks or so.  Since these books are free, that savings over buying $10 books every two weeks would pay for that Nook reader."  I never gave the angel on my other shoulder time to talk sense into me.


I drove up to Akron yesterday and bought it.  It's amazing!!  It does the eBooks and periodicals, of course, but it also displays my pictures, plays music and best of all, plays audiobooks.  It's still a little large for me, (about the height and weight of a paperback, but much thinner) but I'll get used to it.  


Here's a shot of King's Under the Dome on my cell phone and as a hardcover.  Since I've already read it, I pulled up a different story (James Patterson) on the Nook for comparison.  

 


The Nook is perfectly viewable no matter how bright the sun is shining on it which is awesome and that's one of the problems I've had with my cell phone.  It doesn't have a backlight which is a bummer, but I can always clip a light onto the Nook.  


So tonight, I'm gonna enjoy some Nookie in bed!


I just found the most amazing leather cover for it online...more about that another day.