Easy Swaps? [NOT 21/11/23]

21/11/23 brightersideoflife 26

Hi, friends!

Got any easy swaps? Like with food? Home stuff? Any other good ideas?

I often swap out oil for applesauce when I make something like banana muffins. This week I was craving cake but fuck I need to not gain weight. I would say I could pick up a slice of cake from the grocery store bakery (which used to be how I’d get this fix), but both local chains updated their ingredients list on the damn cake slices to include soy flour as an ingredient, so there goes that option thanks to my food allergy.

Anyways, I googled what I could swap oil with when making a box cake mix and there were a bunch of options, none of which I had. Except! Sour cream came up, 1 to 1 ratio for the swap. 120 calories for a tablespoon of oil, 30 calories for a tablespoon of sour cream. Worth a try! The cake came out a little softer than usual, but worked fine. I’m more than happy to make this again.

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26 Comments

  1. It’s not exactly a swap, but quite a few years ago we got an recumbent exercise bike with a big squishy seat that’s in front of the TV. So instead of sitting on the couch, I sit on the bike and lean back and burn off some calories while I watch the teevee.

    • Intriguing!

      I need to see if a friend has one that I can casually try like that. Years ago when I had a gym membership, when I tried using the recumbent bikes after a couple of minutes one of my kneecaps felt like it was wobbling to the side. I wonder if that’s bad form on my part making it happen.

      • I set the seat so I don’t fully extend my legs, which may help. I’d definitely recommend going to a store instead of buying blind online. It’s just a cheap Schwinn but it’s held up.

  2. It’s not exactly revolutionary but when I have a recipe that calls for mayo I sub out half of it for plain Greek yogurt. Mayo tastes too fatty for me and makes my mouth feel gross. But I don’t like using all yogurt, you have to have some fat for taste.

    • I do the same because mayo gives me wicked heartburn.

      Sometimes I use sour cream but not often as I usually have yogurt in the fridge and rarely buy sour cream.

    • Oh smart! I can’t stand mayo.

      Do you use full fat Greek yogurt or the fat-free stuff?

      • You can use either but I usually have the fat free on hand.

  3. I have a vegan recipe for vegan mayo but it leads to pretty much eating canola oil.

    • Interesting! Does it have aquafaba in it to help the texture?

      As someone who hates mayo, this is a very clinical thing to contemplate for me.

  4. I’ve found liquor can be a good substitute for happiness in a pinch.

  5. In order to cut down on our electricity usage, we got a couple of wall-mounted drying racks for the laundry room in the winter; and we use good old fashioned clotheslines in the summer.

    • Are you able to dry sheets and towels on those indoor racks or are those items too bulky still?

      Also kudos on the clotheslines, clothes dried outside smell so amazing. 

      • I use ours in the winter in dry weather too. The humidity is usually really low so things dry out by sundown.

      • Drying clothes outside is also very healthy because the sunlight reacts with the water to create a sort of peroxide (or so I’m told) so the clothes are given a very gentle disinfectant.

        I had a chemist tell me these things, but he was a little soused at the time so he could have just been pulling my leg.

        But they’re definitely softer too, so you don’t need to use any fabric softener.  And your clothes will last longer.

        • I’d heard that it was something to do with the ultraviolet rays that did the disinfecting. But it could be both things at the same time as far as I know.

  6. I just found out that Jazwares, the parent company of the brands Hello Kitty and Squishmallow, has signed on with the ADL (Anti Defamation League) which is a pro Zionist org in the worst sense and seeks to defame anyone/thing who supports Palestine. Those were the two toy brands that my kids asked for for Xmas. So I will be swapping those gifts out for something else.

  7. ive apparently swapped beer for bed

    wasnt so noticeable last week and over the weekend

    but so far this week…ive not even made it till 9pm before finding myself in bed

    and sure ill read for a lil bit up there….but not long

    is not right me being in bed that early…..maybe im not as a-symptomatic as i feel most of the day?

    either that or im trying to catch up on years of sleep deprivation

    • The good thing about sleep deprivation (I guess) is that it only takes about a week of sleeping to make up for years of deprivation.

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