Baking Soda vs Baking Powder

 Winter is the time of year that I love to bake. With winter holidays, valentines day, Easter and so many other days that I love to make special treats for those that I love. Thru all the years of baking I have learned that it is a sort of scientific magic that helps the ingredients all mix together. Two of the ingredients most commonly used in baking are baking powder and baking soda. 

Baking powder and soda are both ingredients that help to reach ideal texture in baked goods. I have often wondered what makes these two ingredients so different and when to know which to use when. What their commonalities are and if they could be used in place of the other. Likewise if these ingredients are truly needed what would happen if I left them out. 

The truth is that both baking powder and baking soda are both in the same category known as leaveners in baking but they do not do the same exact job. In addition both baking powder and baking soda are whit in color with a powdery texture with similar names so getting them mixed up is rather easy to do. Leaving out the recipe called for ingredient may leave you with a result that is unflattering. 

Baking Powder 

Baking Powder is actually baking soda that has been mixed with a dry acid. When baking powder mixes with a liquid it will release carbon dioxide bubbles. These bubbles help make baked goods rise. Most baking powders at the store are known as "double acting" and activate when it is mixed with liquid and again when heated. 

Baking Soda

There is no acid added to baking soda so it requires some sort of acid like lemon juice, buttermilk or vinegar to work. It is much stronger than baking powder so it requires less amounts. Using to much baking soda can make food taste metallic or soapy 

Recipes can call for both baking powder and soda at the same time. When this happens there is often an acid agent that will help the baking soda react but a bit more of a reaction is needed to provide the deemed push and because to much baking soda can turn the recipe taste some baking powder is used. 

In a pinch you can make a substitute for baking powder Simply mix cream of tartar in with the baking soda 

1TBSP  baking powder = 2 tsp cream of tartar + 1 tsp baking soda 

Baking powder or baking soda both have a shelf life that will not last forever. Baking powder will stay good for about 12 months but baking soda will go bad around 6 months. In addition, they both should be kept stored in a cool dry place to stay up to par. 

To test baking powder mix 1/2 tsp baking powder in a 1/2 cup hot water stir  When testing baking soda mix 1/2 tsp baking soda with 3 Tbsp distilled white vinegar and stir.The mixtures should bubble as soon as they are stirred to make the mixture. 

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Hodge Podge Wednesday

 

1. Feb 2nd is Groundhog Day in the US of A. Tell us about one day you wouldn't mind living over again, and why you chose that day. 

Gosh there are lots of days I would love to live over again such as the last time I could see my daddy before he got sick. It was a good day, one filled with happiness and talk. 

2. Something you know beyond a 'shadow of a doubt'? 

The way the world is now days there is not a lot that I know for sure. The one thing I know for sure is that (1) there is a God (2) we can believe in him and count on him (3) He has a plan for our life

3. Give us an example of history repeating itself in some way, in your own life or the lives of your children.

We are by nature a junque type of family. We like to find, buy and sell antiques as well as other treasures. This began years ago with my father, infected both me and my brother to make a living at it and caught on to my own children. Now we have a grand-daugher that loves to go and investigate , listen to and have fun at the auctions. 

4. Snowed under, snow job, not a snowball's chance, snowbird, on thin ice, snug as a bug in a rug, tip of the iceberg, snowball effect, run hot and cold....choose a wintry idiom and tell us how it best applies to your life right now. 

 After losing heat for nearly a day,,, our trusty repairman came by and fixed our furnace. Now we are snug as a bug in a rug. 

5. Your favorite sign of spring? 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Tonight while getting my 17 month old grand-daughter ready for bed I was watching a show on T.V. she did not pay it any attention and after doing our nighttime rituals that includes PJs hugs, prayers etc..  she said she wanted to watch mickey mouse. I turned it over there and within 5 minutes she was out like a light LOL all ready a demandive little lady. 

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Song Challenge What would you choose

We are participating in a new linkup that is hosted by Jingle Jangle Jungle Head over there to join in the fun as well.

This Week’s Song Challenge:

1. A Feeling:

2. A Fruit:

3. A Vegetable:

One of my feel good make me happy songs would be this little one by Aretha Franklin. 

This is a super fun song that offers a display of how Christianity can be fun as well. 

Finally but one of my most favorite and one that fits the category of vegetable song

where corn dont grow by Travis Tritt 

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100th Day What To Do

 

a friend of mine recently shared this picture of her son on the 100th day of school. Are you wondering what else you ca do to celebrate the 100th day of school?? Here are some centurion grand ideas

• Do 100 exercises like 10 of each different one 10 jumpin jacks, 10 toe touches, 10 pushups and you fill in the rest
• Have each member of the group fill in the blank "If I had $100 I would buy____"
• Make 100 valentines to pass out to nursing home residents
• put together a  100 piece puzzles
• do a bit of research... what was it like to live 100 years ago and what do you think it will be like in 100 years from now
• what do you think might be invented in 100 years
• Count out 100 cheerio, fruit loop etc... to make a necklace and eat as a snack

Do you have an idea that would be awesome to do on the 100th day?? Please share in comments 

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Celebrating Black History Month with Harriet Tubman

 One individual who in history deserves much credit comes from the African American population. She is none other than Harriet Tubman. 

Harriet was born as a slave in Maryland The exact date is not known but it is believed to have been during the month of March, 1822. In the days of slavery many birth dates of slaves was meagerly wrote down as the month and year. What is known is that by the year of 1849 Harriet Tubman would escape to freedom to the North. 

Harriet would escape shortly after her master passed from illness. Her brothers led her away from the plantation but after they had a ransom placed on their heads they thought it best to return leaving Harriet behind heading to freedom. This would be her first trip to the north towards freedom but it would not be her last. Shortly, Harriet Tubman would become well known as the conductor of the underground railroad. As the conductor Harriet would risk her own life leading not only family members but all those willing to travel to freedom. 

Later in life Harriet Tubman would help the Union Army. She filled the role of cook, nurse, and spy. After the war Mrs. Tubman would help the elderly and former slaves. 

It is estimated that during Harriet Tubman work as the conductor that she helped nearly a hundred slaves to freedom. Harriet returned for her brothers during Christmas 1854 and helped them escape. There her brothers and her would attend church at an African Methodist Episcopal church near her home in St. Catherines Harriet Tubman would go to her heavenly resting place the winter of 1913 after suffering from pneumonia 

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Yes, There were Black Soldiers in the Confederate Army

"There are at the present moment, many colored men in the Confederate Army doing duty ... as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders and bullets in their pockets.."

Frederick - Douglas , former slave and abolotionist (Fall 1861)

Yes you read that right blacks were fighting in the Confederate army. Not against them but with them. In fact the number of blacks serving the Confederacy may have been as many as ten thousand. Working as laborers, teamsters, cooks and soldiers these men stood proudly to battle alongside the white men.  They saw the war differently than others they saw the south as their home and thus went to battle as much as a patriot as anyone. In fact, while the Emancipation procloamation freed the slaves in the south those in the north remained in slavery and other states while the war continued. The proclamation only included slaves held by the confederate states. 

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Hot Chocolate is for Valentines Day

•  2 cups milk
• ¼ cup white chocolate chips
• ¼ cup pink candy melts
• Mini Marshmallows
• Sprinkles 

• Over a medium low heat, combine milk, white chocolate chips, and candy melts in a pot.  Stirring frequently, until chocolate is melted.
• Pour into 2 mugs, and top with a hand full of marshmallows + festive sprinkles.

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The Day Ham Went To Space

 

Ham was a famous chimp that was born in July of 1957 and went to space January 31st , 1961. As part of the U.S. space program known as Project Mercury he was the astrochimp trained at the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center in New Mexico. As you can see the chimps name was taken directly from initials of the training center and maybe even more than that the commander in charge Colonial Hamilton Blackshear

Hamm was captured and taken to a wildlife facility in Florida. He was one of nearly 50 candidates that were checked and tested to see which would be the hardest worker. The training took place starting in 1959 and at that time HAMM was 2 years old. Thus this was primary first prior to Alan Shepard trip on May 5, 1961

On January 31, 1961 Ham was placed in a space ship and sent on a mission from Cape Canaveral Florida On the trip the chimps vital signs would be monitored as he partook in tasks that were monitored by sensors and computers on Earth. Along the trip minor default would occur but no harm would come to Ham and his ability to perform the actions demonstrated that tasks could be performed in space. Ham suffered a bruised nose during splash down but the space trip that lasted just abit over 16 minutes was not only the first but the trip that would set the example for more to come. 

Ham would go to live at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. on April 5, 1963. There he would live til 1980 when he would go to live with other chimps in the North Carolina zoo. He would only live for 3 years at this new home before his death that occurred in 1983. After his death further studies were done before he was buried at the International space Hall of Fame in New Mexico. However, his bones are kept elsewhere in the Museum of Health and Medicine. 

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