Tuna Helper and the simplest cake ever

Tuna helper is a lifesaver when all I want to do is make a one-pot dinner and not have to deal with any raw meat. It's cheap and easy, and makes a lot if you make a few adjustments. They box always says there's 5 servings if you make it according to directions, which is completely a lie. They're five 1-cup servings. Who eats just one cup of tuna helper for dinner? Jeez.

To get more mileage out of my tuna helper, I employ a few tactics:
- double the amount of tuna (2 cans instead of 1)
- double the amount of pasta (I buy a box of rotini/fusilli pasta so that the shape is similar)
- add vegetables (usually broccoli, carrots, and onions)
- increase liquids accordingly, but not the butter

When I make the tuna helper, I usually start stir frying the onions, carrots, and broccoli first in a skillet. Then I set them aside when they're nearly cooked. I proceed to boil the milk, water, seasoning packet and butter as called for in the Tuna helper directions, and throw in the pasta to cook. (Note: through experience, I've discovered that Tuna helper pasta is some sort of fast-cook pasta, so if you've bought regular pasta to add bulk, start boiling that first and then add the packaged pasta later to get the same consistency.) Finally, when the pasta is nearly al dente, I stir all the vegetables back in, and add milk/water to get a nice sauce, which I reduce slightly for thickness. Since the seasoning packet flavors have been diluted in the larger pot of stuff, I generally add some salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese for extra flavor. In this way, you can probably have enough to serve 5 people for dinner without any extra sides. Plus, you have protein, starch, vegetables, and dairy all in one pot, now that's balanced!


Now, for the simplest cake ever...

I was at the supermarket and saw that cake mixes were on sale for $1 a box. I figured it would be nice to have a little something extra to end the meal, since the main course was a one-pot thing which could get boring. Normally you'd have to deal with oil and eggs for a boxed cake mix, but I wasn't planning to buy a whole box of eggs just to make a cake. This simple trick I learned from the blogosphere long ago... just take a can of soda (any flavor, diet or non-diet) and add it to the dry cake mix powder. Stir until smooth, and bake according to directions! Voila, the simplest cake ever! And the result is moist and yummy. I would recommend pairing Sprite with lighter cakes like white, yellow, confetti, strawberry, etc. Pair Coke with darker cakes like chocolate, devil's food, german chocolate. Mix and match to get interesting flavors! Here I only had a can of Diet Coke for my confetti cake, so it came out a little more caramel-colored than normal, but the taste was fine. The big bonus about this method too is that for those of you watching calories, using a can of diet soda cuts down on nearly half the calories of baked boxed cake mix! Now that's news that's fit to eat :)