Sodastream Energy Drink Caffeine Content and Review

Caffeine in Sodastream Energy and Diet Energy Soda

The amount of caffeine in Sodastream Energy and Diet Energy soda mix is 80 mg per serving. A serving size is 0.34 fl oz, or 8 fl oz when prepared according to the directions. This is the same amount of caffeine in an 8 oz. Red Bull.

Sodastream Diet Energy Drink Review

While the main purpose of this blog post was not to be a sodastream energy drink review, I will say a few words. 

Sodastream Diet Energy Drink has a taste comparable to Sugarfree Redbull. The artificial sweetener flavor is a little bit stronger than in Red Bull, but overall it is pretty close to Red Bull and pretty pleasant. An important distinction also is that Red Bull uses aspartame as a sweetener and Sodastream Energy uses sucralose and acesulfame potassium.

Cost of Sodastream Energy Drink: Sodastream Energy Drink vs Red Bull

Time for a little math to see how much you save by using Soda Stream versus Red Bull. This does not include the cost of the Sodastream machine itself.

• $14.99 per container of CO2 - yields nearly 2000 ounces of prepared soda.
• $6.99 bottle of Sodastream Energy mix - yields 400 fluid ounces of prepared soda.
• Therefore it costs $2.99 for enough CO2 to yield 400 fluid ounces of prepared soda.
• $6.99 + $2.99 = $9.98 for 400 fluid ounces of prepared soda
• $9.98/400oz. = $0.025/oz of prepared soda
• As of May 19, 2012, Red Bull sells for $0.20 per ounce on Amazon.com
• Therefore Red Bull is nearly 10 times more expensive than Sodastream Energy Drink

Keep in mind that the Sodstream machine was not included in this math. At around $90 for a Sodastream machine, the cost is not negligible. But if you are a heavy energy drink user like I am, than the savings can offset the machine quite quickly.

Conclusion: The Sodastream Energy Soda mix has lots of caffeine, tastes pretty good, and is literally almost 10 times cheaper than Red Bull. It's a good product.

Crispy, tasty fried tofu recipe

After years of trying to find quick and easy fried tofu recipes, I've finally landed on my favorite. This recipe uses one standard 14 ounce block of tofu found in the United States.

You can use this tofu in a million different dishes. I like making wraps with beans, guacamole, and salsa with it.

After the tofu is fried, it refrigerates very well and can also be frozen. 

Quick tips before we start:

• Use extra firm tofu 
• Freeze tofu and then let defrost. 
• This gives the tofu a "meatier" texture, and also makes it easier to squeeze the water out.

Ingredients: 

1 - Package of tofu, frozen and thawed (14 oz.)

2 Tbsp natural peanut butter

2 Tbsp soy sauce

Cornstarch to coat the tofu

Oil to fry the tofu. I like peanut the best for this recipe, but vegetable oil works. Avoid olive oil because it smokes to easily while frying.

Mix the peanut butter and soy sauce to create a fairly thin paste. We're going to use this as a marinade. If the sauce is too thick, add some more soy sauce to thin in out. The paste/marinade/sauce should be thin enough to spread over the tofu and absorb into it.

With your hands, squeeze the tofu from the top to the bottom to expel the water. After you've squeezed the tofu from top to bottom about 3 times, slice the tofu in the middle, lengthwise, from top to bottom. In other words, you should have two thin pieces of tofu that are the same height  and width as the original block.

Put the pieces of tofu in a dish that will hold all of the tofu while you coat it with the marinade.

Pour the marinade over tofu and use a spatula to squeeze and let go of the tofu, thereby allowing the marinade to get sucked into the tofu somewhat.

If you have time, allow the tofu to absorb the marinade for 10-20 minutes.

With the tofu still in the dish being marinated, cube the tofu to about the size of a ping pong ball.

Pour roughly half of a box of corn starch into a bowl.

Coat tofu heavily with cornstarch by mixing cubes into the cornstarch. You'll probably need to do 2 or 3 batches to coat all the cubes evenly.

Heat oil to a medium temperature.

Put corn starch coated tofu into oil. Allow tofu to brown to a golden color on one side and flip. Allow it to fry on the other side.

Done! Experiment with different sauces and sides to go with this tofu. It makes great wraps!