Sole Society

Ladies that are looking for a new pair of shoes should check out Sole Society! They have a ton of awesome shoes available and you can get $25 off your first purchase by using the code INFLUENSTER25 before 1/31/13. I ordered a pair of silver sandals from them last week and got them in today. I've been wearing them around today and so far I'm loving them. They're stylish and comfortable and I got them for half price thanks to my coupon code. I always have a hard time finding sandals in my size in the store, but these fit perfectly. Check out this link to join and get your first pair on sale!

http://www.solesociety.com/invite/cid/10813281/


Here's a picture of my new shoes!

Influenster

About a month ago I found  a website called Influenster and signed up for it. This site is really cool because you can post reviews for your favorite products and earn badges for posting several reviews in each category and taking quizzes. Every few months they send out a VoxBox to select members that includes a lot of awesome stuff. You can check out their site to see some of the past VoxBoxes that they've sent out and read the reviews for those products. You can post your reviews on Facebook or Twitter as well and the more active you are the more likely you are to get the next VoxBox. If you wanna check out Influenster and join you can use the link below for an invitation. 

http://www.influenster.com/registration/c01ffaf1d2cb07f0228f26e6608c73e7

Free stuff!

How many of you college girls out there going to the mall? Next time you're at the mall you can go in and get a bunch of free stuff and save your money for other things! This past weekend I went to the mall with my boyfriend and got a ton of free food and other cheap items.

Top Recommendations:

• Godiva- I love chocolate, and what's better than getting it free? Join the rewards program and you get a free piece of chocolate each month. You go into the store and give them the phone number you signed up with or your rewards number and you take your pick of their truffles.
• Great American Cookies- These are a bit easier to find than Godiva stores. They also have a rewards program and when you sign up you get lots of coupons by email that you can print and use. The first one you get is a buy one get one free regular cookie. I went and bought an M&M cookie for just over a dollar and got another one free.
• Cinnabon- Another great rewards program! When you sign up they send you an email with a coupon for a free Minibon. 
• Victoria's Secret- from now until the end of November you can go in and spend $10 and get a rewards card from them. This is great because your rewards card is guaranteed to be worth at least $10 but if your lucky it could be worth $50, $100, or $500. If you go in and spend $10 and get at least $10 back that's like getting something for free!

Other ideas:

Every time I go to the mall now I check the website for the mall I'm going to so I can look for deals and events that are going on. A lot of the time stores have free in store items and they'll be posted on the mall website so it's a good idea to check out their website.

Coffee and Calcium

One thing that everyone tells you growing up is that it's important to get enough calcium and that you should make sure that you drink milk. Personally I'm not a huge fan of milk unless it's accompanied by a sweet dessert. If you are looking for a healthier way to enjoy milk that isn't "plain," then I have the perfect solution.

Coffee ice cubes!

I saw this idea on Pinterest with Bailey's and vanilla vodka, but personally I don't drink, so I decided on milk. If you do enjoy Bailey's and vodka though, this is a really great idea.

You can use any brand and flavor of coffee that you like. All you have to do is make the coffee and let it cool off a little bit, then you pour it in an ice cube tray and freeze it. One thing to keep in mind though is that if you want sweet coffee you need to add the sugar into the coffee before you freeze it. I opted for black coffee ice cubes and my sister pulled one out and licked it and thought it was gross. Black coffee ice cubes are good in milk though, and it keeps the calories and sugar down.

This is a perfect way to get in some of your daily dairy while enjoying a little pick me up from the coffee.

Nutella

Like many other college students, I love Nutella. Aside from eating it with pretzels or putting it on toast, Nutella is great for baking. Last weekend my dad and sister came to visit so I tried out some new dessert recipes since I was cooking for more than myself.

Menu: Nutella Cookies and Nutella Crescent Rolls

The Nutella Cookies were incredibly easy to make, and they only require 3 ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Nutella
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all 3 ingredients
3. Roll into dough
4. Divide the dough up into about 8-10 cookies
5. Bake 6-8 minutes (depending on thickness)

Next is the Nutella Crescent Rolls. (I like to call them Nutella Pods)
As you can see in the picture, these tend to pop open when they bake, but that doesn't really matter.

Ingredients:

• Nutella
• Crescent Rolls
• Cinnamon Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place Nutella in center of crescent roll
3. Pinch crescent roll closed
4. Roll in cinnamon sugar
5. Bake 13 minutes

I divided up each crescent roll so that I made 2 of these Nutella pods from each roll. This makes them smaller and more like a finger food dessert. Be careful not to put too much Nutella though or the crescent roll won't close which makes it harder to roll in the cinnamon sugar.

Week One

I started my cooking journey two weeks ago by making a few simple recipes that I found on Pinterest. At first I felt like an old lady sitting in my room pinning recipes to a recipe board. I persevered though because I have quickly become tired of heating up chicken nuggets and french fries several nights a week this semester. The food that I cooked was relatively easy to make, and even after my boyfriend and I ate, I still had some leftovers.

Week 1's menu includes: Cream Cheese Chicken Crescent Rolls and Chili Cheese Tater Tots

The Cream Cheese Chicken Crescent Rolls were pretty easy to make, and I ended up having enough of them for three meals. This recipe will make 16 rolls.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts- cooked and shredded
• 2 green onions
• 1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
• 2 tubes of crescent rolls

Directions:

1. Start with cooking the chicken. You can bake it or pan fry it. Baked chicken is healthier, but the pan fried chicken has more flavor. If you choose to fry the chicken, do not put anything on the chicken or in the pan, just cook it and it will taste really good.
2. Shred up the cooked chicken
3. Chop the green onions if you plan to use them
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
5. Mix chicken, green onions, and cream cheese
6. Place a small amount of the mixture on each crescent roll
7. Pinch the dough together so that all of the chicken is covered
8. Bake for 12 minutes

I served Chili Cheese Tater Tots with the Cream Cheese Chicken Rolls, and I had more than enough for a few meals.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chili
• 2 cups of Mexican cheese
• 1/2 a bag of tater tots

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Pour chili into pan
3. Sprinkle cheese over chili
4. Lay out tater tots evenly
5. Bake for 40 minutes

These recipes are both very easy to make, and they will make plenty of food for 1 or 2 people. The ingredients are relatively cheap, and eating the leftovers saves a lot of money which is great for a college student budget. 

Welcome!

I'm starting a blog to provide ideas, tips, and fun information for how college students can easily do some of the things they see on Pinterest. I'm a college student myself, so I realize that sometimes it is hard to cook for yourself, and it can occasionally be difficult to find recipes that do not require a bunch of items that you do not have such as food processors, electric mixers, etc. My goal is to show other college students how easy it is to cook for themselves in their apartments instead of eating out or eating frozen foods. Check in each week for new tips!

Also, as it gets closer to the holidays I will be making some crafts that I've found that are relatively cheap to make that will make great gifts for your mom, sister, or friends.