Seven

The holiday season is upon us. Don't be fooled by the fact that it's barely November. Macy's started showing it's holiday commercials at the beginning of October (and I do have to admit that even though they are a bit early they are great commercials), and I watched a commercial for Glade Scented Candles just a few minutes ago.

With the holidays comes spending money. Empty wallets and low bank accounts! This post is inspired by the fact that after my rent is due on the 1st I'll be eating oatmeal for the next few days until payday. Ahhh, the joys of being a poor recent grad.

Between buying gifts and paying for outrageously priced travel fair I know I'm going to be broke until January. There are lots of ways to save extra money, and I feel like right now is the best time of year to actually do some of these things.

1. Bring you lunch/dinner/coffee/etc... from home. No really. I know this is something that when you read it you think to yourself, duh. But living in the city, or anywhere for that matter, eating out is EXPENSIVE. Even if you think treating yourself once a week adds up. Save your receipts and add them up at the end of the week. $10 a meal, at least. At the end of the month, that's a nice gift for mom or dad...or mom and dad if you're particularly cheap (like myself).

2. Have a night in, instead of a night out. Invite your buddies over for dinner and a movie. If everyone brings one thing to contribute to the meal you'll save tons and have just as much fun.

3. New York, has so many free or pay as you wish museums and galleries. The Met, for examples, is a suggested donation fee to get it. You could give them a dollar and go inside. You don't have to spend money to go somewhere enjoyable.

Time Out New York's 50 Things To Do Under $5, is great. Go read it. And save your money!

Now all I have to think about is what I'm going to get people for Christmas.

Six

I've been craving cookies for about a week now. I wanted to make something simple and delicious. I decided to make snickerdoodles. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and it's almost perfect. This recipe says to turn your oven to 400, and in my opinion that is too high a temp for cookies. I set mine to 350 for 10 minutes and the cookies turned out perfect.



Recipe

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Combine 1 1/2 cups white sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
2. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Blend well. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Roll dough in sugar/cinnamon mixture and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.

You wont be disappointed!

Five

Last night I enjoyed cooking dinner for myself. I made Chicken stuffed with spinach and mozzarella cheese. It's delicious, fast, and easy.


Recipe
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
Salt
Pepper
Italian Seasoning (I like Mrs. Dash Italian Blend)
Crushed Red Pepper
Garlic (minced)
Spinach
Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use olive oil or cooking spray to lightly oil a 8x8 baking dish. Butterfly the chicken breasts by cutting in half horizontally through the thickest part of the breast. Cut into 2 pieces. (If the tender is attached, remove and form 6 bundles instead of 4). Place one piece of chicken on a large piece of plastic wrap, fold over the chicken and pound to 1/4-1/2" thickness. Season with salt and pepper and Italian seasoning on both sides.

On each chicken breast, lay several spinach leaves, a pinch of minced garlic, a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese and crushed red pepper flakes. Roll each piece up and use a toothpick to hold the bundle together if necessary.



Cook for about 20 minutes and then switch the oven to broil, grate Parmesan cheese over the chicken and continue cooking until the cheese is melted and the chicken is lightly browned and cooked through.

I think it would be delicious to add mushrooms or red peppers sometime!

Happy cooking.

Four

Nothing says Fall like pumpkins. Whether you're picking, carving, or baking. They are one of my favorite things and flavors this time of year.

Yesterday was a very domestic day for me. After de-germing my apartment from being sick all weekend I decided to bake pumpkin cupcakes. Umm....YUM!


I topped mine with with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

The recipe is really easy. I used canned pumpkins because as far as I know there are no pumpkin patches in NYC, and I was feeling too lazy to travel to the Farmers Market in Union Square.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 can pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350.

Some people say to mix your dry and wet ingredients separate and then mix them together. I didn't do that and they turned out perfect. So you do what ever your hear desires. I will say mix in your pumpkin AFTER everything else is mixed together.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
  

And enjoy.

Three

Five on Friday. I think I'm going to try and do this every week. This week I'm inspired by the fact that I'm sick. So here are five items that I recommend for the week

1. Tissues. Whether you're sick like I am at the moment or just have the sniffles, tissues are a must as the cold season starts. I'm a fan of Puffs. They are soft and don't make me feel like I look like Rudolph. Along with a good box of tissues I like the pocket packs too. I always make sure to keep on in my pocket and one in my purse. No one likes a runny nose.


2. A good book. For those times when you're laying in bed or on your couch that you can't sleep, there's nothing good on TV, and none of the movies you own seem interesting. I'm currently reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's the first novel in a set of three, for anyone who is unfamiliar with the book. Without giving anything away that is already on the inside synopsis of the cover, The Hunger Games is set in the future where the Countries no longer exist and every year each territory demands two children from each "district" to be used as gladiators in a televised fight to the death. The story follows the protagonist, Katniss, after she volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the games. My roommate came home raving about the book after a business trip. The third and last book just recently came out and he couldn't put down any of the books, reading each in pretty much one sitting. The Hunger games is a great sci-fi/fantasy book, and that's usually not my cup of tea. It may even be a great break for all of you vampire fanatics. Not that there is anything wrong with the vamp books, I'll be the first to admit I love the Southern Vampire Mystery novels, True Blood, The Black Dagger Brotherhood novels, and yes event the twilight books. But I'm a little vamped out. The Hunger Games were a great way to stay in a fantasy world but no one is biting each other-at least not yet.

3. Peppermint Tea. Everyone always tells you when you're sick fluids, fluids, fluids. And nothing clears up your sinus like something spicy. That's why I love peppermint tea. I particularly love Celestial Seasonings Peppermint Tea (and Celestial Seasonings even makes K-cups!). Drinking something hot is comforting and feels good on your throat and the peppermint flavor has a bit of a bite that seems to make my nose a little less congested. I was a bit skeptical about peppermint tea at first. The last think you want is to drink something that reminds you of toothpaste. But add a little but of honey and it's my favorite thing to enjoy while home with a cold.

4. Burt's Bees. Okay, I hope this one is obvious. Chapped lips are never fun and the always seem to be worst when sick. I always make sure to have MULTIPLE Burt's Bees around no matter how I'm feeling. One in my pocket, one in my purse, one in my desk at work...you get the idea. I usually just get the basic one but I just bought the one with Mango Butter. GO BUY IT! It is just as smoother and nourishing as regular Burt's Bees but it smells so good. And on a side note, I really recommend all of their products from their tinted lip balms to their body wash. It's all great and the body products seem very refreshing first thing in the morning.

5. Soup. Specifically Hot and Sour soup from your local Chinese take-out restaurant (because honestly who wants to cook when they're sick). Like I mentioned before, there is nothing like something spicy to clear out your sinus'. I ordered something today, and it did make me feel better for the time being. Now, I hate soup. Let me repeat myself I HATE SOUP, but I love hot and sour soup. Someday, when I'm not ill I'll try and make it myself.

So feel better. I hope I do.

Two

So part of being a new blogger is getting in the habit of actually updating on some sort of regular basis. Also having something interesting to actually update about.

Yesterday I made one of most exciting purchases I have in a long time. A reusable coffee filter for my Keurig Coffee Maker. Now this may not be exciting for some people, or you may not understand why this is so amazing. But let me tell you, it is the best thing ever. For a bit of Keurig education, the machines use these things called K-cups to brew the coffee. Each cup has enough grounds for one cup. Now you can buy the K-cups many places; Kohls and Bed Bath & Beyond for example sell the boxes of 18 cups for about $9.99. One of my favorite places to go for cups is CoffeeCow.com because they have a huge selection that you can't always find in the store.

Unfortunately for Keurig owners they don't make K-cup is popular types of coffee such as Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. With this reusable filter you can use whatever brand of coffee you want that may not be available to you in a k-cup. And for anyone who likes to be environmentally friendly you wont feel guilty for throwing away so much plastic.

The reviews on amazon.com are mixed, but let's be honest that's normal for any product. I plan on using mine tomorrow or this weekend, so I'll let you know how every thing turns out. In the mean time I'm still very excited about this. I realize I'm late to the party with this since it's been out since 2006, but oh well.

The reusable filters run for about $15-$20 depending on where you buy it. You can purchase it here at amazon.com for about $15 plus shipping. I bought my at Bed Bath & Beyond for $17. So no matter where you buy it it should even out to be the same.

So go, drink some coffee. I know I am.

One

Seeing that it's the first day of the month, I figured it would be a great day to finally start the blog that I've been telling myself that I was going to do for, well, months now.

I'm excited that it's October 1st. Maybe now Mother Nature will start to realize that it's fall. Rather then being humid and raining, the air will be crisp and the leaves will start to change color. I decided that it was appropriate to get ready for Halloween by hanging up my festive pumpkin lights.

They are honestly one of my favorite parts of fall. I can't wait to watch Hocus Pocus and horror movies.

There are lots of things going on in the city this fall. Some of things I'm looking forward to in particular are the Food Network New York City Food & Wine Festival. You can find more information on all of the events going on from Oct 7-10 at nycwineandfoodfestival.com

I also can't wait to do the Light the Night Walk this year on October 14. This will be my first year participate, however I've known about the walk for a few years now because of the Dear Jack Foundation. In New York City, the walk is happening at South Street Seaport/Brooklyn Bridge. For anyone who isn't familiar with Light the Night, the walk is to raise funds and awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and blood cancers. (lightthenight.org)

Since it's now October, a lot of people's minds are on Halloween. Now I'm not usually one to put on a costume but I do love a good haunted house. I recently heard about Nightmare: Superstitions. Reviews talk about people coming out of the attractions in tears, therefore, I can't wait. The idea behind the house is that you have "break" different superstitions in every room of the house you enter. I love a good scare, and there are student rush tickets for $15 (regular tix are $30). Another scary attraction that seems to be popular in the city is Blood Manor. Tickets are $30 with a $3.50 handling fee. They also Student Nights were students can purchase a ticket at a discounted price of $20. Blood Manor has received press both online and last year they had a segment on a show on Travel Channel that featured different haunted houses across the country. (hauntedhousenyc.com and bloodmanor.com)

Now, this is just a taste of what is going on in the city this month. If you leave here or are coming for a visit you should check out this from Time Out New York and get an idea of some amazing things to check out in the city this fall. (newyork.timeout.com/articles/own-this-city/79341/101-things-to-do-in-new-york-city-in-the-fall)