5 Occurrences of Every College Kids Winter Break

The stress of finals are finally over which means it’s time for a great break filled with family, hometown faves, friends, food, and sleep.  These are 5 things that are 99% sure to be in every college kids winter break plans.

Sleeeeeeep.  Every college kid during the normal class week has to have an alarm set at least 5 days a week in order to be up & ready for class/work.  On top of that you also stay up for ages with either homework or going out with friends.  When you finally are home for a month you basically are in full on sloth mode.

Eat.  Besides binge eating every single food substance over the different holidays during break you also have REAL actual meals that are made for you besides eating ramen.  It’s a whole new take on “Freshmen 15”.

25 Days of Christmas.  No matter how old you are watching 25 Days of Christmas on ABC family is one of the best things ever right next to 13 Nights of Halloween.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.  Even if you don’t want to admit it one of the most exciting things about going back home is parties with old friends especially when they’re ugly Christmas sweater themed.

Restock.  When it’s time to go back to school it’s time to bat those eyes and be extra kind to mom and dad so they’ll buy you all your food and randomness so that you’re set up for the new semester.  Thanks parentals! 

The month long break will surely be an amazing rest, but we all know after week 2 week are about ready to head back to school and get back in our groove.  But sleep and food are always nice so just enjoy and good luck for next semester.

The next Christmas cookie you should bake…

Since Christmas is right around the corner I thought I’d share one of my faaaaavorite Christmas cookie recipes!  I call it the “cupcake-cookie” and get this, it’s only 4 ingredients!  This recipe will for sure have your friends and family unbuttoning their pants as they continuously reach for more.  People will definitely be asking for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 box of devils food cake mix

2 eggs

1/3c. vegetable oil

Candy Cane Hershey kisses (around 30)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheets with parchment paper/tin foil
2. Mix your cake mix, eggs, and oil until smooth.
3. Scoop little dough balls a little smaller than a tablespoon and place onto baking sheets.
4. Bake for 5-7 minutes. Let them cool for about 2 minutes and place your unwrapped Hershey kiss into the center.
5. You can also sprinkle festive sprinkles on top or dust on some powdered sugar!
6.   Viola! A yummy Christmas cookie for the friends & fam.

These are the ones I made! I subbed for Hershey’s Milk Chocolate kisses because my family is filled with chocoholics.  I did however add some red & green sprinkles for the spirit of Christmas!

Special thanks to YourCupofCake for sharing this delicious recipe.

Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup canned chickpeas (rinsed and patted dry)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c + 2 tbsp of natural nut butter of choice

1/4 c honey, or agave, or maple syrup

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt (if nut butter doesn’t have it)

1/2 c semi sweet chocolate chips/cacao nibs

Directions:

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients into a food processor until smooth EXCEPT for the chocolate chips.  Make sure your scrape down the sides in order to get every possible ingredient and process again until well combined.

Next, stir the chocolate chips into the batter if it’s not working you can pulse once or twice to combine it.  This mixture will be sticky and thick!

Using wet hands form into small balls and press slightly on top of the ball.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  These will be soft and not set like a normal cookies would.  When ready to store, place them in an airtight container in either the fridge or at room temperature for about a week!

P.S. these are my favorite.

Enjoy!

Influenced by http://www.texanerin.com

3 Healthy & Easy Snacks

Apple Nachos:

1 Apple

1-2 Tbsp. nut butter of choice

Nuts (optional)

Dried Fruit (optional)

Chocolate (optional)

Take your favorite kind of apple and use an apple cutter to slice it up.  After, you have your slices continue to cut those slices in half, so that they are thinner.  When they’re all cut place line them on a plate so that they’re all flat.  Next, take 1-2 tbsp. of your favorite nut butter and warm it up for 15-30 seconds.  When the nut butter is melted drizzle on top of the apple slices so that all of them have some buttaaa.  Next, you can sprinkle some nuts on it, I crushed up some almonds.  Then you can either add some dried fruit such as, raisins or cranberries, some dark chocolate, make sure it’s 70% cocoa or higher because that means it has less added sugar!  Viola, delicious and nutritious.

Banana Boat:

1 Banana

1-2 Tbsp. Peanut Butter

Raisins (or dried fruit of choice)

Almonds (or nut of choice)

Take a banana and after its peeled slice it right down the middle so that you have 2 halves and a flat surface to spread the peanut butter.  After, slicing take your peanut butter and lather up your halves of banana with it.  When your banana halves have a layer of the peanut butter on them take your raisins and almonds and place them every other so it’s raisin, almond, raisin, almond and so on.  BOOM, banana boat.

Cinnamon Apples:

1 Apple

1 tsp. of cinnamon

drizzle of agave/honey (optional)

First, take your apple and use an apple cutter to cut up the apple.  After you have those slices continue to cut them into cubes, or thinner slices if you prefer slices.  When the apple is cut how you prefer toss it around with the cinnamon until all the cubes/slices are coated.  Place your bowl in the microwave and heat up for 30 seconds to a minute, or however soft you want your apple to be.  When it’s warmed to your liking this is when you can drizzle some agave/honey on top to enhance the cinnamon flavor, personally the cinnamon apple combo is perfect for me.  Bon appetit it’s like a make shift apple pie, except without the crust and calories.