Pumpkin Nutella Cookies!!!

Nutella. Is. Crack. 

And I'm addicted. 

We had no chips or pretzels in our house so I resorted to scooping it out of the jar with cauliflower. 

aka

Addicted.

Anyways, 

these cookies were made up on the spot and ended up being the perfect compliment to a girls' scary movie night

 watching Nightmare on Elm's Street and lighting pumpkin harvest candles. 

ahhhhh.... fall

Ingredients:

+1 cup pumpkin puree

+1 cup Nutella

+1/2 cup old fashioned oats

+1/4 cup peanut butter

+1 egg

+1/4 cup chocolate chips

+1 tablespoon cinnamon

+1 tablespoon honey

+1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (sprinkled on top)

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 375F

-Spray cookie sheet with Pam

-Bake for 10-12 minutes until browned

They taste similar to vegan banana cookies 

(banana smashed with oats and chocolate chips)

And taste delicious with a Nutella "frosting"

Well that lasted long.

Autumn Quinoa Breakfast

Yes, you heard it.. Quinoa for breakfast!

I had a pre-packaged set from Marshalls given to me that was dying to be made, 

but the ingredients and process are so simple!

I will definitely be making more of this throughout the winter. 

Ingredients:

-1 cup uncooked quinoa

-4 cups milk (anything but regular milk: I used vanilla almond milk)

-1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup crasins (depending on how much of them you want)

And that's it!!

But I added more:

-1/4 cup chopped pecans

-sprinkle of cinnamon

-sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice

-4 tablespoons apple butter

Directions:

1. Place quinoa and milk in pot and bring to boil

2. Reduce heat and simmer for about 25 minutes

[[I have yet to cook quinoa without the pot boiling over so make sure you keep an eye on it]]

3. With low heat, add brown sugar, crasins, pecans, and spices

4. Stir and enjoy!

 I couldn't resist a taste after dinner last night.

So good!

I woke up this morning so excited knowing I had this made for breakfast. 

I scooped some into a bowl, added a banana, and microwaved for about 2.5 minutes.

It tastes just like oatmeal!

DELICIOUS.

Halloween, Done Right

Probably my favorite holiday, Halloween is so awesome.

Being an October baby and having a dad obsessed with Halloween 

(seriously.. he takes off a week of work to make a 

walk-through haunted house for trick-or-treaters)

has led me to the Halloween-loving destiny. 

Being in college, I like to entertain on a budget. 

Here's how!

Decorating on a Dime:

Pumpkin + Beads + Superglue!

Witch hats + Clear String!

Entertaining on a Dime:

Freeze plastic spiders for spooky cocktails!

Super easy seven-layer dip (or any dip) with simple web & spider!

Freeze water in a glove for ice in a punch bowl! 

Seriously can't go wrong with veggies & dip, so simple!

Style on a Dime:

Simple Spoooooooktacular Secrets! :)

Post-Weekend Detox

Guess who turned 21! 

You win. It was me. 

Thursday-Sunday loving every minute. 

Being the baby, 

everyone came to visit me and we could finally all go out! 

Love these chicks so much :)

Even my heart rate monitor knew it was my birthday! 

After teaching bootcamp that Thursday, the party really started.

Night one:

Night two:

Sushi and Mahi Thais!

Night Three:

 This thing didn't last 48 hours... shhhhh.

Beautiful flowers from Ryan 

Needless to say, while I was loving every minute of it, 

my body was hating me. 

Shots, Cookie Cake, and Drunk Munchies... oh my.

Now it is time to get back on track.
My usual meal plan after a crazy weekend looks something like this:

Breakfast- Green smoothie (kale, banana, mango, kiwi, orange juice)

Lunch- Spinach Salad with StarKist To-Go Tuna Pack

Snack- Apple with Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter

Dinner-  Homemade Veggie Soup

My weekly meals looked a lot like this. 

Lots and lots of water and coffee got me through my two all-nighters.

How do you get back on track?