Freezing Blueberries

Waste not, want not as a college student I live by these words. So when I see fresh blueberries go to waste it bugs me to no end!

So I would do the same thing everyone else did: Freeze them before they went bad. I would put the fruit in a bag and stick it in the freezer only to have a giant frozen glob of blueberries. This was not ideal when I only needed a cup of fruit, so I set out to find a new plan!

And BAM it came to me and it is so easy!

Cookie sheets!

I lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Then took the blue berries (washed and dried) and placed them on the sheet in a single layer.

Place them in the freezer and let them in over night.

In the morning mark a freezer bag with the date and pour the blueberries into the bag.

Place back in the freezer and you now have frozen blueberries that you can get the perfect amount needed every time!

You can freeze all types of berries this way. For strawberries remove stem and freeze whole or sliced. Peaches can be frozen too, just remove pit and slice into quarter!

This allows you to freeze fruit that otherwise would go bad and still be able to use it!

Save that fruit and don't let it go to waste!

-The Frugal College Student

Individual "Apple Pies"

What two post in two days?!? What can I say I have been in a baking mood! 


This time I was told to use some apples up. So I decided to make an apple pie but while preparing to do so I decided I did not want to make a whole pie for just a couple of people, so I considered making mini pies when I remembered seeing a picture on Pinterest of stuffed apples with apple pie filling. I decided to go with that and this is my take on it!


This is the final product!

You need apples, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla, pecans, and pie dough

Cut the tops off 3 apples. Use spoon to hollow out. (Be careful you can easily go through the skin)

 Peel the 4th apple and core then cut into chunks..

Mix the sugars, cinnamon, pecans, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla. Stuff the hallow apples with the mixture.

Slice thin strips from the pie dough and place over the apples. (sorry for order of photos I lost the fight with blogger)

Place in loaf pan or muffin tins and bake!

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Recipe:


Yields: 3 "apple pies" 
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30-35 minutes


Ingredients:

• 4 apples
• 2 T granulated sugar
• 3 T brown Sugar
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of salt
• Splash of vanilla
• Handfull of chopped pecans
• Pre-made pie dough

How to Make:


1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2.Chop the Pecans
3. Wash the apples. Cut the tops off 3 of the apples.
4. Using a spoon hollow out the 3 apples. Remove the seeds and core of the apple and save the rest of the "insides" and put it in a bowl. Set hollow apples aside.
5. Take the 4th apple and peel the skin. Core and chop into pieces and place in bowl with the "insides".
6. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla, pecans to the chunks of apple. Mix well!
7. Scoop the apple pie mixture into the hallow apples.
8. Take the pre-made pie dough and roll it out. Cut out thin strips
9. Place over tops of the apples. 
10. Place the apples in a loaf pan or muffin tins with water in the bottom of the pan.
11. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until pie crust is golden

 Until Tomorrow!

The Frugal College Student!

Banana Nut Bread

Hello all!

I returned from a weekend at the beach with my dad and grandfather. My dad and I were hoping to do some fishing, but it was not in the cards due to the weather yesterday and allergies today.

So we returned earlier than expected today and was greeted with the smell of very ripe bananas. So to not waste the bananas I decided to make Banana Bread!

I searched online and found a recipe from a blog called For the Love of Cooking

They adapted their recipe from another and now I am adding to the recipe so we get Banana NUT Bread.

My dad's wife has a freezing food obsession and thanks to this obsession we alway have different types of nuts. I used walnuts and pecans.

It was my first time making banana bread and was surprised how easy it was!

You need overripe bananas, walnuts, pecans, eggs, salt, baking soda, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour, and brown sugar.

Toast the pecans and walnuts and use a food processor to chop the nuts.

Beat the brown sugar and butter.

Mash the bananas. Add the bananas, vanilla, and eggs to the sugar and butter.

Beat until well combined. There will be some chunks of bananas in the batter.

Combine flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Mix well.

Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture.

Mix with a spoon until just combined. Do not over mix (this is why I used a spoon and not the mixer)

Mix in chopped nuts.

Pour batter into a 9x5 loaf pan that was sprayed with Pam. And Bake!

Recipe:

Yields: 1 Loaf

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 55-60 minutes

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup pecan
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/3 cups of mashed overripe bananas (I used 5)
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9X5 load pan with Pam

2. In a small skillet add walnuts and pecans toast them. This releases the oil in the nuts and enhance the flavor of the nuts. Once you can smell the nuts remove from heat so you don't burn them. Let cool.

3. Put in a food processor and pulse it until the nuts are chopped.

4. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. (It is important that your butter is softened otherwise you will not get a creamy texture)

5. Add eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Beat the mixture until well combined.

6. In a separate bowl add flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Mix well.

7. Add the flour mixture into the banana mixture. Mix with a spoon or spatula until just combined. Do not use an electric mixture you can over mix.

8. Pour batter into pan and bake for 55-60 minutes. Use a toothpick to see if done (should be clean, a little moisture is okay though)

9. Let cool for 5 minutes and then flip out of the pan!

Enjoy the bread!

-The Frugal College Student

My Return! And I Come Bearing Brownies!

Hey guys! 

I'm back! I would like to say I wasn't blogging due to school, but I also just wasn't interesting in blogging about nails any more! Plus I had a little birdie who was way too controlling about said nail posts *cough cough Courtney* But today I return! I will post a fabulous brownie recipe after this post that everyone in my family loved! I also went to the resale shop and hobby lobby so crafts and how to home decor post in the future. 

It is summer guys! I have almost 4 months to do what I please! YAY! So stay tuned I promise you won't regret it!

So now that I have babbled I will post the brownie recipe which is what everyone really wants!

Fudgy Brownie Goodness I promise you!

You need eggs, butter, semi sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla.

It's easier to measure out your ingredients out first and put them in bowls before you start so you will not leave something out.

                          

Melt Chocolate and Butter in saucepan.

Add the two sugars and mix well.

Add eggs 1 at a time.

Add vanilla, flour, and salt and mix well!

Line your 9x13 pan with foil and spray with pam.

Pour the batter and sprinkle with white chocolate chips!

Bake,

Eat,

& Enjoy!

Recipe follows:

Brownies

Yields 24 brownies

Ingredients:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup white chocolate chip

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 light brown sugar

3/4 granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°

2. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and grease

3. Melt 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of white chocolate chip with butter over medium-low heat. (the other 1/2 of white chocolate chips will be used to sprinkle on the batter)

4. Remove from heat. Whisk the granulated sugar and brown sugar into the chocolate mix.

5. Add the eggs one at a time whisk well before adding the next one.

6. Add the vanilla.

7. Stir in flour and salt. Mix well.

8. Pour into lined and greased pan. Sprinkle with the rest of the white chocolate chips

9.  Bake for 35-40 minutes. Check with a toothpick. Cool before you cut into squares.

Notes: 

• If you have a gas stove melt the chocolate on low. It is hot enough to melt the chocolate and not burn it.
• The brownies are fudgy so you may not think they cooked enough but if the toothpick comes out clean they have. If you cook longer you will over baked them.

I hope you enjoy the recipe! Like I said it was a hit with my family!

Until next time (And I promise it won't be that long),

The Frugal College Student

The Hunger Games Nails

I must admit I have not read nor seen The Hunger Games... I know I know where I have been. I must say its strange being on this end and not knowing about a huge pop culture event! I was on the twilight and harry potter wagon reading all the books and seeing the movies. (Harry Potter is a amazing; Twilight is okay)

I did sorta hop on the bandwagon a little bit and bought some China Glaze nail polish that was inspired by The Hunger Games series! I love them all and but only bought two colors:

From left to right: 1131 Electrify & 1129 Harvest Moon

And since this EPIC movie opened today I decided to do some Hunger Game inspired nails:

I can't take a very good picture that will show the glitter gradient I did on the tips with the Electrify glitter.

But oh well!

Happy Hunger Games Day this is a big day for a lot of you and I hope you enjoy your movie!!

-The Frugal College Student