Cheap peppermint mocha

What is this? Two days ago it was over 80 degrees out and now there's snow on the ground! I'm still recovering from my sunburn and wearing a ski jacket! Crazy.

Anyway, the cold weather is a good excuse to enjoy my cheap, college-student-budget version of Starbucks' Peppermint Mocha. I like making my own because it's cheaper this way, I can control how sweet my drink is, and I can have it any time of the year because I have the ingredients in my kitchen!

I use instant coffee (I am aware there is much higher quality coffee to be had, but our coffee machine broke so I am stuck with instant), peppermint mocha creamer, and hot cocoa mix. I usually just combine these ingredients to taste so I won't give actual measurements here, but give it a try!

Snow day!

A snow day? In college? At CU-Boulder? Unheard of! Yet we got to enjoy such an event today! 

We knew that a huge snowstorm was blowing in and that it would last for about two whole days, but snow days are just so rare here that no one could justly get their hopes up, until the text came in early in the morning that campus was closed. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 

Almost completely stranded from the outside world (over a foot of snow and counting!), my roommates and I enjoyed a relaxing day of baking, eating, catching up on TV shows, playing in the snow, sleeping, reading, and watching movies. It was fantastic! We made blueberry scones, deviled eggs, and sugar cookies; watched this season of 30 Rock; dozed and read interchangeably (I'm reading The Hunger Games in anticipation of the movie); and watched Bringing Up Baby. Could not have been a more satisfying day, and what makes it even better is that tomorrow is the weekend so we can still enjoy two more days off!

Easy homemade eggnog

Brrrrr! It's so cold out! Last night and this morning we got plenty of snow once again. Woke up to find this huge icicle hanging off the tree in our front yard and at least six inches of snow on the ground.

It's basically winter already and I saw eggnog in the store yesterday (that is seriously one of my favorite moments of the year!) so I started craving it. In the spirit of my week of having enough free time to cook all day, I decided to make my own eggnog instead! I found this recipe (from Pinterest, obviously) and got to work!

I halved the recipe since I didn't need much, so here is what I used: 

(doubling it serves 8)

2 large eggs at room temperature

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 cups of lowfat milk

I whisked the eggs and sugar together until the sugar was dissolved, then added the vanilla, nutmeg, and milk. I simmered the mixture for at least a minute (because of the uncooked eggs) but it was delicious beforehand, so I may be substituting with pasteurized eggs in the future to be able to drink it uncooked.

Yum!

First snow

First winter wonderland of the season...

So much snow!