Dorm Recipe Building Block: Quinoa

Quinoa is on of the best grains you can eat. It has lots of fiber, magnesium, and other things, but what I love about quinoa is that it is a complete protein, which is extremely rare in a plant derived food. The only other vegetarian food that I know that is a complete protein is soy/ tofu. If you know any others I'd love to hear about them, so please comment bellow! It's technically a seed and not a grain, but it acts kind of like a couscous or rice or other small scale grain. I to sleep at some point, so that's all I'm gonna say about the background of quinoa, but if you'd like to know more about the awesomeness of quinoa, go to this website where I did most of my reading, or google it :)

Anyway, now how to make it!
Quinoa is really simple to make and can be made in a microwave, so it's perfect for dorm cooking!
So all you have to do is put two parts water to one part quinoa...

Stick it in the microwave for four minutes, take it out and stir it, then put it back in the microwave for another minute.

If you take it out, there aren't little rings around the quinoa, then you probably need to put it back in for another minute. If there are rings, let the quinoa sit for a few minutes to let the rest of the water absorb.

See the rings around the grains? This quinoa is cooked

Then taste it. If it's nice and soft and not too al dente, the viola, you have quinoa. If it's still a little crunchy, you may have to put it in for another minute and possibly add more water. But that's all there is to it! Now you have a super protein packed grain that can become the foundation of so many meals!

What kind of meals you ask? Well this time I added cilantro and olive oil while I was still cooking the quinoa (as you can probably see in the pictures) and then I had made salsa and forgotten to buy tortilla chips. So I poured the salsa over the quinoa and had a refreshing meal.

My go to quinoa meal is to add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and all kinds of fresh veggies to it to make a quinoa salad. I usually then take a tortilla, slather it in hummus, add the quinoa salad and make myself a nutritious wrap that is soooo delicious I can't even tell you! Even my mom likes it and she doesn't usually like my healthy recipes.
You can even use quinoa as an oatmeal substitute and flavor it with cinnamon and agave/ stevia/ honey/ whatever sweetener you use and eat it for breakfast. There are many other options to flavor quinoa for breackfast like fresh berries, dried cranberries and almonds, or my personal favorite, cocoa powder and peanut butter! It tastes like reses for breakfast, but it's actually pretty healthy! Don't forget to sweeten it though, because cocoa powder is very bitter.
Those are just a few of the things you can do with quinoa. I plan to post a more detailed description of these quinoa meals and others, so subscribe!! And if you like to use quinoa a certain way, I'd love to hear about it! Post in the comments bellow!

Little Black Thrifted Dress

I know I haven't done any posts about food yet, but right now I have a kitchen, so I don't have a reason to make dorm friendly recipes. I'm trying to enjoy my last days with appliances. You understand... :)
So I got this dress at the thrift store that was very long, very 90s, kind of old lady looking, but it had this awesome back and I thought to myself, "If I just hem this, it would be really cute." And it only cost like $6, so I got it, hemmed it and now it looks loke this...

Cute right?! Despite my poor quality photos, the dress is totally fresh, young and modern! I love back details!

Then I got this idea to take the transformation even further... "What if I turned it around?"

... so I put on a bandeau, turned it around and.....

An awesome look for a night out! Totally unique and sexy without being skanky (sheer black fabric will do that). I plan to wear it with these high heeled black ankle boots that I have, and continue to steal my mom's gold collar necklace, which was only $6.99 at h&m, so I should probably get my own now that I'm going back to school.
Just another example of an awesome thrift store find!

Campus Closet Exchange

Hey guys! Especially those at Montclair, I hope you'll join me for a Campus Closet Exchange right after move-in!
So I was looking through my closet as I was starting to think about packing up to move into school and I thought, "Wow, I have a lot of clothes here that are perfectly good, but they're really not my style anymore." I could just donate them to the thrift store, but I thought that it would be an even better idea if me and a bunch of friends all brought our unwanted clothes back to school and then did a closet exchange! It would be so much fun if one day, very soon after moving back to campus we all brought our clothes to the common room and everyone would be able to pick as many items as they had brought as an exchange. If there were items left after that we could open it up to allow people to pick more than they had brought and people who didn't bring items. Then anything that was left over I would put into bags and bring to the Salvation Army (or the closest thrift store/ clothing donation bin). It's like having an on campus thrift store, but even better because it's free! So you guys with me? Even if you aren't I'll still let anyone take from what I would bring. Here's a sampling of what I plan to bring:

I LOVE that floral dress, but alas it's too short on me, so hopefully a friend who's a little shorter than me will enjoy it!

This blue shirt doesn't have the best hanger appeal at the moment, but its a great shirt! I happened to have modeled it when I worked for the company who sold it, Sakura Rose (which, unfortunately went out of business). Here it is on me:

These are all cute clothes, but for whatever reason I haven't worn them in a long time, so it's time for them to leave my coset and hopefully make their way into one of yours! So fellow Montclair students, are you with me? And my other readers, I hope your inspired to Campus Closet Exchange at your school!

Greener Back to School Shopping: Rented, Used, and Digital Textbooks

Avoiding new text books is better for your wallet in addition to being better for the earth, so it's definitely worth taking the time to look into finding places that rent college textbooks or sell used books.

You probably didn't need me to tell that renting books or buying used books will save you green, while also making you more "green" (I know, it's a terrible, un-original play on words, but, hey........nope I got no excuse), but it's a little harder to know where to find said used and rented books. Yes, there are a limited number at the university bookstore, but sometimes they run out, and often you can find the books cheaper from other retailers. I personally prefer used because you have more freedom to highlight and underline, less worries about returning by a certain deadline, you can sell it at the end of the semester to get a little money back ect., but sometimes you find a better deal with a rental. It varies depending on the book or even just whats available at the time.

Another option is ebooks. I personally love these because I usually carry my laptop around with me anyway, so having my text book on my mac saves me a lot of weight in my bag, and then I can have my book and my notes in one place and everything is easily accessible. Plus there's no paper, so there's no harm done to our earth!

Etextbooks are also often accessible on smart phones, which makes studying on the go convenient. I can't wait til the day when all of my textbooks are available digitally, so I don't have to lug around all those books!
You can find eTextbooks on Amazon Kindle (you don't need a kindle, just the kindle for mac, PC, or iphone/pad app), Chegg.com, Barnesandnoble.com, iTunes, ecampus.com, coursesmart.com, textbooks.com, ect. For etextbooks you're probably better off googling the name of the book + ebook and hoping something comes up. There are more and more books available digitally every year, but there are still many that are only available in paper form.

Now sometimes you get that annoying professor that requires the new addition of the book that costs you a fortune. I would recommend emailing that profesor to see how important it is that you have the latest edition. There usually isn't too much thats different and some professors are understanding about letting you get an older edition. They wont always be ok with it, but I think it's worth asking since getting an older version will save A LOT of money.

So I know you're wondering where to get these books. We already know the campus bookstore will charge you an arm and a leg, so we turn to the internet for better options.

Here are some of the most popular websites:

• Amazon.com (used, rental and ebooks)
• CampusBookRentals.com (rentals obviously, and you get 5% off for using my link)
• Chegg.com (used and rental and ebooks)
• eCampus.com (used, rental and ebooks) 
• Ebay (used books)
• half.com (used and rental)
• Abe Books (used and rental)

If you go to textbookrentals.com, it will list many of these sites and compare prices for you!
Also if you order anything from Amazon (text books, regular books, hazelnut milk, magic wands...), students are eligible for 6 months of Amazon Prime for free! Amazon prime offers free 2 day shipping on many Amazon products, so its definitely worth checking out!

One last option you have is to check your local library for some of the smaller books you'll have to read throughout the semester. As a theater major, I'm required to read a lot of plays throughout the semester, so I plan on getting most of those from the New York Public Library. Granted the NYPL has a much larger selection than most libraries, but it's worth checking to see if you can get the book for free. If not, you can usually get those smaller books used for only a few dollars at Amazon, Half.com and Ebay.

Well happy text book shopping, if that's possible. Even with rental/ used/ ebook discount textbooks are soo expensive, so hopefully this post will help you find your books as inexpensively as possible. Because it always great to be as green as possible while also saving as much green as possible (I did it again. I just can't resist. I still have no excuse. Sorry. haha).

Reblog: The Best Documentaries on Eating Green

I found this post on the blog  Organic on the Green, and it's an extensive list of documentaries about the food industry/ eating organic/ ect. I've only seen a couple of these, so I'll have to check more of them out!

http://organiconthegreen.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/food-inc-poster.jpg?w=300&h=200

The blog's description is "A blog to feed the organic revolution in campus dining." Pretty awesome right!? Montclair State University (my school) is far from being a part of an organic revolution, but maybe I'll see who I can ask about starting an on campus garden in the fall! Maybe Organic On The Green will provide some inspiration!

This Into That- Ocean Inspired Formal Dress

So I went to Puerto Rico a few years back with one of my best friends and left inspired to make a dress with the colors of the beautiful beaches with the movement of the waves and sea breeze. Well it took me to a few years to get around to making it come to life,  but I finally did it! It looks a whole lot like what I remember my original sketch looking like. I wish I could show it to you, but I have no idea where it is, if I even still have it.

How did I do it? Well, I started with this...

Then I un-seamed the sides, cut the hem to make it a high low skirt (it's also asymmetrical, so I didn't have to worry about messing up the cut), then I used the fabric from what I cut to add triangular panels to the sides and front of the dress (I made a cut right down the center front of the dress to insert the center panel). This made the dress flow more. If you'd like more details on this part of the process, comment bellow or email me and I'll try to describe it in more detail.

Then it was time for my favorite part... dyeing!!! But that's a whole post in itself.

Then I finished the hem added the strap and I had a great, one of a kind dress to wear to the Planet Connections Awards Ceremony! Planet Connections was the green theater festival I interned with this summer. Check it out!

Be sure to comment bellow or email me if you have questions about how I did this! Or if you have a This Into That project of your own that you'd like suggestions for! I'd be happy to help any way I can!

Here's some more pics of the finished product!

Greener back to school shopping: Digitize Your Notes

If your professor doesn't allow laptops, obviously listen to them because they are the one giving you a grade at the end of the semester. But some of my professors did allow us to have laptops in class, so I took notes on my laptop. I even had some of my books on my laptop (Ooh! Next post will be about being green when buying books). Taking notes on my laptop was great because my notes were easily accessible and easily shared. If a friend missed a class I could just email them the notes. I didn't do this last year, but this year I think I'll upload my notes to to Evernote or Google Docs, so I can can see them on my phone as well. Then my notes will be super convenient in addition to being earth friendly!

Another great way to make your studying greener and more convenient is by making flash cards with a website/ app called StudyBlue. I found it particularly helpful with my Italian class because I could study my vocabulary anywhere really easily because I had virtual flash cards on my laptop, anywhere with internet, and right on my phone. StudyBlue has an app for both iPhone and Android! StudyBlue also keeps track of what you get right and wrong and how often you get it right or wrong so you can easily see which things you need to study more. You can even make flash cards with images which would be great for a biology or art history class! To join StudyBlue go to StudyBlue.com or click here!

Happy Studying!

P.S. I have to give credit to my roomate from last year for telling me about StudyBlue. Thanks Rachel!

Green your back to school shopping: "Shop" at Home Before You Shop at the Store

When you're doing your back to school shopping, it's exciting to get new things, but before you get too excited, think about our earth while you're shopping.
My first tip for greener back to school shopping is look around your house to find things that you already have before going out and buying new ones! I just found a ton of pens, pencils, sharpies in a drawer! I also found a pencil box, stapler, a 3 hole puncher that fits in a binder, and some other random things.
Another tip: re-use old notebooks!  Before you go and buy new notebooks, see if you have pages left in old ones, and use those first. You can either rip out the old pages or just add a new heading at the next blank page. I know I have tons of notebooks that I've collected over the years that are half empty, so I don't plan on buying new ones til those run out. Re-using notebooks that you already have is better than using new notebooks with recycled paper, because recycling still uses energy. But when you do run out of notebooks, try to stick to ones with recycled paper (although I wouldn't blame you for opting for the $0.17 alternative. I know most college students are as broke as I am).

DIY gift wrap- Sweet Paul Magazine

This Magazine has all kinds of fun stuff! Most of it can't be down in a dorm, but this DIY gift wrap certainly can:

Sweet Paul Magazine - Winter 2011 - Page 28-29