South for the Winter

It's getting colder, which means several things: hot chocolate, pretty scarves, snowmen, and winter balls. But what else does it mean? It means birds flying south for the winter and leaves falling off of trees and all the bugs have gone into hiding (yes!!). But there's one last thing you're forgetting. You know what it is.

All right. I'll give you a hint: Squirrels.

That may sound bizarre to you, but it actually has a lot to do with this week's Snack How-To. What am I making, you may ask.

Acorns.

I was stalking Pinterest (not unusual) when I stumbled upon a picture of these little acorn bites and I knew I had to try them out! A couple of my sisters and I made them in my kitchen as an experiment, so this recipe is based on what we did, as I couldn't find a precise one on the internet. As a warning, this recipe involves the use of peanut butter crackers, though alternatives have been used. For the sake of authenticity, I will still be using peanut butter crackers in the recipe.

South for the Winter: The squirrels are doing it, and so can you!

Prep Time: 30-45 minutes

Cook Time: None

Ingredients Include:*
Nutter Butter Sandwich Cookie Bites
Hershey's Kisses
Chocolate Chips
Chocolate Icing

*Note: How much of each ingredient you need depends solely upon how many people you're making for. For the purpose of this recipe, I will direct you in making ten of them.

Directions:
1. Take out five (5) Nutter Butter Sandwich Cookie Bites
2. Separate the two halves so that you have ten (10) cookies

3. Unwrap ten (10) Hershey's kisses

4. Spread chocolate icing over the flat bottom of the chocolate kiss and the peanut butter side of the cookie

5. Stick them together and wait for it to harden*

6. After the icing has hardened, take out ten (10) chocolate chips

7. Spread icing over the flat bottoms and stick them to the top of the "acorn"

*Note: Be sure to place them standing up so that the icing may harden and they don't slip.

Once you're done and they've sat out for a while, your little cuties should look something like this:

Those squirrels are gonna be so jealous, man.

These little guys go fast and they're a perfect bite-sized snack for any fall or winter occasion! They're also pretty easy to store and even easier to make! You can squirrel them away in any part of your dorm or set out a bowl of them for everyone to enjoy. And, if you want to make something quick for the multiple Friendsgivings that you will, no doubt, be attending, or even for your own family Thanksgiving, these are the perfect option!

So when you decide to disappear into your room during finals week, or just to escape the cold, be sure to have these with you to keep you company. No hibernation is complete without them.

Everyone have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!

Instant S'mores

It's about that time again. And no, I don't mean nap time, or even that awesome time where Amanda comes out with a new How-To for all of you to try (hint hint, it actually is). It's actually almost time for Halloween! And that means cute, holiday themed snacks and Christmas music on the radio. Today, we're taking a campfire classic and giving it a creepy twist. That's right, s'mores.

Now s'mores may seem like a relatively easy thing to do and you're right, but what if you're mighty pressed for time? What if you have a Halloween social or a Halloween event desperately in need to warm, gooey treats to bring some love to the night? That's what this recipe is for. You see, these s'mores that I'm about to tell you about are special: they don't need a campfire at all!

Some of you may think that, without a campfire, a s'more is not really a s'more, and you may have a point. With the weather getting colder (at least here, up north), there are less and less opportunities to start a bonfire in the fire pits without freezing your limbs off. So, for those of you without the fire power, here's a sweet and fun alternative!

Instant S'mores: The s'more you know, the better it works! (buh dum tss)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 seconds

Ingredients Include:*
Graham cracker squares
Chocolate hazelnut spread
Marshmallow fluff

*Note: How much of each ingredient you need depends solely upon how many people you're making for. The original recipe is for four people and called for 8 cracker squares and 2-3 tablespoons of each spread, but the amount of each ingredient is relative to who's making it.

Directions:
1. Place cracker squares on clean, dry work surface
2. Spread half of the squares with chocolate hazelnut spread
3. Spread the second half of thee squares with marshmallow fluff
4. Smoosh your little beauties together
5. Place on microwave safe plate
6. Microwave on high for 30 seconds
7. Make 'em creepy!*
8. Serve immediately!

*Depending on what you plan to use to decorate them, you might want to do this step before you microwave them, as they harden up pretty quickly, and you'll have to warm them up again.

Now that you're got your cute little squares of deliciousness, it's time to creep them up! My sisters and I have found that simply using orange, black, yellow and purple sprinkles are a great way to give them color and make them pop out. You could also use spider shaped sprinkles or even black sugar to coat the warm edges of the s'more. After decorating them, your treats should look a little like this:

I can't even look at them, they're so tasty.

Another way to make your s'mores stand out is to substitute different ingredients. Local supermarkets also sell chocolate graham crackers for you to use. Similarly, you can substitute the chocolate hazelnut spread with peanut butter, to give some variety to your treats.

Presentation is always the answer to a simple snack. Buy Halloween themed plates and napkins, drink some fruit punch and pretend it's blood, show up in costume and pretend to suck the blood of your sisters. Though there are endless possibilities, there is always a way to spice up an event and a treat. All you need is a little imagination! These instant s'mores are a great thing to plan for sisterhood events and Halloween socials. They're fun and easy, and there's no need to buy charcoal or skewers.

(They also happen to be the only thing I've eaten since I discovered microwavable s'mores, but who's keeping score? Really?)

Have a happy and safe Halloween! Now, you can have all the comforts of a bonfire right in your dorm! (Without the severe fire hazard, of course.)

Made With Love

Good afternoon, everyone! It’s Amanda, back with another of my easy and affordable snack ideas for recruitment! Now, I know for a lot of you, recruitment might either be well on it’s way or over, but I’m still holding out some hope that there are some of you left going through the same, exciting time as I am. My recruitment period starts tonight!

Along with some simple recipes that anyone can execute from their teeny, tiny dorm room kitchens, I will also be showcasing bakegreek.com, a website I found during one of my daily travels across the internet. Bake Greek is a website that specializes in Greek letter and alphabet cookie cutters. They are an official licensed product, with more products aimed toward Greek life to come.

Using their products, my organization’s recruitment chair will be baking cute and delicious Greek letter cookies to serve to the PNMs. They’ll hopefully be in for a sweet surprise! For today’s recruitment treat, we’ll be making sugar cookies from scratch. Though it may be less time consuming to simply use a Pillsbury roll, cookies made from scratch have the kind of flavor that not all cookies can capture (and how proud of yourself will you be after you’ve finished them up?)

The recipe that I’ve provided below makes four-dozen cookies (probably enough for one rotation of PNMs), but doubling or even tripling the recipe shouldn’t be a huge ordeal.

Homemade Sugar Cookies: Made with all the love of a sorority girl!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients Include:

Two 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

One teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

One cup softened butter

One 1/2 cups white sugar

One egg

One teaspoon vanilla extract

All of these ingredients can be found in small and bulk amounts at your local supermarket.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)

2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder

3. In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar until smooth

4. Add egg and vanilla extract into the large bowl

5. Combine the contents of both bowls gradually, kneading the ingredients

6. Separate dough into pieces and roll them up into balls.* Place onto ungreased cookie sheet

7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven, or until golden

8. Remove and let cool

*If you were planning on making these little beauties into the shapes of your letters, replace this step with the Greek cookie cutters instead!

Once you've finished baking, your cookies should look a little something like this:

Look at them little golden brown nuggets.

But don't stop there! They're so boring, aren't they? And no one wants to serve boring sugar cookies to potentials. So what can you do to spice them up? Here are a couple of pictures I've found of various decorating ideas and the like to help you out.

Sprinkles!

Flower power!

Greek letters, man.

Aww yea, no one can resist these guys.

Bake Greek has some pretty awesome tutorials that would be great for decorating. They're easy to follow and really fun to execute (I know, I've tried!)

Now, if baking from scratch is too time consuming (and, with how stressful recruitment can be, this is a possibility), there's no shame in buying a couple rolls of Pillsbury Sugar Cookie dough. Each 16.5 oz roll makes approximately 16 cookies, but it shouldn't be hard to squeeze 20 out of the roll. The instructions are on the sides of the rolls and only takes about 15 minutes to finish up.

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm gonna end up making my roommate take me out for some cookie dough in a minute or two... I hope recruitment has been going well! Congratulations to all of the new member classes that have been established and all of the beautiful new sisters to come!

It's Basically a Fruit Salad... On a Stick!

Hey, y'all, it's Amanda Ramirez here! I'd like to say, first: thanks for checking out the Little Problems Blog! We appreciate each and every one of you, and hope you're here to stay!

Now, onto the post :)

We've decided on some interesting things for us to present to you and, today, I'm gonna be showcasing some cute, generic snack ideas for the upcoming recruitment season.

Now, it's probably easiest to think of small, easily accessible snacks (remember to stay away from things that most people are allergic to, like strawberries or nuts!) Less is always more, and it's definitely more affordable. One of the ideas that my organization's Recruitment Chair has come up with are Fruit Kabobs, which are incredibly easy to make. Here's the recipe for anyone who's interested!

Fruit Kabobs: It's basically a fruit salad... On a stick!
Prep Time: Approximately 30 minutes (depending on how many you plan to make)
Cook Time: N/A

Since Recruitment yields anywhere from 100-1,000 girls (depending on the size of your school and how many organizations there are to choose from), you're going to want to make these kabobs small, so  I suggest making them 6-inch skewers instead of the typical 10-inch. It makes it more affordable and easy to transport.

Ingredients Include:
Strawberries*
Cantaloupe pieces
Mandarin Orange pieces
Pineapple pieces
Kiwi or Honeydew Melon pieces
Blueberries
Any other fruit you might want to include

Most of these fruits can be found pre-cut in any supermarket.

*Strawberry Allergies!!! Be very careful!

Directions:
1. If using wooden skewers, make sure that all splinters and frayed wood are removed from the skewers (usually by rubbing two of them together between your palms)
2. Cut any fruit that is not already small in 1-inch, or bite size, chunks
3. Skewer the fruits in any assortment that you wish. You can make them uniform, or just have fun with it. Maybe make a rainbow.

You finished product should look a little something like this:

Always make sure there's room on both ends to hold the kabobs.

You can have fun with them, too! Some organizations buy ribbons in their colors and tie them onto one end, or you could even splurge and buy colored, plastic skewers (which eliminates step one entirely!) It's not too hard to make things cute for cheap, so never be afraid to push those boundaries and think of new ways to spice things up!

Remember: the way to a PNM's heart is probably through her stomach (because who doesn't love to eat?)

That's all for today, ladies! I hope this first recipe was helpful. Be sure to come back soon for new ideas and for all the amazing things we have planned for you!