#jasper studies

[smallhandwriting]

26•02•2018

My spread this week is a lil messy but I’m still obsessed with these flowers. They make me think of warm weather, which is well needed since it’s supposed to snow here in Florence!

[livingcalmly]

Slowly putting this policy brief together 👩🏽‍💻Stopped by to get a latte at my favorite coffeeshop!

[smallhandwriting]

Guess who’s starting a new series! I’m a college student, and since I’m studying abroad I don’t currently have a regular income, and so I’ve gotten really good at making a variety of meals for cheap, and I wanted to share what I’ve learned with the world. While this one is not tailored to dorms if anyone wants me to make a post about dorm eating let me know!

For my first post, I’m going to be talking about a staple food in any cheap meal: Pasta. Pasta is cheap, accessible, filling, versatile, delicious, and easy to cook (especially in Italy, where I am currently). But, it can be really easy to tire yourself out with pasta; we’re 24 days into our 107 stay and my roommate is already tired of pesto and buttered noodles. So here are a few ways I’ve found to make multiple pasta dishes with very few ingredients for very little money without getting bored of them.

Pesto Buying at least one staple sauce is so important; I personally recommend pesto (I bought a 99 cent jar my first week here and it’s been so useful), but other sauces will also work for some of these if you don’t like pesto. So here are some ways to use pesto with your pasta: – Use as usual; put enough that it coats all of your pasta and dig into your pesto-y goodness – Put some in the water before it boils, and then cook your pasta in it. It cooks the taste into your pasta, but it’s really subtle. It’s one of my favorite things to do. – Coat your pasta with butter or olive oil and then add just a small amount of pesto. It’s like seasoning it without actually having to pick out the seasonings – Cook your mixins in it. Meat, vegetables, tofu, anything you want to add to your pasta. It’s like the seasoning tip again but a little less intense on the pasta itself. 

Broth I personally prefer using bouillon cubes or the broth gels you can find now since they store for longer, take up less space, and are more versatile than other options, but it’s up to you. Here are a few ways I use broth: – Soup! Throw some vegetables, pasta, and seasoning into any type of broth, and boom! Delicious soup perfect for a cold rainy day. You can use whatever you want but I’m a big fan of peas or corn and small pasta like stelle or orzo. If you make a large batch of it on Sunday night you have can have it multiple times throughout the week or freeze it to have months later! – Just like with the pesto, cook your pasta in broth. It can add some protein and flavor without the texture of a sauce or the expense of buying meat. I literally just did this for dinner tonight.  – Put just the smallest amount on your pasta after it’s cooked. Not enough to make it soup, but just to add the flavor. I also recommend doing this to vegetables.

Vegetables Add some vegetables to your pasta! Any vegetable! Frozen or fresh does not matter but just add some vegetables to your pasta (whether it be soup or spaghetti or alfredo or whatever pasta you happen to be eating).

Spices Use. Spices. In. Your. Food. Stop being so afraid of spices. I’ve fallen in love with butter and sage on pasta while here in Florence, and I’ve been putting tons of oregano in my food since I started cooking. Have an arsenal of a few key spices (think sage, oregano, basil, parsley, dill, paprika, chili flakes, curry powder, etc) and you can have the same base meal for days without getting bored. 

Eggs This is something I think I took from a Buzzfeed post but you can make a really good carbonara-esque sauce with some eggs and parmesan and it’s so unbelievably good. They had specific measurements but tend to just crack an egg or two and spoon in however much parmesan I want that day into my pasta and call it good. The trick is to mix in the eggs and cheese while the pasta is still hot but after you’ve taken it off the heat. If you put it in while it’s still on the stove you will end up with scrambled eggs and that’s not what we’re going for.

I hope you find this post useful, and definitely let me know what other food posts for college students you want to see from me!

[smallhandwriting]

18•02•2018

I’m in love with this layout. The Polaroid borders and yellow and sketchy flowers just feel so nostalgic. Also, get used to these flowers, they’re popping up a lot in my spreads and I even have a design with them on my redbubble!