Welcome to a college girl's food blog!!! Before coming to college, I tried to google "college foods" to help prep for the scary world of poor-college-student days and in an attempt to know what I was getting myself into. However, I couldn't find anything. I like to eat well, and the stuff I was finding were things like pictures of ramen and that was it. I'm positive that college students don't only eat ramen. You would die if you had a diet like that.
So that's where this blog comes into play. When I finally left for college, I took with me a GIANT family cookbook and a laptop. I discovered quickly, however, that a lot of the recipes in the family cookbook had little ingredients here and there in almost all of the recipes that my college budget just couldn't afford a lot of the time. Then I found a site called SuperCook. This site has been one of my best friends! You put in the ingredients you have, then it lists recipes you can make. And if you don't have everything, it will tell you what you need to get. It's wonderful!!
As I try out recipes, I'll be posting the ones I like here. Also, for the most part they should be able to feed 2-4 people. However, don't be shocked if there's a big recipe. I'm used to cooking for a family with a dozen people. Also, these should be recipes with ingredients that aren't too crazy. I try to keep things simple, and the ingredients I use are ones that, for the most part, are needed in a lot of common recipes. You won't be buying the ingredient, use it once, then never look at it again.
Some standard ingredients I've found are:
Eggs
Milk
Flour
Butter
Chicken
Cheese
Vanilla
Sugar
And other various things. Look at the recipes on the left of the page and you'll see which ingredients repeatedly come up. The ones listed above are ones I have almost a year's supply of or am constantly buying.
Also, if you're looking for a specific thing, like say you're looking for a great dinner recipe, I am pretty good at putting labels on each post. So search "dinner" and you'll get some dinner recipes. Simple, the way I like it.
So enjoy the blog and the food! Any questions, feel free to ask!! Suggestions are always welcome, both for the recipes and also how to improve the blog! I absolutely LOVE getting feedback! Happy cooking! :)
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Sweet and Sour Chicken
SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN
This is a recipe I've grown up with. My dad would make it all the time and it became a family favorite. Birthdays, special occasions, whenever we had visitors, this was what we would make. Normally we double it because I have a giant family, but with being in college and only cooking for two I didn't see the need for that. Side note, the sauce alone is super super delicious and I'd recommend making it for won-tons or rice or something by itself.
3 pounds chicken breasts
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 beaten egg
4-6 Tbl flour
3/4 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup vinegar
1/2 Cup chicken broth
3 1/2 Tbl ketchup
1 Tbl soy sauce
Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt and pepper. Let stand for one hour or more. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Dip chicken in beaten egg, then flour. (Honestly, I keep it super simple and make a mixture with the garlic salt, pepper and egg and have the chicken sit in that. Then coat the chicken in the flour.) Brown in hot oil. Place in baking dish (I used 8x8. If doubled, we use 9x13). Cover with the following sauce: Mix sugar, vinegar, chicken broth, ketchup and soy sauce in saucepan and heat. Pour over chicken. Bake uncovered for 1 hour. Turn chicken once or twice.
Enjoy! It's an amazing recipe! I serve with rice and assorted veggies.
This is a recipe I've grown up with. My dad would make it all the time and it became a family favorite. Birthdays, special occasions, whenever we had visitors, this was what we would make. Normally we double it because I have a giant family, but with being in college and only cooking for two I didn't see the need for that. Side note, the sauce alone is super super delicious and I'd recommend making it for won-tons or rice or something by itself.
3 pounds chicken breasts
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 beaten egg
4-6 Tbl flour
3/4 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup vinegar
1/2 Cup chicken broth
3 1/2 Tbl ketchup
1 Tbl soy sauce
Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt and pepper. Let stand for one hour or more. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Dip chicken in beaten egg, then flour. (Honestly, I keep it super simple and make a mixture with the garlic salt, pepper and egg and have the chicken sit in that. Then coat the chicken in the flour.) Brown in hot oil. Place in baking dish (I used 8x8. If doubled, we use 9x13). Cover with the following sauce: Mix sugar, vinegar, chicken broth, ketchup and soy sauce in saucepan and heat. Pour over chicken. Bake uncovered for 1 hour. Turn chicken once or twice.
Enjoy! It's an amazing recipe! I serve with rice and assorted veggies.
Cafe Rio Sweet Pork
CAFE RIO SWEET PORK
SUPER delicious!!! Tastes almost exactly like Cafe Rio/Costa Vida! I've been putting it in rice, on tortillas, and almost everything because it's so freaking good! I would highly suggest it :) Here are other recipes for various Cafe Rio food. I didn't have time to make a whole sweet pork salad, but if it's even remotely close to how the sweet pork turned out then it would be heavenly!
**Note: Marinade is optional. I did it without and it still tasted just fine :)
2 pounds pork (we use boneless pork rib meat)
3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can diced green chilies
3/4 (10oz) can red enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work)
1 c. brown sugar
Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.
Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.
In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.
Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!
SUPER delicious!!! Tastes almost exactly like Cafe Rio/Costa Vida! I've been putting it in rice, on tortillas, and almost everything because it's so freaking good! I would highly suggest it :) Here are other recipes for various Cafe Rio food. I didn't have time to make a whole sweet pork salad, but if it's even remotely close to how the sweet pork turned out then it would be heavenly!
**Note: Marinade is optional. I did it without and it still tasted just fine :)
2 pounds pork (we use boneless pork rib meat)
3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can diced green chilies
3/4 (10oz) can red enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work)
1 c. brown sugar
Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.
Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.
In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.
Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!
Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza Casserole
CHICKEN BACON RANCH PIZZA CASSEROLE
1 lb bacon fried and crumbled -- grease saved
2 lb chicken breasts
2 Tbs ranch dressing
2 Clove minced garlic
1 lb bow-tie pasta, cooked al dente
2 jars alfredo sauce
1/3 cup milk
4 cup cheese (or however much you want)
Cut chicken into bite sized pieces, coat with 1 1/2 Tbl of ranch seasoning. Saute in a skillet with 1 Tbl bacon grease (I didn't measure out a tablespoon, I just put the chicken and ranch in the skillet, stirred it around and cooked til the chicken was done)
When chicken is cooled, completely drain grease and liquid from skillet. Return chicken to skillet.
Pour milk and a jar of alfredo sauce into the skillet with the chicken. Stir in 1 tsp ranch. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Begin layering the casserole with half the remaining jar of alfredo on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Then layer 1/3 of both the pasta and chicken sauce.
Keep layering, then sprinkle the bacon and cheese on top to your heart's content.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350, and enjoy!!!
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Breakfast Burrito
BREAKFAST BURRITO
Eggs
Tortilla
Onion
1 Tbl Butter
Cheese
Sour Cream
Saute the onion in the butter. I got mine to the caramelized state. Then add eggs to the pan, thus taking in the flavor of both the butter and the onions. Scramble the eggs, put in a tortilla, sprinkle cheese on top, dab on some sour cream, roll up burrito and eat.
Other toppings could include peppers, various spices, bacon, sausage, or anything your heart desires.
Eggs
Tortilla
Onion
1 Tbl Butter
Cheese
Sour Cream
Saute the onion in the butter. I got mine to the caramelized state. Then add eggs to the pan, thus taking in the flavor of both the butter and the onions. Scramble the eggs, put in a tortilla, sprinkle cheese on top, dab on some sour cream, roll up burrito and eat.
Other toppings could include peppers, various spices, bacon, sausage, or anything your heart desires.
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