• Pop Tart Cake

    When I originally asked my sister what she wanted me to make for the week of easy college recipes, she replied with 2 words: pop tarts. Well I wasn’t going to actually make pop tarts, because not only has it been done to absolute death by food bloggers, but it’s also not exactly easy, and frankly isn’t even worth the effort. I instead made this cool pop tart stuffed cake that is super easy to do and a fun and unique cake to serve at a party. I forgot how much college kids love pop tarts and I was no different when I was there. I used Cherry pop tarts cause it is her favorite, but it would be fun to do this cake with different flavor combos or using my favorite pop tart flavor: S’mores.

  • Bulgogi Glazed Baby Back Ribs

    Everyone loves super tender ribs that come right off the bone, and I bet you think that they are really hard to make. Well guess what? You take the ribs out of the packaging, dump some liquid onto it, put it in the oven, go play some video games, and boom, ribs. The one tricky part is getting that liquid just right. I wouldn’t use just any liquid floating around your dorm room, like whey protein shakes or bong water, you need to make a really flavorful concoction with a balance of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy. I’ve found that Korean Bulgogi marinade fits the bill just perfectly.

  • Thai Inspired Sloppy Subs

    Some of you guys might remember “Bro Week” from a few years back, where I made an effort to cook really simple recipes for a whole week, while maintaining my unique style and still using mostly homemade and fresh ingredients. Well my sister is a junior in college this year and has a kitchen in her apartment for the first time, so I decided to do another week of easy recipes geared towards her and other college students who want a break from the caf and aren’t in the mood for takeout. I know in reality, Jello shots is probably the only recipe of mine that will be happening in that kitchen, but I’d like to think that maybe Joanna, or other college students might benefit from this week of recipes.

    For the first college week recipe, I have a sloppy sub that is influenced by a Thai dish that features ground meat in a light chile-basil sauce. The slow cooker was perfect for this dish, as I was able to let it do it’s thing for 4 hours only stirring it twice through the process. I may be wrong, but I think tastes have changed a little in the 10 years since I was in college, and more and more students are into a little more adventurous cuisines like Thai, but still maybe can’t get any near campus, so I thought that this would be a fun and easy way to satisfy that craving.

  • 5-Spice Sweet Potatoes with Crispy Cabbage and Spicy Tempeh

    After a couple weeks of fairly unhealthy activities and lots of beer, I decided to go on one of my week long health kicks. After a few days of only eating salads and seeds, I was really craving a hearty warming meal, especially on a rainy early september afternoon. After thinking a bit about what flavors I was specifically craving, this dish was created in my head and I went for it. The results were totally different from anything I have had in awhile and amazingly flavorful in a unique way. It’s totally vegan too!

  • Taleggio Asparagus Mini Breakfast Pizza

    Breakfast pizza is always fun, but this spin on it is especially great to wake up to in the morning, because you get your own little egg nested in the extra thick crust. I wanted to make some like a normal breakfast pizza, and some like a tasty pizza I once ate that had egg with asparagus and taleggio cheese.

  • Vietnamese Bun Vermicelli Burgers

    Last week I went to an awesome burger event in Boston called Battle of the Burger. It was lots of fun and sponsored by Amstel, so as you can imagine I had a few. I tried as hard as I could to taste all 20 burgers there, but alas, I only made it to about 15. I almost had to crawl out of the event I was so full! I even had to pass on the make your own sundae booth, and throw away a few bites of a shake shack burger which might have been a low point of my life. I was really impressed with many of the burgers, especially the lamb and tzatziki burger from Cafeteria, but overall, I wished some of the restaurants lightened things up a bit. Every burger was an overindulgent savory bomb which was awesome at first, but after trying 10 or so, they all started to meld together. If I was there, I would have served these Vietnamese vermicelli topped burgers as a bit of a reprieve from the bacon-truffle-mushroom-aioli-cheese madness.

  • Cheesy Elote Corn Bake

    I’ve had a few really good versions of elote lately. You know, the Mexican street corn that is smothered in mayo and cotija cheese? When made right, with fresh summer corn, and cooked perfectly, elote can be a magical addictive treat that lingers in your taste buds memory for days. I decided to try and capture some of the elote flavors in this baked corn dish. Serve this as a side at your next cookout and it will be the talk of the party.

  • Savory Carrot Hummus Cake with Hummus Icing

    What the what??? This came about because Mandi noticed the texture of sabra reminded her of cake frosting. She asked me to make her a carrot cake that we could frost with the hummus. It obviously had to be a savory cake to work with the super savory hummus. It actually came out pretty tasty! The cake was really flavorful and was almost the texture of a dense pancake. The carrot and curry really came through, and melded well with the hummus. I initially imagined this as a brunch dish, but it’s more of a cool and unique app for hummus lovers.

  • Hummus Pizza

    Did you guys know that hummus makes an awesome alternative to pizza sauce? I used it on pizza at a recent pizza party, and a few people even called it the best pizza there! I decided not to get weird with the flavors like I did yesterday, instead I just topped the pizza with some of hummus’s best friends. Friends like feta, olives, kofta, and tzatziki.