Welcome to the final post of this blog series!

The final recipe that I will be sharing with y’all is one of my all time favorites! My mom’s lasagna. She learned this from my grandma, and it has been one of my sister’s and mine favorite dinners as far back as I can remember.

For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

• 1 box of oven-ready lasagna noodles (Barilla)
• 15 ounces of ricotta cheese
• ½ cup parmigiana Reggiano cheese
• About 2 jars of marinara sauce
• 4 cups mozzarella cheese

To start this recipe, begin with combining all the cheese (minus 2 cups mozzarella) in a large bowl. This mixture will be the cheese layers in the lasagna.

Next, in a 13×9 class dish put a healthy layer of cause on the bottom of the dish. Once this initial layer is down, place a row of the oven-ready lasagna noodles on top. Following the noodles, add a layer about ¼ inch think of the cheese mixture. Continue repeating these three layers three more times. For the final layer, after the sauce layer sprinkle the remaining 2 cups of mozzarella cheese.

A trick that my mom uses that I believe makes a huge difference in the taste, is once the lasagna is made, cover with aluminum foil and place it in the microwave for 24 hours or even overnight. This allows all the flavors of the sauce and the cheese to seep into the noodles, making them more tender and favorable.

Once the lasagna is ready to be baked, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the lasagna for about 25 minutes with the aluminum foil on top. After that time, remove the aluminum foil and continue to let it bake for about 10 minutes, until the cheese is slightly brown on the top. Allow the lasagna to sit and rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

I hope you all have enjoyed this blog series on recipes for college students! Along the way, it is my hope you have picked up a few tips and tricks and will try one or more of these on your own!

Welcome back!

I’m sorry for the late post this week. I have been some sick all week, so motivating myself to cook has not been easy.

One of my friends this week made me the best homemade chicken alfredo I have had in a long time. But then again, anytime someone cooks for you when you’re feeling under the weather, is typically tastes better.

For this recipe the ingredients are:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 14 oz chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ½ lb penne pasta
• 1 ½ cups grated parmesan cheese

The first step is to brown the chicken in a large pot with only olive oil. Once the chicken is brown, add in the garlic until that becomes a nice light brown.

In the same pot, gradually add the chicken broth and heavy cream along with uncooked pasta (for chicken alfredo my favorite is penne). This is the first time I had ever heard of cooking pasta in anything other than boiling water, and I must say I think it made the pasta taste better. It was more flavorful and tender.

After cooking the pasta for about 15-20, remove the pot from heat and add in the parmesan cheese. It may be a little difficult to stir at first. After all the cheese is incorporated, let the pot sit for about 2 minutes to let everything settle and melt together.

When it comes to cooking, collaborating with other people can always be a good thing. New and fresh ideas are learned, and you never know, you may find one of your new go-to recipes!

I hope you all have a good week, and make sure to come back next week for the final post in this blog series!

Good morning and welcome back to my blog!

Last weekend, my sister and her roommate came down to school to visit me. It was a great weekend filled with lots of memories and good food!

My sister is not one of those people that is a big fan of breakfast foods. So, I needed to make sure that I had (what I call) nonconventional breakfast foods in the house. One of her favorite foods of all time are meatballs. She can have them any time of day, but her favorite is breakfast. About a year ago now, I found a meatball recipe that is nice and easy and one that I love too. (just at the correct time of day)

For this recipe you will need:

• Crock pot
• Bag of frozen meatballs
• Cattleman’s Carolina Tangy Gold sauce

This recipe could not be much easier. Simply empty the bag of frozen meatballs into the crock pot. Then, pour the entire bottle of the Cattleman’s sauce on top. Using a spoon, mix the sauce and the meatballs together so they are all evenly coated.

Depending on how much time you have and your type of crock pot, cooking time will range. No matter the way, cook the meatballs until they are tender all the way through. And then they will be ready to serve!

I hope you enjoy this nice and easy recipe this week!

Welcome back to my blog! I hope y’all liked the change of style last week.

This week I will be talking a slight detour. I’ll be sharing my favorite side dish recipes that pair easily with many different entrees. For a lot of these recipes, I use approximate measurements for the ingredients depending on what flavors I want to be more prominent. I’m a big garlic fan, so I often put more garlic in than others would.

Green beans

Ingredients:

• Green beans (washed and cut)
• Garlic
• Salt
• Olive oil

Start by steaming the green beans in a skillet for about 7 minutes. Once they get to be a bright green remove them from the skillet. Put 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in the skillet along with 1 teaspoon of garlic. Sautee the garlic until it is light brown. Place the green beans back in the skillet, sprinkle in a little salt and let it simmer for about 2 minutes before serving.

Seasoned Baby Red Potatoes

Ingredients:

• Baby red potatoes
• Rosemary
• Italian seasoning
• Salt
• Olive oil

Wash and cut the potatoes into thin slices. After sliced, let them sit in cold water for about 10 minutes. Remove them from the water and place them in a gallon sized Ziplock bag. Add enough olive oil to the bag to cover all of the potatoes. Season the potatoes as much or as little as you like with rosemary and Italian seasoning. Add a pinch of salt to help bring out the flavors. Place the contents of the bag in a glass baking pan. Cook the potatoes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30-35 minutes or until they are tender.

Honey Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

• Baby carrots
• Butter
• Honey
• Brown sugar
• Thyme leaves

In a skillet, melt the butter. Once the butter is melted add carrots, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of honey and a dash of the thyme leaves. Cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes until the carrots are tender.

Garlic Parmesan Broccoli

Ingredients:

• Broccoli
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Salt
• Pepper
• Parmesan cheese (grated)
• Lemon juice

Line a metal baking sheet with either parchment paper or aluminum foil and spray it with nonstick spray. Place broccoli on baking sheet and cover it with the remaining ingredients. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes until tender.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

• Russet potatoes
• Milk
• Butter
• Sour cream

After washing the potatoes, cut them in 1-inch cubes and place them in boiling water. Boil them for 10-15 minutes until they are tender. Drain the potatoes and begin mashing them. While mashing, add 1 stick of butter, about 1.5 cups of milk and .5 cup sour cream. Mix all this together until it is well combined, and all the butter is fully melted.

Typically with each meal I like to have one side that is a green vegetable and another either a bread or a starch. I hope that you will give one or more of these a go or will inspire you to try something new!

This week’s recipe can be found on the following link:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjIG-97z1HhBoz2drTq-DkiG9b7A

Welcome back to my blog!

This past week I was on spring break, so I was able to go back home and have access to a better kitchen and have some help paying for food. At my house at home, we have a grill in the back yard, and I knew I wanted to take advantage of that while I was at home. I use a grill very rarely, but it often yields very good results!

Since steak is not something college student normally has the option of having, I decided that is what I wanted to make sure I made over break.

The cut of meat that is my favorite is a filet. It has little to no fat, and it is not too tough. There are many ways that steak can be seasoned or marinated. My go-to way is just seasoning it with some salt and pepper. It adds enough flavor to the meat without becoming overbearing. My mom however prefers to lather it with Kitchen Bouquet, which I am not the biggest fan of.

Once the steak was seasoned how I liked it, I tie a piece of grilling twine around the filet. This helps keep the moisture locked in, so the meat is more tender. You later cut this off when you take it off the grill.

To grill the steak, preheat the grill to between 450 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit. (I have a gas grill so keep in mind times and temperatures could vary depending on the grill.) Once the grill has reached that temperature, place the filet on the rack near the flames. Close the grill and let the steak cook for 11-15 minutes, flipping it over halfway through.

Depending on how you like your steak cook will depend on the exact cooking time and internal temperature. I like my steak to be medium, with some pink on the inside, so I make sure that the filet is about 145 degrees before taking it off the grill.

I hope you all learned a tip or two with this recipe and I will be back to more college-based recipes next week!

Thanks for coming back to my blog!

This week there has been a streak of cold days here, even with some occasional flurries. With this wintery weather, I am still drawn to that good warm winter comfort food.

This week, I will be sharing a recipe with y’all that I learned recently from a friend. She makes the best chicken pot pie! Growing up, I was never really a fan of pot pie in general, but she quickly changed my mind on it.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

1 box refrigerated pie crust (softened)

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 ¾ cups chicken broth

½ cup milk

2 ½ cups shredded cooked chicken or turkey

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

For the frozen mixed vegetables, I use peas, carrots, green beans, and corn. Additional choices could include potatoes or lima beans.

I start off first by making the filling for the pot pie. In a saucepan, I mixed together melted butter, onion, flour, salt, and pepper, and adding in the milk and broth as the last ingredients slowly. Once this mixture was all combined, I mixed in the frozen vegetables and the cut-up pieces of cooked chicken. To cook the chicken, I simply cut up some chicken breasts and sautéed them in a skillet on the stove.

The crust is the most difficult part of this recipe. While you can make your own crust, I chose to take the easier route and use premade dough. Before laying the dough down, I sprayed a 9 x 13 glass cooking dish. You want the bottom layer of dough to cover bother the bottom of the pan as well as the edges will a little hangover at the top. After the dough was how I liked it, I poured the filling mixture into the pan. After spreading it evenly throughout the pan, I placed the top layer of dough on the pie and sealed the two layers of dough together with my thumb. This will help prevent the filling from spilling out, and will also aid in the presentation.

Before putting it in the oven, remember to cut some slits in the top either just with a fork, or you can make a design in the middle.

To cook the pie, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the pie for about 40 minutes uncovered, and then an additional 15 minutes covered with aluminum foil.

I hope you enjoy this nice comfort food recipe this week and can escape somewhere warm for spring break!

Welcome back!

This week I have a fun recipe for y’all! I first heard about this idea from a good family friend growing up. It is a good recipe for everyone ranging from making it with kids to staying in wine night with your friends!

Ingredients for this recipe are very simple:

• Pizza dough
• Pizza sauce
• Cheese
• Any additional toppings of your choice

I first started off by rolling out the pizza dough on a bed of flour on a cutting or pizza board. This will help the dough move more freely and be easier to work with. Once the dough was the consistency and the thickness I was looking for, I sectioned off a piece that was about the size of my hand.

After I got the section that I wanted, I spread a healthy layer of sauce only on half of the pizza dough (I only did half because later I folded the dough in half to form the calzone and this will prevent a bigger mess). The next step is layering all the toppings onto the calzone. I chose to keep mine simple again, so I added mozzarella and parmesan cheeses and then little pieces of pepperoni. Similar to a pizza, you can add whatever you would like, just keep in mind that this is more compact.

Once all my toppings were how I wanted them, I folded over the dough to make a semi-circle shape enclosing everything inside. To seal the edges off, I used a small fork to make indentations around the fold of the calzone.

To bake the calzone, I heated up my waffle maker to about medium heat. Once it was hot enough, I placed the calzone in the center of the iron. You want to make sure it is not too close to the edges, or it may spill over the sides and cause a bigger mess. Also, do not press the iron completely closed, just gently shut. Cook time is variable. My calzone took about 3 minutes to get golden brown but depending on the iron it could need more or less time.

A great addition to the meal would be adding some marinara or your favorite sauce for dipping on the side.

I hope that you will give this fun recipe a try this week!

Welcome back to my blog!

This week I made a seasoned pork loin. It’s an easy main dish that does not require much work, and it can have a lot of variations based on what you like. Some common spices to use are peppercorn, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, coriander, brown sugar, paprika, and onion powder.

The pork loin I used this week was pre-seasoned from the store, mainly because I was on a time crunch this week. It was seasoned primarily with black peppercorn, but also had other hints of spices mixed in.

To start cooking the pork loin, I sear the sides before I place it in the oven. By doing this, I am keeping all the juices and spices inside the meat to keep it nice and tender. To do this, I take a large frying pan and put it on medium heat. Once the pan is warm. I drizzle olive oil on the bottom of the pan and then put the pork loin on. I sear each side for about a minute and a half, totaling in about six minutes in the frying pan.

From there, I place the pork loin in a baking tray lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with some cooking spray. This will make it easier to take the pork loin out when it is done cooking. The oven needs to be set to 350 degrees, but the cooking time really varies. This week it took my pork loin about twenty-five minutes to cook. The cook time depends on the oven you use, the weight of the pork loin, and how well done you want it. My personal preference is to cook it to a medium center, which is about 145 degrees.

Once the pork loin is cooked the way you want it, take it out of the oven and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes. This not only cools it off to a temperature that is good to eat, but it allows the meat to soak up more of the juices. After the ten minutes are up, I slice it into about one-inch thick pieces, and it is ready to eat!

There are other cooking methods that can be used to cook a pork loin. If you do not want to do the frying pan step, it can just be cooked in the oven for an increased amount of time. Additionally, if it is nice weather out (without fear of a snowstorm), it can be cooked on the grill, rotating it every few minutes to make sure that it does not burn.

I hope you found this recipe enjoyable and give it a try!

This past weekend I took a long weekend to go visit one of my friends from high school down in Georgia. It was a weekend full of good times and good food!

On my trip back North, I stopped in Charlotte North Carolina at a Trader Joe’s to pick up a few items. I do not have a Trader Joe’s near me at school, so I went a little overboard. One of the products that they were highlighting in their monthly flyer was their new pizza crust, so I decided to give it a try.

For my pizza I used:

• Trader Joe’s Pizza Crust
• Red Pizza Sauce
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Italian seasoning
• Garlic powder
• Mozzarella cheese

I do not like to cook my pizza directly on the oven rack because I find it makes too much of a mess. Instead, I line a large cookie sheet with either aluminum foil or parchment paper and spray it with some cooking spray.

I placed the crust on the cookie sheet and lightly coated the crust with olive oil. This helped make the crust a little softer. After that, I sprinkled both Italian seasoning and garlic powder all over, getting close to the edges. Oregano can also be added if it is a spice that you have on hand.

I enjoy the taste of garlic, so I added fresh minced garlic as well with a heavy layer of pizza sauce. There are some sauces that say they come with garlic, but the fresh garlic always tastes better. After the layer of sauce, all that was left was to add the cheese. Of course, any additional toppings can be added, but I wanted to go plain this time.

The instructions on the crust said to preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Baking at this temperature only required the pizza to bake for about seven minutes before the cheese was perfectly melted and toasted.

Buying premade crust is a great way to make a custom pizza without it taking a very long time to make or being too difficult. It can become tedious to make the crust and let it rise for several hours before even being able to put everything together. Many grocery stores offer this as an option. It also tends to be a healthier option than the pre-made pizzas from the frozen aisle.

I hope you give this recipe a try! And don’t forget to make it your own!