One of my favorite recipes over the last year has been barbeque pulled chicken. It is an easy recipe that requires little prep time and just a few ingredients. As a college student, I do not have time to let the meat sit and marinade for hours or have a recipe be long and complex. While it can be made in the oven, the ideal way to cook it is in a crock pot. I often set everything before I leave for class in the morning, and then when I return home, I have dinner waiting for me.

The current recipe I use stemmed from several I found online. I tailored it to how I think it tastes best and made it my own.

Recipe:

• 5 pieces of boneless and skinless chicken breasts
• 1 18 oz bottle of a sweet barbeque sauce
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

I combine all the ingredients in a separate bowl, minus the chicken breasts. (it does not have to be perfectly mixed because everything will eventually melt together). In the crockpot, place the chicken breasts in the pot, trying as best you can to not have them overlap. Pour the barbeque sauce mix over the chicken, and it is that easy!

There are a lot of different crock pots out there with different settings. My favorite way to cook this is setting the crockpot to “low” for about four and a half hours. I have also tried cooking it on high for two hours, and in an instant pot for only twenty minutes, but I have found that the chicken does not come out nearly as tender. These are other options though if you are in a time crunch.

After the four and a half hours is up, I let the pot stay on the “warm” setting and begin to shred the chicken. I use two small forks, and it generally tears apart pretty easily. If the pot is too warm, you can also take the chicken out and shred them individually in a bowl or on a plate and then return it to the pot.

When all the chicken is shredded, stir everything together and leave it in the crockpot on “warm” for an additional half an hour to forty-five minutes. This allows the sauce to sink into all the chicken and have it soak up all the remaining sauce.

I hope that you give this recipe a try and enjoy it as much as I do!

Hello everyone and welcome to College Student Cooking!

This semester a requirement for one of my classes is to write a blog about something that I am passionate about. Over the last year, I have really enjoyed cooking for myself. For the first time in my life, I have had full freedom to make what I want for dinner in my own kitchen when I want it. I am not reliant on family to cook dinner and have what others are in the mood for. Yes, it is nice to have others cook for you, but being able to make a good dinner for yourself I think is a skill everyone should have in life.

Many college students struggle with the transition from having on-campus dining hall food to making meals for themselves. They become way to accustom to swiping a card and getting food handed to them on a plate, and the same food can get old very quickly. While off-campus meal plans are offered, it’s a pain to go to campus for meals, and when it is cold and rainy no one wants to leave home.

When I moved into my first apartment, I quickly found that it was much easier to get takeout from somewhere rather than going to the grocery store and making dinner. Not only was this not the healthiest option, but it became rather costly.

A lot of my family members can cook very well, so I got to grow up around good food. Anytime I would go and visit, I would watch them in the kitchen and hope that someday I would be able to do the same. I picked up a few tips and tricks over the years, but a lot of what I know now I learned from practice and trial and error. Once I actually tried out a few recipes and remembered how good home cooked food can be, it did not take long before I became hooked.

There are many recipes that are simple to make for those new to cooking that do not require too many tools or ingredients. It can often be daunting and discouraging if you open a recipe book and the list of things needed is over half the page. A few simple tools and staple ingredients can go a long way.

In this blog, I will try out a variety of simple recipes for dinners. I will discuss the outcomes and any struggles that I came across and hopefully show that cooking at home is attainable for busy college students and mistakes I make can be avoided by others.

I hope you all enjoy the recipes to come and that this blog can inspire college students to start cooking some “real meals” for themselves!