Omelet Muffin

I was home the other day and my mom showed me these cute little omelet muffins she had made herself for breakfast. They are perfect for anyone who is on the go and needs to grab something fast for breakfast because you can make a bunch (9-12) at one time and then have them for the rest of the week. I tried one while I was home and they were delicious. I definitely recommend you try to make some of your own if you're one of those people who is always too busy to eat in the morning. My mom made her's with spinach, mozzarella cheese, garlic and onion, but just like an omelet you can put whatever you want in it. Oh and one more awesome thing about these: you can eat them hot or cold (depending on how much time you have and your preference) making them that much easier to prepare in the morning.

Ingredients
6 eggs
1 cup frozen spinach
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 milk (can be any percent you like)
2 cloves garlic - minced
1/4 small onion - minced
Olive oil
Pam
Salt
Pepper
Cupcake pans to bake in!


Here's how it's done
• Preheat oven to 375° and make sure spinach is defrosted before you start.
**Note: you can run the frozen spinach under hot water to defrost it quickly, just be sure to strain the excess water from it when you're done.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, cheese, and salt & pepper to taste.
• Put 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute the garlic until it is softened, then add the onions and continue cooking until the onion is also soft.
• Add the spinach to the frying pan and cook until the spinach becomes wilted.
• Add spinach, garlic and onion mixture to egg mixture.
• Spray the cupcake tray with Pam.
**Note:You don't need those little paper cupcake wrappers, just spray the tray so your egg muffins don't stick.
• Pour mixture into cupcake tray. You should fill each about half way.
• Place tray into pre-heated oven and bake until your egg muffins turn a golden-brown. This will take about 15-20 minutes.

This is how my mom had them stored in the fridge.
Put paper towel on the plate & cling wrap over the plate.

I hope that everyone can find this recipe helpful for those mornings when you're trying to rush off to your class, internship or job, but you don't want to skip breakfast completely. Just like a lot of my other recipes, this one can be tweaked to your own unique tastes. So pick whatever cheese, vegetable or even meat that you love and combine them all into your little egg omelet muffins and enjoy :)

Bow Ties with Hot Sausage

Over the weekend I went to Montauk with my cousins. For dinner we went to Harvest on Fort Pond. All of the food we got was absolutely amazing, but my favorite was the Farfalle with Sausage, Peas and Parmesan. I told my boyfriend about it, and we decided to try our hand at making it for dinner at home. There was a bit of guesswork involved and we excluded the peas because my boyfriend doesn't eat them. Of course the final product wasn't nearly as good as the original, but we were able to make a pretty nice rendition of Harvest's dish. 

Ingredients
Farfalle (bow tie pasta)
Italian sausage (we used hot, but if you don't like spicy you can use sweet)
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese


Here's how it's done:
• Bring water to a boil in pot large enough to hold desired amount of pasta.
• Once water is boiled, pour bow ties in.
• Heat a medium sized pan and coat the bottom in oil. (Not too much, just enough to cover the bottom).
• Place a few sausage links in the pan and cook them until they turn brown. You'll have to turn them so that they cook evenly.
**Note: cut them in half to make sure they are fully cooked. If they middle is bright red and raw looking they will need a few more minutes.
• When the pasta water comes to a boil for the second time, strain the pasta and put it back in the pot.
• Drizzle a little bit of olive oil onto the pasta.
• Once the sausage is done, slice it into thin circles and put it on top of the pasta.
• Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and serve.


This is definitely a dish I want to continue making, adding things to make it better each time. Maybe next time I'll be able to convince my boyfriend to give peas a chance (does anyone remember this All That skit?!) or maybe the dish could be made better with some red sauce. It's pretty plain to begin with, so there are many ways to add to it and create something new. So decide what you want to add to the recipe, make the basics, put it all together and enjoy :)

Sake II

I love Japanese food, both hibachi and sushi, which is why I'm so glad I discovered Sake II last year. (FYI don't click the link if you're in class or the library and your volume is on...their website plays music!) Sake II is located on E 187th, roughly 5 blocks from Fordham's gates. Just like I did with Simon's Deli, I'm going to make a pros and cons list for Sake II.

Pros:
1. It's real sushi...and you can even choose what goes into it.
    I don't know about you, but sushi from the caf really doesn't cut it. You can only put vegetables in it and the seaweed is on the outside. The premade sushi from the Grille or the Deli is nice if you like those kinds of rolls, and if they're in stock that day. I miss the days when the Ramskeller was still around and you could make whatever roll you wanted.
2. It's cheap. Most rolls are around $3.00 and the hibachi dinners (which come with soup, salad, vegetables and fried rice) range from $9.00-$13.00. They also have lunch specials everyday until 4:00pm.
3. They deliver to campus AND you can place your order online. 
   I just find it easier to place the order online and pay online with a credit card, this way you don't have to deal with misunderstandings over the phone. It's all typed up, making it less likely that you'll get a screwed up order.
4. The food just tastes good!
   I really wasn't expecting to like Sake II as much as I do. The food was so cheap I figured it must not be that great, but it definitely surpassed my expectations.


Cons:
1. You can't use flex dollars (damn you real world!) like you could if you were getting sushi on campus.
2. The delivery time is quite slow. Occassionally they'll surprise you and be at your door in about 20 minutes, but more often than not you'll be waiting 30-45 minutes for an order.
3. You have to spend $10.00 in order for them to deliver, which given their low prices may be hard to do if you're ordering sushi for one.


So if you're craving sushi or hibachi (which I definitely do at least once a month) and you haven't found a Fordham substitute to your sushi place from home, I definitely recommend you try Sake II. It's close to campus, so you could walk there for lunch with some friends, or you could always just order it to your dorm/apartment. The quality is great and the prices are low, what more could a broke college student living off Sodexo ask for? :)

College Cookbook: Dorm Eating and Apartment Feasting

I needed to review a book for an assignment, so given that my topic is cooking, I chose College Cookbook: Dorm Eating and Apartment Feasting by David Poran. While we haven't yet gotten a chance to make any of the recipes in the book, my boyfriend and I have already marked a bunch that we'll be trying out soon. I've decided to do my book review as a comparison between the cookbook and my blog. Here we go!

College Cookbook:
• It has a spectacular introduction! The first four chapters are dedicated to kitchen and cooking basics from the appliances you'll need, and how to store food, to tips on staying healthy. 
I'd like to take this time to point out that my biggest regret since starting this blog is not including an introductory post that explained the blog's purpose and covered some basic items. Mine would not have been nearly as comprehensive as the introduction to Poran's cookbook, but I think it would have been really helpful to my readers.
• It distinguishes between dorm food and apartment food, basically by level of difficulty and what is needed to prepare each dish. 
This is something I never would have even considered, but will definitely come in handy next year since my boyfriend is graduating, and I'm staying in O'Hare with my best friend who is in RA.
• It covers everything. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, salads, soups, sides, dips, and more. There is even a chapter at the end about how to make homemade takeout! (Okay so that's an oxymoron, but I meant making the food you'd normally get as takeout in your own apartment.)


Flavors of Fordham:
• It's created by a college student for college students. So the majority of the recipes are easy and not terribly time consuming. 
• You don't need more than the basic kitchen supplies to execute the recipes. While I love the introduction for College Cookbook, some of the recommended appliances in "Chapter 2: Great Gadgets" are a bit unnecessary for most college students. George Forman Grills and blenders are great, but things like mixers, food processors, rice cookers probably won't be used very often by college students. 
• My blog caters to the Fordham area. There have been some (and there will be a few more) posts on places to get take out in the area surrounding the Rose Hill campus we know and love. 
• It's personal. Poran's cookbook is definitely more informative and professional than my blog, but I never wanted my blog to be like that. I wanted to keep it lighter, funny at times, and keep a personal story going. 


I feel that both my blog and Poran's cookbook have strengths and weaknesses. Obviously Poran's book is more extensive and boasts expertise in the culinary area, but my blog has a bit more of the college feel because I'm still living in the world of college cooking, where Poran's college days were spent learning to cook like a pro. My blog is nowhere near perfect, but hopefully with some help from Poran's cookbook, I can improve both in the kitchen and in the blogosphere.

French Toast

French toast is not my first choice of breakfast foods, but my boyfriend really wanted to make it one night so I agreed. It turned out better than I expected and tasted a lot better than I remembered (the last time I'd had French toast was about 12 years ago). I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon, but when it's all mixed together and smothered with syrup you can barely even tell. I've become a fan of French toast now, so if you're like me and haven't had it since you were a kid, I suggest it's about time to try making some for yourself and giving it another chance. 

Sorry about the photo - it was taken before I got everyone's feedback.
Also, sorry my boyfriend took a bite out of it before I got to take the picture,
he was really excited about his French toast!

Ingredients
4 slices of bread (we used white bread)
2 eggs
Cinnamon
Syrup
Egg Whites (or just regular eggs if you prefer)
Hot sauce (or anything else you'd want on your eggs)


Here's how it's done:
• Crack the two eggs into a bowl and mix as if you were going to make scrambled eggs. Add some cinnamon into the bowl as well. (The amount really depends on how much you like cinnamon, but you shouldn't put in more than 3 tablespoons)
• Heat up a pan over a medium sized flame, put a little bit of butter in the pan or spray it with Pam. 
• Dip the bread into the egg and cinnamon mixture, making sure the bread is completely coated on both sides.
• Put one of the egg coated pieces of bread into the pan (two if your pan is large enough) and let it cook for a minute or two. Lift it up with a spatula to check the bottom before flipping and cooking the other side for about the same amount of time. You want to cook it long enough so that it is browned a little, but not too long or else it will dry out.


Meanwhile:
• If you're using regular eggs you'll have to crack them into a bowl and scramble them first, but if you're using prepackaged egg whites you can just pour those into your pan.
• Heat up a pan over a medium sized flame, put a little bit of butter in the pan or spray it with Pam.
• Add your eggs to the pan and mix around continuously until they become little fluffy balls of egg. Make sure there is no liquid left before turning off the flame and removing your eggs!
• Add some hot sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper, or whatever else you can top eggs with!


Now cover your french toast in syrup - or if you're feeling adventurous you can try topping it with the strawberry syrup sauce I posted a few weeks ago - and enjoy :)

Empanadas

What are empanadas? They're basically the Latin American take on beef turnovers, or beef patties. I'm half Puerto Rican, so growing up I always assumed empanadas were a Puerto Rican thing, however, according to Wikipedia, the Internet's most reliable source, I have learned that quite a few different Latin countries, and even some other nations, have their own versions of this dish. Normally, an empanada would be fried, but my mother always used to bake them, so that is actually my preference because the fried ones seem greasy to me. Don't get me wrong though, they are still muy delicioso when fried, so if you've got a deep frier or some spare oil you're dying to use, you could try frying some of them to see which you prefer! Also, it would probably be wrong of me not to warn you of how time consuming making empanadas can become, especially if you're making a ton of them. I suggest having your friends help out, so you can get done faster and everyone gets to join in on the fun!

The empanadas can be eaten by themselves, but I recommend pairing them with rice and beans. 

Ingredients
1 pound of chopped meat
1 packet of Sazón
Adobo
1 package of Goya discos grandes para empanadas
*There are a few things I want to point out here*
     1. The discs are found in the freezer section of supermarkets. I bought mine at Modern on Arthur Ave. However, they don't carry them in my Stop & Shop at home, so depending on where you live they may be a bit difficult to find.
     2. Goya makes discos and discos grandes (for those who don't know español that just means large discs). I used the discos grandes when I made these. With one pound of meat you can use an entire package of 10 discos grandes, but if you use the smaller discs you will need two packages of 10 in order to use up all of the meat.
     3. In addition to the plain discs that I used, Goya also makes orange ones. Technically there is a difference, but I personally can't really taste it. So if the orange ones are all you can find, the resulting empanadas will be just as delicious. 


Here's how it's done:
• First, make sure your discos are defrosted! They are impossible to use if they are still frozen.
(• If you're going to use the recipe I linked to earlier to make rice and beans with the empanadas, you should make the beans while you prepare the meat, and then make the rice while the empanadas are baking).
• In a medium pan cook the chopped meat thoroughly. Turn off gas once meat is fully cooked.
• Strain the grease out and put the meat back into the pan.
• Add the sazón and add some adobo to taste. Mix the seasonings around until they cover the meat as evenly as possible.
• Pre-heat your oven to 350°. 
• Place one disc on an empty plate. Put meat on one half of the disc, and be sure to leave some space around the edges. 
**Note: you don't want to pile the meat too high, or else your empanada will be difficult to close.

• Fold the empty part of the disc over the meat and match up the edges.
• Using a fork, press the sides together. Be sure to do this for entire half-circle, you don't want your empanada to pop open in the oven!

• Place your finished empanadas on a baking sheet, or pan to go into the oven.
• When all of your empanadas are ready, place them into the oven. Cook them for 10 minutes, flip them and then cook for another 10 minutes. Depending on the strength of your oven they may need an additional 5-10 minutes on each side. 
• You'll know they're done when they have those golden marks on the top and bottom, like in the first picture. 
**Note: They are basically little pockets of heat so make sure you let them cool off for a few minutes!


Once your empanadas have cooled off a bit and your rice and beans are ready, load everything up on your plate and enjoy :)

Fancy Funfetti

Last week my boyfriend decided to bake a funfetti cake. Easy enough...just follow the instructions on the box, and in about 30 minutes you have yourself a cake. However, he decided that plain funfetti cake would not do, especially since he forgot to buy frosting. So instead of going back to the store or just eating the cake plain, he made a syrupy strawberry sauce using frozen strawberries. It only took him a few minutes to make, and it really dressed up the entire funfetti cake!

Ingredients:
Frozen, whole strawberries (10-12)
Sugar (about 1 cup)


Here's how it's done:
• Put strawberries in a pan on medium heat.
• Pour sugar into pan over strawberries while stirring.
• Continue stirring (and adding sugar, if you want) until the strawberries are soft.
**Note: the whole process only takes about 5 minutes.


This entry was pretty short, but it's just a quick way to dress up a plain dessert! If you like it, try it out with other desserts like ice cream, or try cutting a hole in a cupcake and filling the inside with the strawberries! 
Now just drizzle some of the sauce over your cake, and pour the rest with the strawberries on the side and enjoy :)

Homemade Alfredo Sauce

When I was little, fettuccini alfredo was my favorite thing to order at Italian restaurants. My boyfriend didn't have the same feeling about on my favorite dish, so when I brought him the recipe that I got from my boss he wasn't too willing to make it. One day last semester I was feeling sad, so he decided to surprise me and make the fettuccini for me...and now he loves it too! So maybe fettuccini was never your favorite dish as a child, but it's so simple to make that I definitely recommend trying out this recipe one night. 

** This recipe makes enough for two people, but you can always double or triple the ingredients if you have more people to impress with your culinary skills!


Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
6 tbsp butter
Fettucini pasta
Salt


Here's how it's done:
• In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter down.
• Add the heavy cream and mix the two.
• Let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Note: you want the sauce to thicken a bit before adding the pasta.
• Another note: if the sauce appears too buttery, you can add some more heavy cream.


Meanwhile:
• Bring water to boil in a pot large enough to hold desired amount of pasta.
• Once water is boiled, pour penne in.
• Cook for about 5-8 minutes, or until the pasta is as soft as you'd like it.
• Strain immediately (pasta will continue to cook in the hot water).

And then:

• Once both fettuccini and alfredo sauce are are ready, combine them in the saucepan. 

• Stir the fettuccini around the pan to make sure it all gets coated with sauce. 

Like I said before, fettuccini alfredo is a really quick and easy dish, and it's perfect for a romantic night in or feeding all of your friends and family! You can even add grilled chicken or shrimp to the pasta if you like, both go well with the alfredo sauce. And as always, once you're done cooking serve up for food and enjoy :)

Cooking Adventures with Guy Fieri

Last week my friends & I decided to have some fun with burgers with a little help from Food Network star, Guy Fieri. My boyfriend & I had previously seen an episode of his cooking show where he made inside out burgers so we wanted to try it out for ourselves. It's easier to have Guy explain it to you as he does it, so here's the clip from his show!

I stuffed mine with bacon & mozzarella cheese. My friend had bacon, mozzarella & onion in hers. My boyfriend & our other friend stuffed theirs with bacon, mozzarella, onion & peppers. If should be noted that when making the two halves of the burgers you shouldn't make two full sized patties, or you'll end up with a wambo burger like my friend.

Stuffing the burgers with bacon.

My friend's completed burger with bacon,
mozzarella, onion & pepper inside,
and tomato & lettuce on top.

To accompany our delicious inside out burgers, we used my boyfriends deep frier to make double-fried french fries (yet another idea taken from Guy Fieri). The trick is to fry the potatoes once, take them out & let them cool, and then fry them again to make them extra crispy. If you don't have a deep frier you can always pour a bit of oil into a regular pan (enough to coat the bottom & then some) and heat that up enough to fry your potatoes in there! It's almost the exact same as using a deep frier, just a bit more difficult to do. 

 

Get creative with the "toppings" for your inside out burger! Be daring with your cheeses & test out different combinations of flavors. Stuff your burgers to your heart's content, cook your fries to a crispy gold brown & enjoy :)

Chili: Quick & Easy Dinner

Chili is a great dish because you can feed a lot of people easily or you can save it for another time if you're just cooking for you. The other night I (not my boyfriend this time - shocking I know!) cooked dinner for my friends. I decided to make chili because it's so easy - there are only a few ingredients and it all takes about 20 minutes to make! 

**The recipe below is for two pounds of chili, but in parentheses I added what you would need to make only one pound.


Ingredients:
2 pounds of chopped meat (or 1lb)
Adobo
Two packets of sazón (or 1 packet)
3 8oz containers of Ortega Taco Sauce (or 2 containers)
1 can of red kidney beans
Rice (or anything else you'd like to pair your chili with)
Mexican cheese (if you like cheese)


Here's How it's Done:
• In a medium pan cook the chopped meat thoroughly. Turn gas off once meat is fully cooked.
• Strain the grease out and put the meat back into the pan.
• Add the sazón and add some adobo to taste. Mix the seasonings around so they cover the meat as evenly as possible.
• Open the can of beans, strain and rinse them, and add them to the meat.
• Add in both containers of taco sauce and mix everything around.
• Heat the chili over a low-medium flame for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.


Meanwhile:
• In a small pot, boil water for rice. Once water is boiling, put bag of rice in the pot. Remove the rice when the water boils again (about 10 minutes).


While the rice and the chili are still hot, put some in your bowl and add the taco cheese. Mix the cheese around with the rice and chili so it melts and enjoy :)

Simon's Deli

When my boyfriend and I are too tired, lazy or busy to cook, we usually look to Simon's Deli for an easy take-out dinner solution. It's on the corner on Arthur Ave, right across the street from Mugz. Most people already know about it and have probably been there or ordered from it, but in case you haven't here are some pros and cons...


Pros:
1. The salad never has any brown pieces in it.
    I don't know about anyone else, but I almost always get some brown lettuce in my salads from The Grill.
2. For $7 you get a small salad (it's only $8 for the large), with unlimited toppings AND a bottle of water.
    The salad at The Grille is really big, but your toppings are limited (although I'm not sure the cashiers would know/care if you got extras), and you have to buy your drink separately.
3. For less than $8 you get any of their sandwiches on a hero, a small bag of chips and a bottle of water or can of soda.
4. With the unfortunate closing of Munchiez, Simon's is the next best thing because it's open late on most nights and the "Chubby Subbys" are close substitutes to the "Fat Sandwiches."
5. They always have special deals and raffles going on - follow them on Twitter!

Chicken from the Dirty South on a hero

Two small salads

Cons:
1. You can't use flex dollars at Simon's, so it costs real money.
2. You have to spend at least $10 if you want to use a credit card.
3. One of the employees tends to screw up orders (unless it's just me and for some reason my order confuses him).
4. I've never gotten Simon's delivered, but I've heard that they are very slow.


So if you're looking to avoid Sodexo for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or late at night, Simon's is definitely a great option. Their food tastes good, they have a lot of healthy options, they are reasonably priced and they are close to school =)

Guacamole: The Ultimate Crowd Pleaser

Do you love guacamole? Try making it yourself! Do you hate guacamole? Again, I urge you to try making it yourself! Some of my friends didn't like guacamole, until I made it for them. I actually hated guacamole until a few years ago, when I went to a Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood that made fresh guacamole in front of you. Homemade guacamole is infinitely better than the mush you get from a jar or from most restaurants. And the best part is, it's so simple! 

Guacamole I made for the Super Bowl, with two avocados and no tomatoes.

**I don't measure the ingredients when I make guacamole, and I don't really think it's important to. You can add more or less of any ingredient depending on your preferences in taste. The pictures that accompany this post show approximate portions of ingredients that I used to make guacamole using only one avocado. 


Ingredients:
Avocado
Fresh cilantro
Small yellow or white onion
Jalapeño pepper
Lime
Salt
Tomatoes (optional)


Here's how it's done:
• Cut open the avocado, remove the skin and pit.
• Slice and mash the avocado in a bowl until it is mushy. Small chunks of avocado are okay, in fact they are preferred.
• Finely chop some cilantro leaves. The stems are bitter and should be removed as best as possible. 

• Finely chop some of the onion.

• Finley chop some of the pepper. The seeds are what makes it hot, so if you're not looking for heat, don't put those in!

• Now that the ingredients are all chopped and ready to use, begin adding them to the mashed avocado, one by one, and mixing them in. 
     • The cilantro should go in first, because it is the most distinguishing factor between fresh and store-bought guacamole.
**Be sure not to add all of what you have chopped right from the start! If you're unhappy with the flavor you can always add more of something, but you cannot take it out.
• Add freshly squeezed lime juice. (About a quarter of a lime should do for one avocado.)
• Add salt to taste.
• If you choose to add tomatoes, they should only be added when you are ready to serve.


Once you master it and share it with your friends they'll be begging you to make guacamole for every occasion!


PS. When guacamole is left out for a while, like at a party, it can turn brown. Fear not! Add a bit more fresh lime juice, mix it up, and enjoy :)

Valentine's Day

I have night class on Tuesday nights, and I don't get out until 8:30. So I told my boyfriend that I wanted to order food from Bellini's (which I will be doing an entry on in the near future) instead of actually going out, because after class I would have needed to shower, do my hair and make up, etc. and it would have been 9:30 or later by the time we made it out to Arthur Ave. to go to a restaurant. He said okay to Bellini's, but instead he surprised me with this...

Clearly this photo has been edited, but the food wasn't photoshopped.
I just wanted to cover up my boyfriend's somewhat messy apartment.

It's homemade penne alla vodka and homemade garlic bread! And when I say homemade garlic bread I mean homemade. He actually spent all day making the dough and baking and making the garlic dipping sauce to put over it. Also on the table is a bottle of [yellow tail] Bubbles Sparkling Rosé Wine. Even though it costs less than $10.00, it's still very good, as are many of the other wines that [yellow tail] has to offer.


*I'm only going to include the recipe for the penna alla vodka, because the goal of this blog was to give recipes for quick and simple dishes that any college student could prepare regardless of previous cooking experience. The garlic bread, while delicious, is very time consuming, and not something that an average college student wants to spend their day preparing.


Ingredients:
1 jar of marinara sauce
1 cup of vodka
1/2 cup of heavy cream
Salt & pepper to taste
Penne pasta


Here's how it's done:
• In a medium sauce pan, combine the marinara sauce and the vodka.
• Bring it to a simmer for about 20 minutes, while stirring sauce throughout that time.
• Add heavy cream to pan and stir. Also add salt & pepper to taste.
• Let sauce simmer for about another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile:

• Bring water to boil in a pot large enough to hold desired amount of pasta.

• Once water is boiled, pour penne in.

• Cook for about 5-8 minutes, or until the pasta is as soft as you'd like it.

• Strain immediately (pasta will continue to cook in the hot water).

And then:

• Once both the penne and the vodka sauce are ready, combine them in the saucepan.

• Stir the penne around the pan to make sure it all gets coated with sauce.

Put all the food on plates, set up your table however you like, and surprise someone you love with this wonderful homemade meal! Put on a favorite TV show or movie while you eat and enjoy :)

Cliché Super Bowl Wing Post

Well the Super Bowl was yesterday, so naturally today's post is about wings and other game day foods. Personally, I hate football and couldn't care less about the game, (I'm sorry if that shocked and/or offended anyone) but I've always loved Super Bowl parties and the food that comes along with them. My friends and I started off the night with plenty of different chips. 

Tostitos, Nacho Cheese Doritos, Wavy Lays, Spicy Nacho Doritos
Salsa, homemade guacamole

We got the rest of our food from Planet Wings on E 187th street (only about five blocks from Fordham). There were twelve of us so we went with their "Hail Mary" Super Bowl Special. That's 150 wings (in 6 different flavors) and 20 chicken fingers. We added two orders of french fries, two orders of curly fries and two orders of mozzarella sticks. 

Cajun, Mild, BBQ
Chipotle BBQ, Hot, Medium

All of the wings were delicious. The most popular of the night were the BBQ (all of them went), followed closely by the Cajun (only 2 were left). The mild were the least popular, mainly because we only ordered them for one friend who sweats profusely when he eats spicy foods.

We absolutely devoured the sides! The chicken fingers were delicious. The fries were all really crispy despite being in the styrofoam containers for a while. The mozzarella sticks were my least favorite item. They tasted like frozen store-brand mozzarella sticks & really weren't up to par with the rest of the food.


My boyfriend and I sometimes order from Planet Wings on nights when we're too tired or busy to cook. We prefer to get boneless wings, but for the Super Bowl they were only making classic wings. They have more than just wings too. Their menu is filled with various other foods including salads, burgers, and even some Mexican dishes. They deliver, so you'll never have to actually go there. You don't even have to call to order your food, you can order online from their website. There are 25 Planet Wings locations in New York and New Jersey, so there may even be one near you! 


Whether it's game day or just a day when you're craving wings I would definitely recommend ordering Planet Wings. Their food is fantastic and they are pretty reasonably priced!

Self Expression through Fajitas

Chicken fajitas with white rice & red beans.


Fajitas are so simple to make because only three things actually need to be cooked: the chicken, the rice and the beans. It gets even easier when you use the boil-a-bag rice! Fajitas are actually a fun way to express yourself based on what you choose to put inside them. You can make them spicy, super cheesy, plain, topped with everything you've got, or anything in between. I personally like to put chicken, cheese, lettuce, salsa and guacamole in mine, and sometimes I put the rice and beans in the fajita, but like I said, what you do with your fajita is entirely your choice.


Ingredients:
Chicken
Adobo
White rice
Red Goya beans
1 packet of sazón
Sofrito
Tomato paste
1 tbs vegetable oil
Tortillas
Toppings (cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pepper, hot sauce, salsa, guacamole, sour cream...literally whatever you want)

Here's how it's done:
• In a medium pot, heat 1 tbs of oil on low flame for 15 seconds.
• Add 1 packet of sazón, then fill packet with hot water & add that to pan.
• Add 3-4 spoonfuls of Sofrito.
• Add 2-3 spoonfuls of tomato paste.
• Let it all simmer for 15-20 seconds.
• Strain beans before adding them to pot.
• Fill bean can halfway with water & add to pot.
• Raise flame & boil.
• Once it boils, lower the flame and let simmer, stirring occasionally until ready to serve.


Meanwhile:
• In a small pot, boil water for rice. Once water is boiling, put bag of rice in the pot. Remove the rice when the water boils again (about 10 minutes).
• While making the rice, start cooking the chicken.
• Put either Pam or butter in pan, season chicken with Adobo while it cooks.
• Make sure chicken is fully cooked, cut into strips and it's ready for your fajitas!


Load up your fajitas with the chicken and whatever toppings you see fit. You can even throw the rice and beans in there if you want! Roll it up and enjoy :)

Savory Steak with a Simple side

Marinated cube steak and tri-color rotini pasta. 

Don't get freaked out by the seemingly random assortment of ingredients for the marinade! I normally stray away from trying new things, but my boyfriend made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious, and doesn't taste anything like that ketchup, salt and pepper concoction you used to make at the end of dinner when you were a kid. The pasta is pretty simple and can be replaced with any kind of pasta you like with any kind of sauce you like. 

Ingredients:

Cube steak (3-4 pieces)

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

Tri-color rotini

Pecorino Romano cheese

Black pepper

Here's how it's done:

• Combine the ketchup, vegetable oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic powder in a bowl and stir until oil is mixed in well.

• Pour marinade into ziplock bag with steak and let sit in refrigerator for 4 hours.

• Cover a pan with cooking spray. Cook each piece of steak over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile:

• Bring water to boil in a pot large enough to hold desired amount of pasta.

• Once water is boiled, pour pasta in.

• Cook for about 5-8 minutes, or until the pasta is as soft as you'd like it.

• Strain immediately (pasta will continue to cook in the hot water).

• Add whatever sauce or cheese you like.

Put it all on your plate and enjoy :)