Pumpkin is the flavor of fall! From pumpkin flavored coffees to pumpkin desserts, it is always a welcoming and comforting treat. This amazing gluten free recipe combining pumpkin in your favorite coffee mug is easily made and can satisfy your fall pumpkin crave!
Ingredients:
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tbs maple syrup
1 tbs milk or almond milk
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Directions:
Mix all ingredients up in a mug. Microwave for 3 minutes or until cooked (it will still look moist in the center)
That’s it!!! This recipe is very quick and easy to make. Fall never tasted so good!!
En route to Shake Shack on Newbury Street, I turned around to see a young man in a green apron waving at me.
“Uh, usually I do…” I said, gesturing towards the holy mecca of burgers that I had been fantasizing about all day.
He laughed. “Can I have a minute of your time?”
Usually I don’t stop to talk to people selling things on the street. After engaging in a two-hour conversation with a Green Peace worker, I had learned my lesson. But SJ promised he would be quick.
SJ was a representative for Hello Fresh, an international company that offers healthy meal plans and delivers boxes full of fresh ingredients to make recipes developed by British celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver. Each week, users can select three step-by-step recipes out of several to have delivered to their homes. Each box contains enough ingredients to make food for either two or four people.
After listening to SJ’s spiel, I decided to try a discounted trial of Hello Fresh. I had been living in an apartment all summer with full access to a kitchen, but my cooking had been limited to frozen food or various forms of pasta. Cognizant of the fact that I will be a real adult as of May 2017, I realized that I needed to learn to cook actual, fresh food sooner rather than later. Especially meat—I am not a vegetarian, but I definitely did not like handling meat. As a result, when left to my own devices, I tended not to eat it because I didn’t like, nor knew how, to cook it.
Hoping to become more comfortable in the kitchen, I ordered the Classic box for two people, although I was very nearly tempted by the Vegetarian box. The following Monday, a large box filled with fresh ingredients and dry ice arrived at my doorstep. Each recipe’s ingredients were separated into labeled boxes, and only the bare minimum of each ingredient was provided, so as to minimize waste.
I made beef and snap pea stir-fry and chipotle-glazed pork chops with garlic-mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli. My third recipe was for pesto chicken skewers, but I did not have time to make them, so I gave the ingredients to a friend for her to make. Each recipe came with step-by-step directions, with a picture for each step. This made the recipes very easy to follow. I also loved not having to go to the grocery store to get all the ingredients. Before getting Hello Fresh, grocery shopping had been half the battle for me to actually cook something. Having it all right there allowed me to focus on my cooking skills, especially with meat. By following the simple directions in each recipe, I realized that cooking was not as stressful as I once found it. In no time, I was sautéing pork chops like a pro.
To be honest, I was shocked by how little time it took me to make these dishes—and how good something that I had made all by myself tasted! There were certainly a few missteps along the way—I cut my finger peeling ginger and ended up undercooking my potatoes so that I had to put them in a blender to mash them—but both dishes were not only edible, but also delicious. However, I thought the portions allotted by Hello Fresh were quite small; I could have easily eaten all the food that was supposed to be for two people if I were really hungry.
Despite the small portions, my overall experience using Hello Fresh was positive. I definitely became more comfortable cooking for myself and for others, and was able to eat healthfully in the process. When days of HUDS and dining halls are long behind me as an adult, I could certainly see myself using Hello Fresh again.
Step 1: Place the ground beef in the pan and turn the heat on high. Use the spatula or fork to break the meat into smaller pieces, as small as possible. After about ten minutes, all the meat should be brown.
Optional Step 1.5: If you want low fat tacos, you can remove the excess fat using a paper towel and replenish the moisture with approximately 1 cup of water. Let most of this water absorb into the meat before moving on to step 2.
Step 2: Lower the temperature to medium. Add taco seasoning mix and stir it into the meat.
Step 3: Warm your shell of choice for 30 seconds in the microwave.
Step 4: Take your shell of choice, fill it with your seasoned meat, and add your toppings of choice.
On a night when there was no pizza to be found in the dining hall (a very sad night indeed), I struggled to put food on my plate that seemed appetizing. And then – genius struck. I could make my own pizza! I poached some marinara sauce from the spaghetti station while I waited for my bagels to toast, and asked the grille for two slices of cheese. Just a few minutes later, I was enjoying my pizza bagel while my blockmates drooled in jealousy. Soon, they too made their own pizza bagels, and together we marveled at how delicious they are, yet so easy to make. So the next time you are at a loss for what to eat for lunch or dinner, consider the pizza bagel. It won’t let you down!
You’ll need:
A bagel, cut into halves (use either plain or whole grain)
Marinara sauce
Cheese (either from the sandwich bar or from the grille)
Bacon or other toppings that you think would make your pizza bagel even better (optional)
Toast the bagel until it is well-toasted (a little more than golden brown). You want to ensure that it will not get soggy when you put the marinara sauce on it. Then, add the marinara sauce, about a spoonful for each half, or more depending on your preference. If you are adding toppings, place them on top of the marinara sauce. Place one slice of cheese on each half. Put the prepared pizza bagel into the microwave for 20-30 seconds or until the cheese is sufficiently melted. Wait for the pizza bagel to cool for as long as your self-control will allow you (no more than a few minutes though, thank god) and enjoy!
The number one thing I crave at school (besides sleep) is home-cooked food. Don’t get me wrong, HUDS has some clutch items on their menu. But nothing compares to a meal made from scratch with love.
You can find this simple delight at Cabot Culinaries, a student group in Cabot made up of people who really just want to cook and eat some good food. I usually fall in the category of people who show up just for dinner, after all of the cooking is already done. But I decided to take initiative and become an active player in my meals, rather than a passive eater. Cabot Culinaries met this past Saturday to cook an incredible meal: beet, arugula, and goat cheese salad, roasted spiced cauliflower and asparagus, home made gnocchi made two ways (I couldn’t make this up), rhubarb bars, and coconut mousse. Naturally, I was in charge of the easiest dish – the cauliflower and asparagus recipe that my mom texted me, then called to ensure that I understood, then texted again demanding updates because she has a reputation to uphold. I quickly realized that I was in the kitchen with some seriously experienced cooks. One whisked together an amazing balsamic vinaigrette while another actually made gnocchi starting from scratch. Meanwhile, I was struggling to break cauliflower into florets. It’s more physically exhausting than you would think.
Overall, we had about 12 people help cook the meal and over 20 eating. I was so stressed out at the thought of 20 people eating food that I made, but all of that stress fell away with my first bite of salad. Everything was so fresh and delicious and, not to brag, but I didn’t even burn the roasted vegetables. So I would call it a success.
Coming from California, it is sometimes hard to go for long stretches of time without any home-cooked food. Cabot Culinaries helped me get my home-cooked fix and get over my fear for cooking for a lot of people. That being said, it didn’t help me conquer my laziness. I think I’ll rest for now – at least until the next Culinaries comes around.
Today, I ventured down to the depths of Northwest Labs to attend a Thai food cooking class. Led by a Thai chef, the class was filled with a diverse mix of people including hungry college students like me, grad students, as well as old people. After a swift safety briefing, we familiarized ourselves with the authentic Thai ingredients, utensils, and layout of the cooking lab, a neat and comfortable space.
Following the instructions of our instructor chef as well as the recipe, we got to work. Chopping vegetables and mixing sauces, I was glad to get my hands dirty with some Thai spices. My partners prepared the vermicelli noodles. Mixing it all together, the fresh peppers, hint of spice and succulent noodles combined to create a wonderful dish. I could hardly believe that I had cooked it myself!
Next, we started preparing the curry by warming some coconut milk. The fragrance bubbling up from the pot was enough to make my mouth water. With my stomach growling, we added dollops of spice and sauces, plopped in some tofu, tomatoes and pineapples, and brought the curry to a gentle boil. Once the consistency was just right, we sprinkled some basil to finish it off.
The taste was amazing, to say the least. Perhaps the fact that we had cooked it from scratch had heightened my senses. The curry was just the right amount of spicy, creamy and silky smoothness. The warm and soft tofu complemented the sharp sweetness of the pineapple. Drizzled over jasmine rice, the dish was a huge success.
Overall, I immensely enjoyed the experience. Not only did I learn how to make some great curry, I also learned to appreciate food, and real food. These days, we consume so many processed and pre-cooked foods, that we often forget where food comes from. By partaking in the process of transforming fruit, vegetables and grain to a delightful dish, my eyes were opened to the true nature of food. Perhaps that’s a little too cheesy, but hey, at least I got the best curry recipe under my belt.
There are a lot of reasons I wanted to try the new Oatmeal-Coffee craze – it solves the problem of not drinking coffee on an empty stomach, it might add flavour to otherwise dreary oatmeal, it is cheap, easy, and quick to make – but the number one reason why I wanted to try oatmeal-coffee is how absolutely strange it sounds. I am not an adventurous eater, but I am a curious one. I wonder what drew people to try replacing the water in oatmeal with coffee, and what led them to keep doing it. Here are the three D-Hall coffee substitutions of oatmeal.
1. Ingredients:
Seattle’s Best Coffee Signature Blend No 4 Decaf Medium-Dark Rich and Quaker Oats
Flavor:
Bitter from the first time the spoon touched my palate, decaffeinated Oatmeal – Coffee is definitely for people who enjoy the taste of coffee. Not my cup of tea (or coffee) but definitely the perfect oatmeal for a coffee lover.
Personal rating: B-
2. Ingredients:
Seattle’s Best Coffee Signature Blend No 4 Medium-Dark Rich and Quaker Oats
Flavor:
When swallowed quickly, it tastes like normal oatmeal. The longer it sits in my mouth, the more bitter it is. Still, every time I finish a spoonful I want another bite. I do not understand what the draw is, but I cannot stop eating it. I definitely had both more oatmeal and coffee together than I would have of either on their own.
Personal rating: B +
3. Ingredients:
Seattle’s Best Coffee Vanilla and Quaker Oats
Flavor:
Sweet with only slight undertones of coffee flavoring. Vanilla Oatmeal-Coffee tastes almost identical to lightly sweetened oatmeal.
I’m getting my sweet tooth back after a winter of warm soups and comfort food. I’m craving something frozen, with whipped cream, cookies, and peanuts….like a hot fudge sundae! This Peanut Butter Oreo Icebox Cake takes the traditional hot fudge sundae to the next level. It is easy, NO BAKE, all gluten-free, and I promise you will enjoy it. Have fun with this one! You can use many different toppings like peanuts, strawberries, M&M’s, chocolate chips, and caramel or hot fudge sauces.
Ingredients:
1 16oz container Cool Whip or other nondairy whipped topping
1 ½ cups peanut butter, crunchy or creamy (it is easiest to use a creamier based peanut butter for mixing and spreading purposes)
¾ cup fudge sauce
¼-1/3 cup crushed peanuts
2 boxes gluten free Oreo cookies (I use Glutino brand)
8 x 8 aluminum baking pan lined with non-stick tin foil
Preparation:
Create four rows of Oreos along the bottom of the aluminum pan
In a separate bowl, mix the Cool Whip and peanut butter until totally combined
Spread ½ of the peanut butter mixture over the Oreo’s, then top with another layer of Oreo’s
Drizzle ½ cup of the fudge sauce over top
Spread on the remaining peanut butter mixture and drizzle on top the remaining fudge sauce
Crumble all the remaining Oreo’s and sprinkle them, along with the peanuts or other toppings, over the top
7. Place in refrigerator 4-8 hours, or preferably in freezer for 3-4 hours
8. Slice and enjoy!
Spring has sprung, and it’s great to enjoy a gluten-free frozen treat that is so easy to make and tastes great!!!!!
We’ve all been there – you walk into the dining hall, and nothing really piques your appetite. You could settle for a salad, but that’s hardly satisfying. You could splurge and eat out, but you don’t want to spend money. What to do?
Fortunately, there’s a third option that’s ALWAYS available: make your own meal. More specifically, make your own fried rice.
Fried rice is unbelievably easy to make. At home, my family often makes it with whatever ingredients are at hand: rice (of course), steamed vegetables, egg, leftover meat. Here’s my dhall version of fried rice.
(Feel free to add, remove, or change any part or the recipe! Everything is entirely up to you and your tastes.)
I’ve always loved peanut butter – so much so, in fact, that for my 11th birthday I asked for peanut butter as a present. I also really like cookies. Put the two together, and you achieve perfection: peanut butter cookies are heavenly. Unfortunately, they’re also nowhere to be found in the dining halls. To date, I only remember HUDS serving peanut butter cookies twice, and they were a far cry from the melt-in-your-mouth masterpieces found at places like Insomnia Cookies. It’s culinary discrimination. Chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin get their fair representation, but when that peanut-butter-cookie craving strikes, where can a desperate student turn?
They say that desperation is the mother of invention, and this article is about to prove that saying true.
Plain, boring ranger cookies
I think inspiration struck one night in Dunster dining hall. Brain break featured a tray of Ranger cookies, a sugary offering to the bleary-eyed students running on three hours of sleep. While Ranger cookies do have strong points, such as their satisfying crunch and slight hint of coconut, they obviously lack peanut butter. I picked up a cookie. My gaze landed on the ever-present container of peanut butter at brain breaks. I smeared a plump dollop of peanut butter onto the cookie, hesitantly took a bite, and…
Sweet, sweet success.
The creamy peanut butter provides perfect contrast to the crunch of the Ranger cookie. It also makes overbaked and dry cookies seem softer, more soothing on the tongue. Both organic peanut butter and normal peanut butter work; since the cookie contains more sugar than is probably necessary, the organic peanut butter will also taste sweet.
crimsoncrave.com 