House Keeping :)

I'm going to be changing my URL to collegefoodexperiments.blogspot.com sometime next week. I wanted to post for the few of you that do read my blog :)

Also I revamped the main page. You like?

Fruit Pie

This weekend I went home to celebrate my sisters 18th birthday. I wish I brought my camera to post the massive amounts of food. Since my sister loves eating healthy, there was a lot of fruit at the party, ergo I brought home a lot of fruit. I didn't want the fruit to go bad, because I know I tend to have a habit of forgetting I have fruit. So I tried to make something healthy. Here it goes:

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Cream Cheese & Yogurt Fruit Pie

Filling:

• 1 oz package of cream cheese
• 1 - 1.5 cup fat free yogurt
• 1-1.5 cup confectionery sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Crust:
I tried this recipe. I was stingy on the cookies so put a layer of non crushed cookies at the bottom and added the crust that I mangled on top.

Fruit:
Kiwis, Strawberries, Grapes, Anything you can think of!

1. Make the crust accordingly. If I make this again I'm just going to buy a premade graham cracker crust. I think it would taste awesome.

2. In a large bowl, mix the filling ingredients. It should have a pudding-like consistency. When the crust comes out and is cooled, pour in the filling. Add your fruit on top. Sprinkle some cinnamon for decoration.. and awesome taste



OVERALL: Again, wow. The filling is really awesome. It has a wonderful flavor of vanilla with a little zing of lemon. The texture is creamier than yogurt but still light enough that you don't feel heavy after eating. When you are making it, make sure you taste the filling. I wasn't sure on the measurements as far as the Confectionery sugar and yogurt because I was adding yogurt if the mixture was too sweet and sugar if it wasn't sweet enough. But I hope this is healthy enough that my sister would eat this :)

Some other ideas, that I had half way through making this is maybe just having cookies on the bottom and the filling would soak up in the cookies? Sounds awesome to me.

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On a completely unrelated note, I brought back a crock pot. Anyone know any good recipes?

Chicken in Lemon White Wine Sauce

Chicken In Lemon White Wine Sauce

1 Chicken Breast
Flour for dredging, mixed with paprika & 1 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup water (or chicken broth, but I didn't have any)
2 cloves of garlic
Juice of 2 lemons
Spaghetti

1. In a separate pan, make the spaghetti according to the instructions.
2. Heat a large sauce pan with a little bit of oil. I DIDN'T DO THIS BUT NEXT TIME I WILL. Cook the chicken, allowing the chicken to get crispy.
3. In a large sauce pan, heat the wine & water. Add in garlic and Lemon juice. I added a little flour to thicken the sauce. Put the cook chicken in the sauce. Add the spaghetti. Let cook on low for about 7-8 minutes.

OVERALL: So I loved the flavor. You can see I added some paprika to the chicken itself post cooking. But wow, adding the pasta in gave it such great flavor, I would have just eaten that. I didn't cook the chicken separately, allowing it to get crispy(er). But I was happy with it for tonight.

Gameday Smores and Exciting Prizes :)

So I joined a wonderful Food Blog Site, and I won a prize just for being there! It's actually the first prize I've every won (yay!). Above is the nifty little pin as well as a very sweet card.

Sadly I haven't had much time to cook. I've been trying to save money, dealing with relationship drama, and studying for my exams next week. Tomorrow though is the UF vs. Tenn game, and I've been invited to a few parties. I made some insanely good smores via Hershey's suggestions.

S'Mores Cereal Squares

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 4 (1.55 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bars, broken into pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-1/2 cups honey graham cereal
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows

1. Butter 8-inch square pan.

2. Cook syrup to boiling in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat or place in large microwave-safe bowl and microwave at HIGH (100%) 1 minute or to boiling. Remove from heat or microwave oven; add chocolate pieces and vanilla, stirring until chocolate is melted. Gradually fold in cereal until coated with chocolate. Fold in marshmallows.

3. Press mixture into prepared pan; refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Cut into squares. Cover; refrigerate leftover squares to retain crispness. 24 squares.

OVERALL: They are still in the fridge cooling, but OH. My. God. Chandler Bing. I nibbled on some leftovers on the spoon and it was so good. Plus it took about 5 minutes to make.

Lime Chicken

From time to time I post recipes I find online, which I plan to make. Tonight I modified this chicken wings recipe. I personally don't like chicken wings, so instead I used 2 chicken breasts. And 86'ed the Avocado dip... because I didn't have any avocados

Lime Chicken Breast

4 cloves garlic, chopped (I actually used a teaspoon of minced garlic, because we didn't have any fresh garlic)
1/4 cup vegetables oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 limes, juiced
2 Chicken Breasts
1/2 lime, zested
Optional 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced

1. Mix the oil, tomato paste, salt, honey, lime juice, & lime zest together. Let the chicken Marinade overnight.

2. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a 8x8 pan with tinfoil. Cook the chicken for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes take the chicken out, cover the pan with tinfoil and cook for a remaining 10 minutes.

OVERALL: Wow. The recipe called to marinade overnight, but seeing as I didn't read that until after I had eaten, I only marinaded the chicken for about 20 minutes. The flavor was wonderful. I probably used the zest of a whole lime, instead of the half recommended. But I was very impressed with the flavors. Also, baking the chicken is a healthier way to make. Normally the chicken I bake tends to be on the dry side, so I covered the baking pan 2/3rds of the way through, hoping it would steam the chicken to prevent drying out. Well, the chicken wasn't dry so yay!

Definitely will be making this again!

Cresent Rolls are good for SO many Things.

One of the things I like to do when shopping is stock up on Buy One Get One Free offers. This week, Pillsbury Crescent Rolls were the choice of the week.

Ideas to spice up your Crescent rolls:

Pizza Rolls
1/2 cup of your favorite red sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
Optional: Mix in some Parmesano cheese as well.

So this isn't an original idea by any standards. However, it's easy enough to make for a quick snack for hungry college students or a kids sleepover. Be careful not to add too much sauce to the mixture, it WILL leak out and make cleaning a pain (so spray with pam)

Pigs In a Blanket!!!
Favorite Mini Weiners (haha...) or sausages.

This is really a classic example. Roll the hotdog (I prefer sausage) in the roll. These would go great with an egg breakfast or a kids sleepover party.

Jelly Belly
1/2 cup favorite jelly.

This is something my mom use to do in the mornings when we didn't have time for a big breakfast. Take your favorite jelly (Grape, Strawberry, Apricot, Red Current, Pumpkin, etc...) and brush the jelly on the rolls before you roll them. This recipe is a bit messy to clean up so make sure to spray with Pam.

Nutella Rolls.
1/2 Cup Nutella.
Favorite Fruits to eat with (Strawberries, Raspberries, Bananas)

This is the only recipe that you actually bake the rolls as normal. Once they are done, cut them in half (like a sandwich) and spread the nutella. Honestly, if You haven't tried Nutella it's an amazing indulgence.

Mexican Delights
chedder cheese
Diced Jalopenos



The Beauty of all of these is it only takes 10-13 minutes. There is one pan to clean up. And Most of these ingredients are already in your pantry. Most importantly, it's very inexpensive and can be substituted for a meal.

Red Wine Chicken

Red Wine Chicken
adapted from this recipe

Chicken:
2 Chicken Breast
1 cup Flour
2 tbsp Paprika
2 tbsp Hot Chili Powder

Sauce
1 Cup Red Wine
Half an Onion, sliced thinly
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water or Chicken Broth

1. Set up a station to dredge (or dip) the chicken into the flour/paprika/chili powder mix. Make sure the chicken is thoroughly coated. Heat up a medium size pan with oil. When the oil is ready drop the chicken in and let it cook for about 3 minutes on each side. The chicken will continue cooking throughout this meal.

2. Remove the chicken. Drain the oil, saving a very small amount. Add the wine, brown sugar, water/chicken broth, and onions. Let this boil for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken. Cook covered for about 15 minutes.

On a side note, I sliced up a potato and sauteed in oil with some pepper for about 10 minutes.

Overall: I know the red wine cooking with chicken isn't ideal. Red Wines are much better with beef and maybe pork. However, I don't eat that. My roommates parents brought us 2 bottles of red wine because the kitchen has a large collection of wine bottles displayed, from the old roommate, not me. Not wanting to be rude, I accepted the wine. Too bad no one in the apartment drinks wine.

Onto the chicken. I suppose I would have marinaded the chicken in some red wine for about 20 minutes before cooking? I don't know, there wasn't a lot of flavor in the chicken for me. It actually tasted better the second day! This meal was easy enough to make and didn't require constantly being at the stove. I've never cooked with wine before so I don't know if the lack of powerful flavor is something normal. I would make this chicken again though, with some modifications. Any suggestions?

Sweet Potato Fries

Good News. I got my Camera back :) So this was my dinner tonight. The top are my Favorite carrots to make. The Bottom Right is sauteed Honey Teriyaki marinaded chicken. And the the bottom left is my experiment.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 Sweet Potatoes: Cut into steak fries.
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Nutmeg

1. Spread the cut sweet potato onto a baking sheet. Try not to have them overlap.
2. Melt Butter in microwave. After melted, mix in Honey, Nutmeg, and Cinnamon.
3. Take a Brush (or a spoon) and cover the sweet potatoes in butter mixture.
4. In a 375 degree oven, put the sweet potatoes in for 20-25 minutes.

OVERALL: So I kinda messed up on the sweet potatoes. I Put the oven on at 400, which I realized was too hot, so about 5 minutes after them being in I turned it down to 375. Also, I just bought a new baking pan and am still not use to working with it. That being said the bottoms of the potatoes came out burnt :( However, that being said, the flavor was awesome, very much like a sweet potato pie. Most recipes use paprika for these fries, but being that I don't have any I opted to listen to my sweet tooth.

On a side note, I've been buying pre-packaged perdue chicken and I have to say that this chicken has a weird flavor & texture that I am not fond of.

Internet Recipes

So I'm back in school, living in an apartment with basically NO cooking pans, spices, bakeware, utensils, and all that important stuff. I just purchased a 7 piece cooking set, along with a basic set of knives and other kitchen necessities. I still don't have my camera with me. On this lovely labor day, I've decided to clean out some of the internet recipes that I've been saving to make by posting them on here:

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P.F. Changs Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Now, I've never made these, so I don't know if the recipe is good, there's a lot of items that I would have to go buy because a college kitchen normally doesn't have sesame oil... but if these are anything like what P.F. Changs serves, they are insanely good....

Chicken Florentine. Oh Paula Deen. Your fattening chicken florentine cassarole looks too good to pass up. I've been looking for some chicken cassarole dishes, because they are easy... and easy is important when I'm craming for exams.

Soups Galore!. Here is a site that contains about 100 soup recipes. Some favorites for me are Pumpkin, Thai Wonton Soup with Shitake Mushrooms, and Strawberry Soup In Melon Bowls.

Lime Marinated Chicken Wings with Avacado dip. Now I would just use this as a marinade for regular chicken breast, or chicken cutlets. I'm really not a fan of chicken wings.

Chicken and Mango Skewers. haha I can use my Cuisinart Grill. Pwned.

Pumpkin Cup Pies. Yeah I am a Pumpkin Fiend. I can't tell you how much I love November because Pumpkin comes back in Fashion!


Thats all for now. Now let's see if I can actually make these things :)