Moving away from home to face making your own food instead of having home cooked meals made by your mom is tough. The College Survival team wanted to help make your life a little easier by sharing recipes and stories related to dorm life. I hope at least one of these recipes or stories speaks to you. Maybe you’ll even take some of these life lessons and recipes with you to college. Enjoy!
Air Fryer Debacle 2021
My freshman year of college I almost got kicked out of my dorm and banned from all dorms on campus. Let me tell you how that happened. I lived in a popular on campus building freshman year as one does. If you don’t know, living on campus comes with many rules. The anxious person I am I read most of the rules prior to arriving to school. The biggest rules being, no smoking in dorms (duh), no candles, and NO AIR FRYERS. Well let me tell you my three other roommates did not care about any of those rules. There was an air fryer in the kitchen, candles in their rooms, and they probably smoked inside. The air fryer situation wasn’t bad though because it was in our kitchen where no one could see it, expect for when inspections came around. I’m not sure if they decided not to read the email notice about inspections or if they read it and didn’t care. So inspections roll around and we get hit with a notice to remove any illegal items from our dorm immediately, and we have one more chance to pass the inspection. I am so upset by this notice that I tell me roommates to keep the air fryer that is not my property out of the common areas and out of sight. Well I bet you can guess what happened next… they don’t put it away and we get hit with a failed dorm inspection. I get a paper notice of failure to comply with on campus living rules, and an email that there is a trial to determine who was in the wrong. Of course I jump at the opportunity to speak my peace, because I did not want the air fryer in the first place. During the trial I tell the housing people I did not buy the air fryer and I did not want it around. They tell me I will most likely get this failure removed from my student account, but they have to talk to the rest of my roommates first. Well I did not escape the charges and I was forced to write a multi page apology to the housing people about how I put others in my building in danger. If I failed to complete that letter in time they threatened to remove me from my on campus housing and not allow me to live on campus again. Morale of the story hide your air fryer during inspections, I mean don’t bring one period wink. Now here is a quesadilla made two ways, one with an air fryer and one without.
Quesadilla Recipe
Ingredients:
1-2 full size flour tortillas
1 bag of shredded cheese of your choice
Optional:
1 Tbsp of butter
Tools needed:
Microwave or Air Fryer
Microwave safe plate
Instructions:
If you are planning to use a microwave the first step is to get a microwave safe plate. Lay out the tortilla or tortillas on the plate. Cover one side or one half of the tortilla with shredded cheese. Close the tortilla by laying the second tortilla on top or by folding the tortilla shut. Heat in microwave at 30 sec intervals until warm and cheese is melty. If you are having trouble melting the cheese uncover the cheese part and microwave it for a bit then close the quesadilla back up and heat it one more time. Serve with a jar of salsa or eat it as is.
*If using an air fryer do the same instructions above but cook it in the air fryer with some butter on the outer part of the tortilla. You can heat it for a few minutes until it’s golden brown and crispy.
The Tuna Smell Scandal:
Freshman year of college I lived in a dorm with 3 people. We weren’t that close and they were random roommates. One day I noticed there was a smell in the apartment after coming back from class. I thought it was coming from the pile of dirty dishes left in the sink by my roommates. Or maybe it was the over flowing trash cans all over the dorm. But it oddly smelled like fish, tuna fish to be exact. I blamed my roommates for wreaking of tuna fish for a few days. They all said whoever smelt it dealt it, hahaha, just kidding. They told me they smelled it too, but it wasn’t them causing the smell. I couldn’t believe them, I just kept thinking it was them. Then after a few days I decided the smell has got to go, so cleaned up the entire common area. At last the source of the smell was uncovered, and I was the perpetrator. An empty can of tuna fell behind the trash bin and was just releasing the fishy scent. I know I’m the bad guy, but in my defense I normally take the tuna trash out right after making tuna salad. I think the day I made it I was running late so I couldn’t mess with the trash and I just threw it in an over flowing trash can. Don’t worry I explained what happened to my roommates and apologized. Water under the bridge, at least I think it was. If that story didn’t traumatize you here is a recipe for tuna salad, if it did then you can make chicken salad instead.
Tuna Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
1 can of Tuna or Chicken
4 Tbsp of Mayo
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Pepper
Optional:
1/2 of a White Onion Diced
Sub 1/2 Tsp of Old Bay for Salt
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
Tools Needed:
Bowl
Fork or spoon
Can opener
Measuring spoons
Trash bin with room in it
Instructions:
First step is get a bowl and fork or spoon out. Then you will want to open the canned tuna or chicken over a sink. You can rinse the canned meats under the water in a strainer or in the can and close the lid to drain it. Next scoop out the canned meat into the bowl and break up the meat with a fork or spoon. Then add all of the ingredients listed above. Give it a good mix and if it needs more Mayo add a spoon full at a time. Then serve with crackers or as a tuna salad sandwich. Please note to take out the smelly tuna can trash ASAP.
Pasta Massacre:
For our last story and recipe I have a gross tale, and great meal to share. This story takes place freshman year in dorm on campus, of course. One lovely evening after being out eating at a local favorite, Texas Roadhouse, me and my friends came back to the dorm to see a surprise. Before I get into what the surprise was I need to give a little background. My friends and I met because we lived in the same dorm building, but all on different floors. There are two elevators, on two different sides of the building, I always took the elevator in the right entrance, unless I was with them. So we all walk to the left entrance elevator as we do when we are together and we’re instantly met with a shock. There is spaghetti with red sauce every where. When I say every where I mean every where. The entire lobby area outside of the elevator is covered ceiling to floor. We are trying to avoid getting red sauce on us but it’s nearly impossible. We suspect someone had a food fight or got drunk and destroyed the lobby. We also don’t know how long it was like that because we all used the other elevator to go out and get dinner, after sleeping in all day. To this day I wonder who did that and what the story is. All I know is that they must have gotten into major trouble, and I feel bad for whoever cleaned it all up. Please don’t be a disrespectful human when you come to college. Thanks!
Dorm Room Pasta
Ingredients:
1 Serving of Dried Pasta of Choice
1/2 a jar of Your Favorite Pre Made Pasta Sauce
2 cups of Water (or more)
Optional:
A sprinkle of Italian Seasoning
A pinch of Salt and Pepper
A sprinkle of Garlic Powder
Tools Needed:
A Microwave Safe Bowl
A Spoon
A Microwave
Instructions:
Start by putting dry pasta into a microwave safe bowl, than fill with water until pasta is covered. You can salt the water at this step if you would like to. Next place pasta into microwave and heat on high for the amount the box says, you may need to add 3 extra minutes to cook it better. Then strain the water our and add sauce and optional ingredients. Now place that back into the microwave for 30 sec at a time until sauce is warm. Note you can warm the sauce separately and then pour it onto pasta. Serve and enjoy! That is a quick and easy warm comfort meal.
I hope that you have learned something from the stories and recipes, or at least laughed. Freshman year in the dorm can get overwhelming, but know that you can escape the dorm room with friends for a bit to reset. I would suggest not bringing any items you can’t have or at least hide them better than my roommates did. Two other tips, don’t microwave cookie dough on a paper plate, it will burn and cause a small fire, and don’t boil eggs in the microwave they will explode. Well with those parting tips I must sign off. Until next time the College Survival Team!
