Eating in the University dining halls may get dull and even repetitive after the first few months of the semester. Some students pay up to $5,000 for meal plans and still choose to skip the occasional dinner if the menu isn’t flattering.

The dining halls’ all you can eat buffet and ready-made meals can make it easy to forget that there is a wide and daily variety of salads, drinks, soups, breads and sweets for students to mix and match and create their own dorm-made cuisines. Included in what the dinning halls offer are fresh tuna, sliced lunch meat, saltine crackers and mini marshmallows hiding in the sandwich, salad and soup bars. With a clever mind and a starving stomach, the routine dining hall experience quickly becomes an exciting and creative adventure.

Lizz Kim, a 2007 graduate and member of the Covenant Fellowship Church, eats at FAR every Monday with her Bible study small group. Each week, she surprises the group with an original dessert she makes using the dining hall food items.

“People always enjoy it,” Kim said. “I like making things with waffles and try to improvise with that.”

Last Monday, the group dove into Kim’s “Death by Chocolate and Peanut Butter,” a combination of chocolate cake, syrup, melted peanut butter and vanilla ice cream topped with Reese’s Puffs cereal.

Students can try and mimic Kim’s desert or try the more classic and simple recipes listed below. All ingredients can be found in the University dining halls.

Comfort Food:

Mini pita pizza

Look carefully and you are guaranteed to find a lonely stack of pita bread near the salad bars. Surely the bread gets bored being constantly paired with the nearby hummus. The eastern flatbread is guaranteed to start a party in your mouth when introduced to a few new friends.

• Ingredients:
• Pita Bread
• Pasta sauce
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Pepperoni
• Bell peppers
• Mushrooms

1. If the pita is cut into triangles, take four pieces and cover them with the day’s featured pasta sauce (Italian Garden and Marinara work best).

2. Chop the sliced bell peppers and mushrooms (taken from the salad bar) and place over the sauce.

3. Sprinkle with cheese, add pepperoni and microwave for 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted.

Reformed deviled eggs

Why does such a heavenly taste have to be sinful?

• 2-6 hard boiled eggs

• 2 tbsp mayonnaise

• 1 tsp mustard

• 1/2 tsp hot sauce

• Salt, pepper and paprika

1. Peel the eggs and slice in half lengthwise.

2. Take out the yokes and place in a bowl.

3. Mix the yokes with mayonnaise, mustard and hot sauce and season to taste.

4. Place mixture in the egg whites where the yoke used to be.

5. Garnish with a dash of paprika.

Sandwiches:

Tuna salad on toast

Healthy and hearty and a great source of protein, a tuna sandwich is good way to finish off a day.

• Shredded tuna

• One boiled egg

• 3 tbsp of mayonnaise

• 1 tsp of mustard

• Pickles

• Onions

• Two slices of bead

1. Toast the bread.

2. In a bowl, mix remaining ingredients until creamy in texture.

3. Spread the tuna salad onto the toast.

4. If all the tuna salad can’t fit on the toast, add to crackers.

BBQ beef/pork

Sometimes, the dining halls offer roasted pork or beef as a menu item. Usually a staff worker slices and shreds the meat for students to eat bare. Though good if put between a couple slices of bread and eaten as a sandwich, simply taking the shredded pork or beef and mixing it in a bowl of warm barbecue sauce turns the typical meat into a Southern favorite.

Sauces:

Spicy Buffalo Sauce

Eating Chicken Tenders at least once a week at ISR may get a bit boring for some students. Spice it up with a classic sauce.

• Fried Chicken (wings or tenders)

• 2 tbsp of butter

• 3 tbsp of ketchup

• 2 tbsp of hot sauce

1. Add butter to a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds until melted.

2. Mix ketchup and hot sauce with butter.

3. Coat the chicken in the sauce by adding it to the bowl and slightly shaking the bowl. Cutting the chicken into smaller pieces and or placing a small saucer over the bowl may help.

4. Best if dipped in Ranch or Blue Cheese dressing.

Chicago-style mild sauce

It was a sad moment for some students when Harold’s Chicken restaurant ceased operation in its 502 E. John St. location. The store may not be as close to campus as it used to be, but its infamous mild sauce chicken can still leave a great taste in your mouth.

• Fried Chicken (wings or tenders)

• 1 tbsp of barbeque sauce

• 2 tbsp of ketchup

• 1 tsp of hot sauce

• Lemon juice

• Salt and Pepper

1. Mix barbeque sauce, ketchup and hot sauce.

2. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice (from sliced lemon near the tea and drinks) over the mixture and season to taste.

3. Coat the chicken in the sauce and enjoy.

Dessert:

Rice Krispie Treats

When the dining hall menu is looking a little…well…bad, many students whip out the old bowl and spoon and use cereal to compensate for an unsatisfactory meal. This recipe will make having breakfast with dinner seem not so wrong.

• 1 cup Rice Krispies cereal

• 2-3 tbsp of butter

• 1/2 cup of miniature marshmallows

1. Add butter to a bowl and melt in microwave.

2. Add marshmallows and stir with butter until marshmallows melt completely

3. Add the cereal to the buttery marshmallows and stir until completely coated.

4. Let cool and shape the treats into desired forms.

Classic Milk Shake

I scream, you scream, we all scream when the ice cream machine is broken. But when it’s not broken, no meal is left dull.

• 1 cup of ice cream

• 1/2 cup of milk

1. Add desired flavor of ice cream to a glass.

2. Head over to the milk selections and choose between 2%, whole, soy or even chocolate and add it to the ice cream.

3. Stir and add a straw, or two; who says you can’t have a romantic meal in the dining halls?