Date Night Dinner for Two

As college students, we do not always have enough money to go on exquisite date nights with our significant other. One way to keep it cheap is to cook for that significant other and rent a movie. If you would like to make it a cheap night in here is a great, easy, cheap meal that should do the trick!

Grilled Steak

• Steak: can be ribeye, sirloin, or T-bone, depending on your budget     
• Butt Rub seasoning
• Garlic Salt
• Pepper
• Jim Bean Bourbon Seasoning
• Dale's Marinade

1. Season the steak on both sides with the butt rub, garlic salt, pepper, bourbon seasoning, and Dale's.
2. Let sit over night to marinade.
3. Then grill on an open fire grill, or if you do not have a grill or can't grill, you can just cook them in the oven on 350 degrees until cooked like you like them.
4. Once the steaks are grilled to your liking, you can remove them from the grill and serve.

Deviled Eggs

• Five Eggs
• One heaping tablespoon of mayo
• One teaspoon of mustard, unless you prefer more of a mustard taste, then add more
• one tablespoon of pickled relish
• Two tablespoons of bacon bits

1. First boil the eggs until they are done. * If you do not know if they are done or not, take one out of the boiling water with a spoon and place it on the counter and try to spin it. If it spins easily then it is done, if not, then continue to cook the eggs.
2. Once they are done, pour the hot water out and cover the eggs with cold water and wait a few minutes.
3. Once the eggs are cool enough to touch, begin peeling the shell off of them.
4. Once this is done, slice the eggs in half, long ways.
5. Then pull the cooked yolk out of the egg and place it in a bowl.
6. Once you have done this to all of the eggs, place the halved eggs on a plate and set aside.
7. In a bowl combine the egg yolk, mayo, mustard, relish, and bacon.
8. Mix the mixture up until completely mixed together.
9. Dollop a teaspoon of this mixture into each egg.
10. Cover and refrigerate.

Mac and Cheese

 For this recipe, it is very basic and most people already know how to make box mac and cheese. If you are one of these people, feel free to skip this step.

• Box of shells and cheese

1. In a pot, combine shells and enough water to cover the noodles.
2. Put over medium heat until the water begins to boil.
3. Once the water is boiling, cook the noodles until they are easy to cut into with a fork.
4. Then you need to strain the water off of the noodles and add in the package of cheese sauce.
5. Mix together and serve.

Cream corn is also a really good side dish that costs about one dollar at Wal-Mart. So here is a wonderful dinner already planned for you and your boyfriend/girlfriend. Here is to a night full of food!

Simple Vegetable Soup

If you are like I am, you are prone to get the runny nose, sinus pressure, and disgusting cough once the weather begins to change at the beginning of fall. When you are sick like this, you generally do not feel like cooking anything or really eating anything for that matter. But as we all know, you have to drink a lot of liquids and eat some healthy soup to help you get better. A lot of people generally go for chicken noodle soup, but unless it is Chik-fil-A's Chicken Noodle Soup, I usually do not care for it. So my go-to soup is Vegetable Soup. You can choose to put any kind of vegetable you want in it such as: green beans, sweet peas, carrots, onion, potatoes, celery, lima beans, etc. But here is what I put in my version of Vegetable Soup:

• One pound of round cut steak
• Two cups of water
• Six beef bouillon cubes
• One can of corn
• One can of sweet peas
• One can of sliced carrots
• One-quarter cup of diced onion
• Two teaspoons of vegetable oil

Once you have all of these ingredients or which ever canned vegetables you prefer, here are the steps that you need to follow in order to make this delectable soup:

1. On a cutting board, you will need to cut the steak into cubes.
2. In a saucepan, combine the vegetable oil and the steak over medium heat and cover.
3. After a few minutes, add the onion and uncover to complete the cooking process.
4. Allow steak to cook until there is no more pink and the onion is translucent. 
5. Then, in a big pot, combine the cans of corn, sweet peas, and carrots.
6. Over medium-high heat begin to bring the mixture to a boil along with the bouillon cubes.
7. Once the mixture has been brought to a boil, add the two cups of water and the cooked onion and steak.
8. Decrease the heat to medium heat and cover.
9. Allow it to cook for ten minutes until bouillon cubes have dissolved.
10. Let cool and then serve.

This soup makes more than enough to last you for several days of sickness. It is really good if you make some homemade cornbread with it. The cornbread makes it very filling. This soup is sure to help you feel better!

Chicken and Dumplings

Now that we are at the beginning of football season, many people are getting ready to start throwing football parties! College students will be making their decisions of which football games they will be attending, which games they will be tailgating at, and which games they will host football parties for. When I throw football parties, I usually have everyone bring a finger food to accomodate a main entree, of which I will provide. One main dish that is usually a crowd pleaser is chicken and dumplings. Chicken and dumplings are also extremely easy and cheap to make. They are also helpful when trying to feed many people or just a few people. In order to make this inexpensive, delectable dish, you will need the following:

• Two cans of white meat chicken breast, the big can
• Two cans of cream of chicken soup
• Two cans of chicken broth
• One package of white flour tortilla shells
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Once you have acquired all of these ingredients, you can now begin your journey to making of this savory dish! These are the steps that you will need to take:

1. In a large pot, over medium heat, combine both cans of chicken and both cans of chicken broth.
2. Once the mixture has been heated, then add the cream of chicken soup.
3. After you have added the soup, increase the heat of the stove to medium-high.
4. The goal is to bring the mixture to a boil.
5. Meanwhile, take out five tortilla shells and cut them vertically into one inch strips.
6. Once you have done this, then cut them down the middle, horizontally in half.
7. After the mixture has came to a boil, begin adding the strips just a little bit at a time until all of the strips have been added to the pot.
8. While you are adding the strips a little at a time, DO NOT STIR.
9. Instead of stirring the mixture, just move the pot back and forth, very carefully.
10. Add salt to taste and pepper to taste.
11. Let the dumplings cook for about eight to ten minutes.
12. Remove from heat.
13. Let cool for 4 minutes.
14. Serve and watch everyone be exceptionally pleased. 

Some great finger foods that most people like to eat with this dish includes pigs and a blanket and rolls. I personally like to make apple turnovers to go with it, kind of like a dessert. Regardless of what the occasion is, chicken and dumplings are always a delectable favorite!

Welcome Back!

Hello everyone! Now that the fall semester has started back, I will continue to post affordable, easy recipes. So be looking out for some delicious recipes this week!