Seven Layer Dip

I love layer dip. Its delicious. So when my friends decided to have a Holiday potluck this past December I decided to make my own layer dip. The layer dip consists of refried beans, fresh salsa, sour cream, guacamole, cheese and olives on top. This is easy to make and delcious. To make the refried beans, take two cans of red kidney beans or black beans, it does not matter. Just do not use white beans, it would come out as well. In a pan saute diced onions, garlic, bell peppers, and jalapenos in oil or butter. If you want to make it a little different render some bacon and cook the aromatics in the bacon fat. Cook the aromatics for about two minutes. Then add oregano and saute for another minute. After this add the drained beans and cook for another minute. My secret ingredient is beer. Add a bottle of beer, I used Sam Adams Boston Lager, and cook the beans till tender. When this is done, take a potato masher and mash the beans into a puree. Add fresh diced tomatoes and you are done with the re-fried beans.

Next is the salsa. This is very simple and if you can not do this then there is no hope for you in cooking. Take a couple of tomatoes and dice them. Next take a green bell pepper and dice that as well as a jalapeno if you like your salsa spicy. Then dice an onion and add to the tomatoes and peppers. Finish the dish with fresh lime juice, a little bit of olive oil, and freshly chopped cilantro. This recipe is also called salsa fresca (fresh salsa) or salsa bandera, as it has the colors of the Mexican flag.

Add a layer of sour cream on top of the salsa and re-fried beans. Then layer the guacamole on top of the sour cream. To make the guacamole take a couple of ripe avocados and mash them up with a potato masher or a fork with minced onion, tomatoes, jalapenos, lime juice, and chopped cilantro. After this is done spread shredded cheese and olives on top and there you have it, delicious layer dip.

I know some people do not like the taste of cilantro, and that is fine. If you omit the cilantro however, you will not get the authentic taste of the dish. Use a casserole dish by the way to make the dip, it works the best.

Ramen without the flavor packet

Being a college student will usually mean that you are very familiar with ramen. Its wicked cheap and its an easy wick meal for students who are on a budget. The problem is that ramen usually has a flavor packet which is loaded with sodium and just bad stuff for you in general. To make the ramen delicious without the terrible flavor packet is I used some left over chili I had made so thats why the broth is reallly red. I added to that low sodium soy sauce, sriracha chili sauce, sesame oil, pepper, sesame seeds, and to garnish so cilantro. There you have it, ramen can be good for you when you omit the flavor packet. Be creative, that is the way to make good food. 

Bacon Wrapped Matzah Balls

 A few days ago, my friend Shoshana and I made bacon wrapped matzah balls. Sounds wicked kosher right...cough, cough.... its not. Anyways, to make these decadent treats you need to be able to make matzah balls. The easiest thing for anyone to do is pick up the matzah ball mix and do it that way. If you are Jewish however, use your mother's recipe or grandmother's recipe. It is important to note that when you make the mix for the matzah balls to let the mixture rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Then boil some water and cook the matzah balls with the lid on for 20 minutes. It is important to make sure all the matzah balls are the same size so they cook evenly. It is also important not to open the lid while cooking the matzah balls. Matzah balls aren't pasta. Do not be tempted to stir them during cooking. If you open the lid the matzah balls will not be tender and  will be hard as a rock. When the matzah balls are cooked, wrap them in bacon. Make sure that you wrap the bacon in a way in which the bacon will not fall off during the cooking process. Make sure that the bacon seals on the bottom of the cookie sheet. When the matzah balls are wrapped with uncooked bacon, put them into a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven and cook until the bacon is crispy. They are a decadent treat and they soak up all of the delicious bacon fat. Remember folks fat = flavor.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

I will admit that when you add bacon to a dish, it makes the dish that much better. Yet, when it comes to combing bacon with sweets, sometimes people think it strange and disgusting. Well, I had the idea of chocolate covered bacon after seeing a television show centered around the best places in the USA to eat bacon. The television show documented a candy shop selling chocolate covered bacon. It inspired me to create my own chocolate covered bacon. When I made the chocolate covered bacon I first made a ganache, which is heated cream mixed with melted chocolate. Then in a separate pan, I cooked the bacon till crispy and delicious. When the chocolate ganache was cool, I dipped the bacon in it. That is chocolate covered bacon for you. It is delicious and if you say its gross before you taste it then you should try it before you bad mouth it. Those of you who say things are gross before ever trying them is a such a silly thing to do. So put away any reservations you have to the idea of chocolate covered bacon and try it. 

Juicy Lucy

Hey everyone,

My name is Davey and I am a senior at Clark University in Worcester, Ma. I love food and cooking is a passion of mine. Since I am off the meal plan and live off campus, cooking is something that is essential to my experience in college. With that said, I can get to what you are really here for. That is the food. So with out further ado, Juicy Lucy's!

On a recent trip to Price Chopper I bought this crazy cheese that had bacon in it. The cheese had BACON IN IT. It was too crazy for not to buy it. With the cheese in the basket, I had the inspiration to buy some hamburger patties and boom, Juicy Lucy.

So I made the massive beast known as the Juicy Lucy. I would put soy sauce, fresh ground black pepper, and garlic powder into the patties before combining the two patties between the cheese with bacon in it.

I cooked it in a pan on medium heat with canola oil. In the pan i cooked red onions I good at a winter farmer's market near my hometown. I also cooked the broccoli in the pan when i steamed the burger so that it would evenly cook without burning the meat.

It was delicious and is a good diversion from the regular cheeseburger. Did I mention it is great with beer. I thought you guys might want to know.