Like Reese’s? Yeah, me too. Honestly, I’m not sure I can ever trust someone who doesn’t. The problem is that a girl can’t subsist on peanut butter cups alone . . . but it’s fun to try.

No, seriously, the problem is more that those things are crazy unhealthy. Not only will they set you back more than 200 calories and 13 grams of fat for a pair, but they’re full of artificial flavors and preservatives. And that, my lady friends, is why I make my own. (Well, that and the fact that the CVS lady looks at me funny when I come in and buy, like, 12 Reese’s packs before 10am.)

Now, I need to be clear here—these homemade treats aren’t really much healthier, but they do taste better, they don’t contain any weird artificial stuff, and they are far more effective at impressing your friends. Plus, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to make a dozen of these than it is to buy six packs of Reese’s. So what are you waiting for?

What You Need:
(The recipe is based on this charmer from AllRecipes, my go-to recipe source.)

• 1 (11.5-ounce) package semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup of all-natural peanut butter (you can use Jif, but I prefer the hippie stuff)
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar (that’s the powdery stuff)
• 12 muffin-cup liners
• Muffin pan

What You Do:
1. Place the muffin liners in the muffin pan.

2. Put half the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl, and zap the chips in the microwave for 1 minute on HIGH. Take them out and stir them, and continue to microwave them in 30-second increments on HIGH until you can stir them completely smooth.

3. Distribute the melted chocolate evenly among the 12 muffin-cup liners. Then use a flexible spatula or a spoon to creep the chocolate 1/2 inch or so up the sides of the liners so it’s not all stuck in the bottom (creating a little bowl for the PB).

4. Put the chocolate shell bottoms in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are firm.

5. While those little cups of goodness are chillin’, use a whisk and a small bowl to combine the peanut butter and confectioners’ sugar. (This is where the natural PB comes in handy – it’s a lot thinner than the other stuff, making it easier to stir.) Leave it at room temperature until the chocolate shells have firmed.

6. Take the shells out of the fridge and distribute the peanut butter mixture evenly among them.

7. Melt the remaining chocolate chips in the microwave in the same way you melted the first half of them.

8. Spoon the melted chocolate over the top of the peanut butter cups, spreading the chocolate to the edges of the liners. Refrigerate the finished cups for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are firm.

And that’s all there is to it! Soon you’ll be chowing down on homemade peanut butter cups in your bedroom where none of your roommates can find them on the couch with your girls while you catch up on the first season of Glee. I know – total girls night perfection.

Besides indulging in Lent-withdrawn pleasures, one of other great things about Easter is Peeps. Honestly, they don’t even taste that good, but those little, tennis-ball-colored marshmallow chickies are endlessly fascinating to me. Put one in the microwave, and it balloons to the size of a basketball. Stick one to the wall, and it will still taste fine three years later. Now that’s something not every food can boast.

If you’re the DIY type, I guarantee that homemade marshmallows won’t let you down. They’re a tad involved, but they taste about one million times better than store-bought, and you can use them to make Peep shapes and cover them with colored sugar. Oh, and they are gorgeous. See what I mean? You will need a stand mixer or electric mixer for these, so if you’re on Spring Break, use your mother’s.

Ready to give it a try? Let’s go.

WHAT YOU NEED
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 3 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (just over 2 tablespoons)
• 1 cup cold water
• 2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 egg whites
• 1 T. vanilla extract

WHAT YOU DO
1. Coat the inside of a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray, and sprinkle a light coating of confectioners’ sugar (not the whole half cup) in the dish.
2. Put half of the cold water in the stand mixer bowl, and pour the gelatin over it. Let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Put the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and the rest of the cold water in a saucepan. Stir the mixture with a whisk, and cook it on low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. When that happens, ramp up the heat a little and boil the mixture. Don’t stir. Keep it at a full boil for just over 10 minutes. Then grab it off the stove and pour it over the gelatin mixture.
4. Turn on the stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or use your electric mixer), and stir gently until the gelatin dissolves.
5. Shift the mixer to high speed and beat the stuff for six to 10 minutes, or until it’s thick and almost tripled in volume.
6. In a separate bowl, beat the two egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Don’t overbeat! Add the whites and the vanilla extract to the sugar batter, and beat on medium until everything is combined.
7. Use a spatula to transfer the mixture to the baking dish. Be careful because it is REALLY sticky. Sift about 1/4 cup of confectioners’ sugar on the top. Press plastic wrap over the top of the mixture, and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours.
8. Go over the edges of the pan with a knife, and invert the marshmallow blob onto a tray or cutting board. Spray a scissors (yes) with cooking spray, coat it with confectioners’ sugar, and use it to cut cubes of marshmallow. You can also spray cookie cutters to make fun Peep shapes.
9. Coat your marshmallows with colored yellow sprinkles, and add little chocolate pieces for Peep eyes.

Adorable, tasty, special and you did it all yourself!

So imagine my delight when I saw a recipe for them that was simple enough to do in a dorm kitchen!

What You Need:

* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

It’s Cookie Time:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

2. Grab an hand mixer and a large bowl and cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. (Or roll that dough out and cut out some fun little shamrocks for a late night, post green beer snack on Wednesday!)

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

These little pieces of Heaven are sure to garner you a dorm fan club. Just be sure to keep them safely hidden…

[Recipe provided via Allrecipes]

When I was a kid, taco salad was one of my favorite dinners. My mom would sprinkle some grated cheddar cheese on tortilla chips and pop them in the oven to make nachos, and we would eat the nachos as an appetizer while she made the taco salad. When we were done downing the nachos, the salad was ready to eat.

I love taco salad so much that sometimes I make the mistake of ordering it when I go out to eat. There’s nothing wrong with that—it’s usually pretty delicious—but then I remember that I can make almost exactly the same thing at home for a fraction of the cost. If you like restaurant taco salad, too, give this recipe a try.

For two people (or some leftovers for when you’re starving post-study session), you’ll need about 3 cups of tortilla chips, half a head of lettuce, one chopped tomato, around 1/3 pound ground beef, ¼ cup chopped black olives, about 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese, and about ¼ cup of French dressing.

First, brown the ground beef in a pan.

While the beef is cooking, wash your head of lettuce and shred half of it into a big bowl. Chop the tomato and olives, and add them to the bowl. Pour in the chips and cheddar cheese.

When the beef is done cooking, drain off the grease. Add the beef to the bowl. Then pour in the French dressing—you may want more or less of it to taste, so start with less to make sure the flavor won’t overwhelm—and toss.

Bing, bang, boom, and dinner’s ready. Now scarf that down and get thee to the library. You have a paper to write.

Except, I do imagine it. I catch myself worrying about non-existent assignments and responsibilities that won’t resume until September. But even more, I constantly find myself spacing out at work, reminiscing about all the good stuff that comes along with college. Mostly the whole not-bored-at-work-9-to-5 thing.

And I miss it!

Meal Plans: While I’m lucky enough not to be taking classes this summer, I do have to work — which means I’m stuck in a college town all summer long without the benefit of visiting home, and therefore the benefit of home cookin’. My freshman year, I ate dining hall food. My sophomore year, my sorority dues included a meal plan. This summer, with my sorority house closed and the dining halls freshmen-infested, I’m armed only with my apartment’s kitchen and whatever the hell I find when I Google “easy, cheap, healthy recipes” and pudding. Do I enjoy learning to cook? Absolutely. Would I prefer a cook to prepare my meals? Uh, hell yes. Plus, there’s no clean up if you’re not the one using all the dishes…

The Gym: As any lady knows, summer is either the best time to flaunt your hard earned bikini-bod, or to berate yourself for spending more of Spring watching The Office than a yoga instructor. So naturally, gym time is a necessary evil (unless you enjoy working out, which I sadly do not). Imagine my disappointment when I arrived at my campus gym early for kickboxing, only to have my student I.D. DENIED at the turnstile. It was almost as embarrassing as having a credit card declined, weirdly enough. Apparently, if you don’t take summer classes at FSU, you can’t use the gym (I guess the tuition I pay during fall and spring doesn’t cut it). Every day as I run outside (instead of on a treadmill with AC and Daisy of Love repeats) I count the days until I’ll be back at the student gym.

The Bar Scene: Never in my life did I think I’d find myself wishing for the bar to be more crowded. There are no lines for the bathroom, the bartenders are almost overly attentive, and I have enough room to extend my arms. All of these are seemingly good things, but when there are no people to watch, no strangers to mingle with, and no one standing between me and unlimited mojitos, things at the bar just don’t end well. When it takes me 20 minutes to fight my way through the crowd to the bar in Fall, I will look back at this time lovingly, but for now, the bar scene just seems kinda boring.

“Academic Expenses”: As I mentioned before, I’m a working woman. But when my parents offer to help out with any school related costs, I definitely don’t turn it down. The beauty of this is that there is always some way to explain a purchase as necessary to my academic career. “Supplies” at Walmart, “Business attire” for those in-class presentations, and my personal favorite “Whatever they sell at the bookstore” because Mom’s credit card is on file there. A random charge on her statement is easily explained during the semester, but trying to convince her that I need money for “road trip supplies” doesn’t go as smoothly.

Overall, I’m not complaining about a long, hot and relaxing summer—but there are definitely a few things I miss about Fall and Spring. What about you guys?

Well, okay, that’s pretty disgusting, so I take it back (sorta). But baked pie crust is an entirely different story. It’s so versatile—you can use it for tarts, dessert pizza, and (obviously) pies. And you can fill those pies with anything—lemon curd, banana cream, fresh strawberries . . .

Now that we’re getting into some serious summer weather, fresh fruit (yes, the kind that you don’t take out of the freezer and probably haven’t had since you were home for Christmas) is soon going to be abundant in grocery stores and farmers’ markets all over the country. You’ll be able to pick your own berries for cheaper than the cost of a vanilla latte, and everyone knows that berries taste best in pie!

It’s easy to haul down to the store and pick up a ready-made pie crust, but who needs that? People (cute people, obviously) will be sooooo much more impressed if you can make your own. Not to mention the feeling of accomplishment that comes from putting a homemade pie on the table!

Here’s how you do it.

Stuff You Need
To make one double pie crust (bottom and top), get together:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter or vegetable shortening
- 1 teaspoon salt
- A bowl of ice water
- A rolling pin

What You Do

1. Mix the flour and salt together.

2. Take ½ cup of the butter or shortening and cut or break it into tiny (pea-sized) pieces.

3. Toss these pieces into your flour mixture, and massage them in with your fingers. You want them to get smaller and combine with the flour. Go for the consistency of coarse meal.

4. Cut or break the remaining ½ cup of butter or shortening into tiny pieces.

5. Add that to the flour mixture. If you want big flakes in your crust, don’t combine it much at all—leave some big chunks. If you want a fine, crumbly crust, combine it much more thoroughly.

6. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time to your flour mixture. After each addition, mix everything together with a fork. When it barely holds together, use your hands to gather everything up into a ball.

7. Break the ball in two, and flatten each smaller ball into a disc.

8. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for at least a half hour. (The dough can also be frozen indefinitely.)

9. Whip those suckers out of the fridge, sprinkle your smooth work surface and your rolling pin with flour liberally, and roll out the crusts to about 1/8” thickness. Take one, fold it lightly into fourths to make it easier to put them in the pan, then shove it in there.

10. Fill that sucker with some fruit, bake it up and enjoy a scrumptious slab of that homemade pie!

Need some delicious pie recipes? Here you go. You (and everyone who licks the pie dish) can thank me later.

If you find yourself without the time to cook 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, these dishes are perfect for you. Get in the kitchen once and eat for days.

Door Number 1: Soup

Soup is a classic for good reason. It’s quick to make, it stays well in the fridge or the freezer, and it’s extremely simple to cook up a giant batch and use it for meal after meal. Soup is also incredibly versatile—in almost any soup recipe, you can add or subtract basically whatever you want (don’t like celery? Try some zucchini!) and it will still turn out tasting great. Plus, you don’t even know how much better it is than soup in the can until you’ve made it yourself and experienced the difference. A good starting point is this potato soup, which is All Recipes’s highest-rated soup recipe.

Door Number 2: Rice

My personal favorite thing to do with rice is to cook a huge pan of fried rice with tons of vegetables and bits of chicken or tofu, and then keep the leftovers for my lunches all week. Following this recipe will give you great Chinese fried rice. If you prefer a more Indian flava, leave out the soy sauce, sub the sesame oil with another type of oil (canola or mustard is good), and add turmeric, cumin, chili powder, and pepper.

Making a really big pot of rice and then keeping the plain leftovers can also give you a quick base for almost any meal down the road. To get the most out of your rice, try soaking it in clean cold water for 20-30 minutes before you boil it.

Door Number 3: Casserole

In Minnesota we call this “hot dish,” but whatever you call it, it’s the same thing: the ultimate American comfort food. The definition is so nebulous that it can cover practically anything—chicken and rice, macaroni and cheese, lasagna, etc. Whichever you choose, they are easy to make and big enough to last you through the week. I’m not a fan of tuna, but this tuna casserole was developed by a college student, so it already passes the “quick, easy, and edible” test. And it does look really good…. Mmmm.

So there you have it, ladies. No more wasting money on carry-out, or eating a bag of Doritos for dinner; now you can cook one time and be set for the week ahead. Just heat up those leftovers, and dig in!

[Image courtesy of anthearowe.com.]

Because here, for your reading pleasure, is a delicious recipe for pumpkin pancakes.

Imagine this: It’s Sunday morning and you’re snuggled in to have a nice “me” morning. Sound pretty good? Well, sure. But add pumpkin pancakes–and now you’re in frickin’ heaven.

So, pumpkin pancakes! Enjoy!

Stuff You’ll Need:

1 cup of pumpkin puree

3 tbsp of brown sugar

1 1/2 of milk

2 tbsn vinegar

1/2 tsp of ginger (ground

2 cups of flour

1 tsp of allspice (ground)2 tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp of salt

1 egg

1 tsp of cinnamon (ground)

1 tsp of baking soda

2 tbsp of vegetable oil

How To Make ‘Em

(1) Mix the pumpkin, oil, vinegar, and milk.

(2) Blend in the brown sugar, flour, allspice, baking soda, salt, baking powder, ginger, and cinnamon.

(3) Oil up a frying pan and heat it over medium-high.

(4) Pour the batter onto the pan (1/4 cup per pancake) and let ‘em cook up on each side.

(5) They’re done when both sides are a nice golden brown.

(6) Eat and bask in fall!

There’s absolutely everything in here, from general small-batch advice to a lowdown on ingredients to winning recipes of all kinds. And every recipe in here is truly excellent. I can’t stand fat cookbooks full of thousands of recipes that obviously were never tested, meaning you have to dig through the whole book to handpick the recipes that may have the potential to be edible.

Not so with Cooking for Two. The authors, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, have really tweaked every recipe, and it’s obvious. The ingredient amounts are right on, and you can expect fantastic taste with everything you make from here.

I can’t say anything specific about the seafood section since I don’t eat seafood, but the casserole and poultry sections really shine. Also, many of the recipes can be adapted for slow cookers to make them even easier!

The desserts aren’t bad, either—they’re not quite of the caliber you’d find in a book that’s specifically about baking or sweet things, but who wants to bake three dozen cookies when this book will show you how to make just six wonderful, warm chocolate-chip espresso cookies? Mmmm. Yes, please.

I suppose the only word of caution I would offer is about the ingredients. If you’re not into substituting (which works for many of the recipes in this book), you may have to go to a couple of grocery stores or specialty shops before you’re able to find what you need (dried shiitake mushrooms, for example). In my opinion, the authors really go too far when they ask you to track down quail eggs, but I just ignore them whenever they do that. As a sub, you can easily whisk up an egg and just take a couple of teaspoons out of it.

You can get this book used for pretty cheap, and it’s soooo worth the money. YUM!

[Image courtesy of harpercollins.com.]

But Georgie isn’t the only brilliant inventor out there; there are tons of kitchen thingies that will change your life.

I’ve compiled a list of cooking gadgets you don’t realize you need, but that is only because you haven’t used them yet. Forget DVR; these things are the best inventions since sliced bread.

1) I love corn on the cob, but I absolutely refuse to eat it unless someone cuts it off the cob for me. And since the only person who loves me enough to cut the corn off the cob for me is my dad, I don’t often get to enjoy it. But now that this gadget has been introduced into my life, I’m going to start eating it at every single chance I get! The corn on the cob stripper is the perfect dad replacement. If only it also gave me money…

2) I was never really very good at math (“What do I need to know that for?!”), which sometimes makes it pretty difficult to cook. But with these towels, my lack of knowledge doesn’t matter at all; they tell me how many tablespoons are in a cup, how many cups are in a pint, and even precisely how much a pinch is (1/16 teaspoon). The towels also happen to dry my hands and dishes – how convenient!

3) I’m still a bit confused as to how this gadget works, but I do know I enjoy eating crunchy cereal, and with this cereal bowl it is now possible. The Eat Me Crunchy cereal bowl has a shelf, which works to hold the cereal above the milk. Then there’s a section of the bowl where you can mix the cereal with the milk right before you’re ready to take a nice crunchy bite. You’ve complained about eating soggy cereal for years, ut you never bothered to take the time to think of a solution. Luckily, somebody else did it for you.

4) There’s nothing in the world I love more than peanut butter. And there’s nothing I hate more than when all the oil floats up to the top of the container (blech). With “Grandpa Witmer’s Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Mixer,” I don’t have to worry about this anymore! Just screw it onto the top of your peanut butter jar, turn the crank, and your peanut butter will mix right up. Really, though, if it’s so “old fashioned,” where has it been all my life?? Oh well, I’m just happy it’s here now.

5) Wait, I lied. There is one thing I love more than peanut butter: ice cream! And if you no longer have a college meal plan, you are going to die over this kitchen essential. Ask anyone the best part of eating in the dining hall and they’ll tell you, without a doubt, the soft serve machine. I used to end every meal with a large dish of soft serve (with all the appropriate toppings), but now that I actually have to walk down the street to the ice cream shop and use my own money to pay for it, I just don’t get it as much as I want to. If only I could make it in my house… Now I can with the Cuisinart soft serve machine! There is even a little area for toppings! Be still my heart. Cuisinart, you complete me.