My Fake Cookie Cake

Friday of Blue and White weekend gave State College some of the most beautiful weather of spring semester. It was the start of the weather gods giving us many gifts this past weekend...blue and white weekend with bare minimum rain just seemed unheard of until this weekend! In excitement of this beautiful weather, my friend and I hosted a family dinner for some of our friends. Along with a the generic fettuccine alfredo and chopped Greek salad, we got creative with our dessert.
Being on a college budget as well as only having rare groceries available to us - we decided to make something fancy but let no one realize how cheap it was!

Our ingredients list was very simple:
2 containers of Cool Whip
(unsweetened) Cocoa Powder <-- eyeball this based off of  your chocolate preferences
1 package of chocolate chip cookies
1 bowl of milk 

In order to make this delicious dessert in a bowl start to mix the cool whip and cocoa powder, don't overwhip it because your cool whip will begin to melt. In a cake pan or pie tin, paint a layer of the cool whip. You can add just as much cocoa powder as you'd like, we liked it chocolatey so we added a little more than what I have listed. After this you want to dip the chocolate cookies in the milk so they are submerged for about 2 seconds at max. You don't want them to be soggy because they're going to break before you set them into the cool whip. Make a layer of the cookies and MAKE SURE to put the cool whip into the freezer while you layer your cookies - the cooler the better! Keep adding layers until you run out of cool whip or even the cookies! Its best to let the cake sit in the fridge for at least two hours before you want to cut into it, it'll be firm in terms of setting but the cookies will be nice and soft from the milk and the layers of cool whip around it!
This is a cool treat that does not take very much time to make, let me know if you do anything different! You could even leave the cool whip plain and soak the cookies in chocolate milk! :) Let me know what you think!

Vegetarian Tailgate

Although it is not football season just yet (I'm secretly counting down...) a tradition at my college is an annual football game where the offense and defense split into two teams. Its a very meaningful game because it symbolizes the end of the spring semester, intro into finals, bittersweet memories for the seniors as this is their last tailgate and a reminder on how much my school loves football! The Blue and White game is something that people begin to talk about as early as February! Keeping this in mind, tailgating is a huge aspect of football season and my school holds nothing short of this. This weekend there will only be a few things you'll be smelling - the burning of charcoal as people start up their BBQ, the tartness of vinegar from some coleslaw for those bbq's, and a variety of beer... no tailgate is complete without beer!
In order to fulfill my desires of being fed a tailgate (it is unfortunately rare), I found a great recipe for a hearty vegetarian burger that no one would really think is that vegetarian. The classic beef patty can now be substituted for something a little healthier and a little less time consuming; this black bean burger is hearty, delicious and a great substitute for a regular burger patty!

The ingredients for the burger are as follows:

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

(2 jalapenos, optional, seeded)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

One can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 c. cooked green lentils (I used canned)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 eggs

1 c. bread crumbs

 Rinse the beans and the lentils with COLD water and make sure to drain completely. In a small pan heat up some olive oil and throw in the chopped onion and red peppers; add the garlic once the onion has started to lose a little bit of color. Once these 3 have cooked, turn off the heat and allow them to cool.In a food processor, pulse the onion pepper and garlic along with some cilantro and some jalapeno’s if you want that kick. Slowly add the beans the lentils and keep pulsing until you see a sort of pasty consistency. 

Once you’ve reached your ideal consistency, add some salt and pepper and the eggs (or more oil) as your binding agent. Afterwards, add some bread crumbs in the same process and keep combining. Make sure you’re stirring otherwise the food could be getting stuck in between the blades of the food processor. Keep adding bread crumbs until the mixture starts to stick together.

In a bowl, add some flour and make sure to have flour on your hands before you start to create the patties. You’d want to form about 1/2-3/4 inch thick patties.

 

In a well-greased skillet with about medium to medium-high heat, you want to gril for about 5-8 minutes on both sides. You want to add some oil in between sides just ot make sure you’re getting a great char on both sides. You want the interior to be soft with the outside being crunchy, it’ll be great on a toasted bun!

As for condiments, you can add whatever you want… avocado or salsa, peppers or continuing with the kick of jalapeno would be great too! Enjoy!