Ever since moving into an apartment, I’m loving being able to have a good, home-cooked meal again. There was a kitchen in my freshman dorm last year, but I was always way too scared to use the communal pots and pans that my dorm provided. While JMU has some good food at the dining halls, the food gets quite repetitive and it’s boring eating the same things all the time. But now that I have a kitchen, I can cook my own meals and learn new recipes! One of my favorite activities is finding new recipes from food blogs or TikTok and making them for my roommates to try. Out of all the recipes I’ve seen and tried, the following ones have been some of the best I’ve tried and they’re relatively easy to make!
- Gigi Hadid’s Pasta
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Gigi Hadid’s pasta recipe isn’t anything too special; it’s honestly just spicy vodka pasta but without the vodka in the sauce. However, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t absolutely delicious. This recipe has honestly become a staple for my roommates and me. As a huge pasta lover, Gigi Hadid’s pasta has earned a special place in my heart as my new comfort meal and I will continue to make this meal for as long as I’m able to. Although the taste is what makes this recipe so good, the best part is that it doesn’t take a whole lot of ingredients, making it affordable and easy to make! Additionally, it’s a super quick meal to make if you don’t have the time to cook an intricate meal!
- Bang Bang Chicken Bowls
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The first time I came across this recipe was when I was doomscrolling on TikTok this summer and thought it looked really good… and it ended up being one of the yummiest meals I’ve ever had! This recipe does call for a lot of ingredients, making it a bit less affordable than the other recipes on this list considering it calls for many vegetables and chicken, which aren’t exactly cheap. However, the price is definitely worth it in the end. Not only is this recipe on the healthier side, but it’s satiating and absolutely delicious. I would 100% recommend this recipe!
- Homemade Marinara Pasta
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Making homemade marinara was the first recipe I made in my new apartment and although I don’t cook it very often anymore, it remains a classic, quick, and easy recipe to make. Additionally, this recipe is quite versatile; ingredients can be swapped out if you don’t have everything the recipe calls for. For example, you could easily use tomato paste if you don’t have passata, or if you don’t have fresh garlic to mince, you could use garlic powder or minced garlic from a jar! If you need a simple recipe to make if you don’t want to go to the dining hall or actually make a meal, this marinara recipe is a must!
- Homemade Pizza
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Like the recipe above, homemade pizza is an extremely easy recipe to make if you don’t totally feel like cooking a big meal. All you need is dough (either store bought or homemade works), pizza sauce, and whatever toppings you want! The first time I learned how to make homemade pizza was with my dad when I was in high school and it was a staple in my family for several years, and still is today. Homemade pizza is the perfect Friday or Saturday night meal to make with your friends while you host a game night or watch some movies together!Â
- Crispy Cheesy Ground Beef Tacos
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Taco night was one of my favorite dinners growing up, and now that I have my own apartment, I thought, “Why not have my own taco night here?” I’ve only made this recipe once so far, but it’s honestly such a simple and yummy meal to make that can easily serve a lot of people! This taco recipe is perfect if you want to have friends over or if you’re just craving Mexican food. Although there are a lot of ingredients in this recipe, most of them are just to season the ground beef, so it’s honestly a fairly simple recipe to make!
Most of the recipes on this list are from a food blog called Moribyan. I absolutely love the recipes I find from this blog and cannot wait to try out more recipes from her (especially the desserts)! Being in an apartment and having my own kitchen has honestly been one of the best things ever, completely opening my horizons to trying new recipes. I hope you try some of these recipes and think they’re just as good as I do!