Scrolling through my Facebook page, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been distracted by a short, minute-ish clip, of someone making a drool-worthy meal. Run by Buzzfeed, Tasty has quickly become the pinnacle of the Facebook newsfeed. So I decided to see if Tasty was really worth the stomach grumbles they cause their users by making a Tasty meal every day for a week. I can tell you right off the bat, I have never been this well-fed in my life.
It seemed simple enough: throw everything in a mug, mix it up, and microwave it for a minute. Well, somehow, I managed to make this difficult because we didn’t have any bananas in the house. Luckily, the recipe said applesauce could be substituted. The minute ended up being three minutes, which is not the recipe’s fault, but the microwave—that’s roughly the age of a college junior.
Looks-wise, my dad said it looked like poop. I took a bite and the consistency was a bit weird, sort of like clay, and it didn’t really taste like anything. It was unremarkable, but it was something to eat and easy to make.
Verdict: I wouldn’t make it on the reg. I probably wouldn’t make it at all unless I was like, “Yes, I want applesauce cinnamon mug cake. I have a mighty need.”
This ended up being really good. No leftovers because my roommates were all happy enough to eat it. However, I have a few issues with it, the first being that it’s called one pot pad thai. What Tasty really means is you can make it one pot, but you have to have four bowls, two forks, two spatulas, and a partridge in a pear tree (I’m sorry, it was right there, I had to make the remark.)
The second issue I have with this particular recipe is the amount of time it took to make it. They manage to fit the hour I cooked this meal in a minute and a half. I have a feeling that this is going to be a reoccurring happenstance throughout the rest of this week.
Proportions are the last thing I had a problem with. The original recipe calls for ¾ cup of pad thai sauce, which I made using the ingredients they said to. But, at least in my opinion, didn’t really cover the entirety of the rest of dish. There wasn’t really enough chicken or egg. So maybe I just made too many noodles. That’s never really a bad thing.
Verdict: keeping this recipe around so I can impress all of my imaginary friends with my equally imaginary cooking skills.
I had trouble explaining to my roommates what these were supposed to be. The best I could come up with is a light blondie on top of a brownie with some special goodies in between. They smell divine, look even better, taste like heaven, and the only problem I had was beating the meringue. The recipe says it takes about 2 or 3 minutes with a mixer. I don’t have one: I have my hands. And it took 15 minutes. But they turned out delicious.
Verdict: only with a mixer of the electric variety, but worth it.
Buffalo Macaroni and Cheese Muffins
Simple enough recipe. Macaroni and cheese was just the right amount of spicy, but the bread muffin thing was…no. It tasted weird and wasn’t muffiny at all. I also substituted the blue cheese on top for cheddar and that tasted good too.
Verdict: I’d be more interested in making baked buffalo macaroni cups instead of the muffin part.
Pretzel Crusted Chicken Nuggets
I was really excited about this one. Can’t quite tell you why, but I was. I lost all that excitement when I learned that I overlooked the fact that the recipe called for a food processor. I, like you, am a college student and cannot afford a proper meal, let alone a food processor.
However, I soldiered on with no real concept of how to fry things. They don’t taste bad, but definitely taste better with ketchup.
Verdict: no. Probably a one-time only thing. I forgot how much I hated the smell of fried vegetable oil and I hate burning my fingers.
This one I knew was going to be tricky, not because it was difficult to make, but because I can’t make rice properly. That aside, it turned out pretty well. The chicken tasted wonderful with the slight ginger tang and if the rice was a little watery, I didn’t really notice because the sauce soaked it up. It also made a very good drunchie, or so I’ve been told.
Verdict: make it again, but someone else is in charge of the rice measurements.
I rounded out my week of cooking (I cannot wait to microwave a Hot Pocket) with breakfast. I haven’t eaten them yet, but the poptarts smell divine. The icing’s a little running, but at this point I don’t care. I feel like I can leave college feeling adult enough to make meals for company and that’s good enough for me.
Just kidding, they’re pretty good, but the filling has managed to migrate to the outside. Nutella is the best.
Verdict: they a’ight. I won’t be trading these in for the real Poptarts any time soon.