Fall is the season for hearty and comforting home-cooked meals. But sometimes, as college students, we lose this magic, opting instead for lackluster dining hall food or yet another frozen meal. While putting effort into crafting a dish may seem daunting, it is ultimately rewarding and cost-effective — especially since you can usually prepare enough food for multiple meals.
Sharing food with friends, family, or even just savoring it for yourself is an experience you can’t get from a DoorDash bag. In this column, we have designed a three-course fall-inspired meal perfect for busy, homesick college students. If you find yourself with some free time, instead of doomscrolling or bed rotting, treat yourself to this culinary endeavor.
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### Appetizer: Buffalo Chicken Dip
For me, nothing says fall like a Sunday afternoon football game. I might not be the biggest fan of the sport itself, but I love the cozy game-day atmosphere—a cool breeze through the house, a pumpkin candle burning, and most importantly, the appetizers. My favorite? The unbeatable buffalo chicken dip.
This appetizer is perfect for college students, as it is relatively easy to make and easily customizable. It can be either completely homemade or simply a combination of store-bought elements.
If you want to go the homemade route, you will need ingredients like cream cheese, ranch dressing, hot sauce, shredded chicken, and shredded cheese. Combine the cream cheese, ranch, and hot sauce, then fold in the chicken. Bake the dip with shredded cheese layered on top for an extra touch. I personally love this recipe from food.com for its ease and deliciousness.
If making the dip from scratch isn’t an option for you, that’s completely okay! As someone living on campus, I would rather not spend hours in a communal kitchen making dip. Fortunately, there are numerous delicious store-bought options. My personal favorite is Trader Joe’s, but if you are in Binghamton and can’t drive an hour to get there, Target and Wegmans have some great choices as well.
To take this dish to the next level, consider serving it in a bread bowl. Whether you are hand-making the dip or buying it in-store, this step can completely elevate your appetizer. Simply purchase a loaf of sourdough bread, carve a hole in the center, and hollow it out. Then place your dip in this hole, cover it with shredded cheese, and bake until the cheese is melted.
For an extra touch, break the bread you took from the center of the loaf into bite-sized pieces and bake them with the bread bowl until they are crispy, giving you some crunchy bread bites to dip in your buffalo chicken dip.
Whether you’re watching the game or just here for the snacks, buffalo chicken dip is the perfect way to bring a little fall comfort to your Sunday afternoons.
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### Entrée: Sausage and Pumpkin Gnocchi
Pasta is one of the staples of college cooking. For me, pasta is an amazing dish to quickly whip up because it is fundamentally simple to make but can also easily be elevated. My perfect, comforting autumn pasta is sausage and pumpkin gnocchi.
The first step to making any pasta is to boil a pot of generously salted water—hopefully, you know how to do this!
Now, to make the sauce: on medium heat, toast red pepper flakes and salt in a pan with a small amount of oil. Then, add one chopped onion and one minced clove of garlic and sauté until golden brown.
Next, add your choice of protein to the pan. I use hot Italian sausage, but you can substitute it with your preferred meat, a plant-based alternative, or skip it altogether. If using sausage, chop it up with a spatula in the pan until it is ground and cook it until fully browned.
For the secret ingredient, add a packet of Boursin and stir until it melts. Some substitutes include a block of cream cheese, mascarpone, or the vegan “Boursin Dairy-Free Spread.” The creaminess of the Boursin mixes beautifully with the Italian spices of the sausage to create a blend of warm flavors.
Once your water is boiling, cook a package of pumpkin gnocchi, which I get from Wegmans. When the gnocchi are done, reduce the heat on the saucepan to a simmer and add the cooked pumpkin gnocchi along with a teaspoon of pasta water for flavor. Stir until the sauce thickens, then plate with a garnish of red and black pepper.
If you’re feeling fancy, grate some Parmesan over the top and dig in. This delectable mix of hearty and homey flavors will evoke a feeling of cozying up by a warm fireplace as you watch the orange leaves fall outside. It’s the perfect dish to impress your friends and family with or enjoy on your own.
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### Dessert: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls or Apple Cider Donut Loaf
The best kind of dessert is one you can have for breakfast the next day. For the perfect fall dessert, try pumpkin cinnamon rolls or an apple cider donut loaf.
Pumpkin and cinnamon are undoubtedly the most notorious fall flavors, so combining them into one dessert is nothing short of perfect. And the best part is customizing the icing—from maple cinnamon cream cheese to simpler brown sugar icing—you can turn up the fall flavors to the max.
You can go all out and make the dough and filling from scratch, or stay in your comfort zone and use prepackaged dough instead. If you’re feeling adventurous, this recipe from Sally’s Baking takes you through the whole process.
If you’re not into pumpkin, apple is a close second for the most popular fall baking ingredient. There is almost nothing better than an apple cider donut. But let’s face it—donuts are no easy feat to make. Instead of shaping and frying donuts for hours, spend only about an hour making this apple cider donut loaf cake from The View from Great Island.
The sugar coating is the perfect addition to make this loaf taste just like an apple cider donut. With no need for a stand mixer, this loaf is sure to whip up in no time with hardly any effort. And since this dessert spends most of its time in the oven, you can even catch up on homework while it bakes.
These dessert recipes yield enough servings for sharing and storing, so a little effort on a Friday night will leave you feeling grateful all week. So go ahead, treat yourself to a little something sweet.
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We know it’s hard to find time to cook, but we hope this column inspires you to take a break from school, spend some time with friends or by yourself, and make something delicious.
*Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.*
https://www.bupipedream.com/opinions/a-college-students-guide-to-the-perfect-fall-meal/172324/
