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Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 Page 5Page 4 Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014
Truhe gets creative, finds new ways to make delicious meals
By Sam Jones Staff reporter
Meatloaf. Pretzels. Sloppy Joe’s. Cheeseburgers. Eggplant Lasagna.
Eating in the cafeteria can be a
dreary experience, but some stu-dents have learned to add a little spice to their own meals.
Kevin Gurerro, computer sci-ence junior and midfielder for the soccer team, lives off campus along with two other teammates,
who, every day, cook for them-selves.
“My favorite recipe to cook would be some chicken, with some seasoning alongside some steamed broccoli and steamed rice. It’s delicious and doesn’t
Teammates Raul Estrada, psychology junior, Cristian Cortes, business marketing junior, and Kevin Gurerro, computer science junior, cook together in their kitchen. (Sam Jones/Special to the Collegian)
By Maggie Dunning Staff reporter
Cooking on a college budget is no easy task. Brenna Truhe, En-glish junior, has learned to use apps to help her see the best deals in town so she can cut down on her grocery bill.
“It’s difficult. I really have to watch for sales which is easy be-cause Dillons and Wal-Mart both have apps now, so I can look at that on my phone,” said Truhe.
She said it’s not enough to just look for the best deals. You also have to pay attention to when the items you want go on sale.
“I really have to pay attention to when does chicken go on sale? When is produce on sale? Can I get stuff cheaper at Wal-Mart or Dillon’s, because those are real-ly the only two options in town,” said Truhe.
Truhe likes to buy chicken and vegetables because they are some of the cheapest and healthiest foods she can get in Winfield.
“I cook a lot of chicken and
that’s probably because chicken is cheap. I also do a lot of vege-tarian meals because meat is ex-pensive,” said Truhe.
She doesn’t allow her cooking options to be limited based on her ingredients.
“Vegetarian meals also have a lot of different things you can do with them. You can make them into a salad, you can do a stir fry, or even soup for now that it’s get-ting colder,” said Truhe.
While she likes to mix it up with vegetarian options, her favor-ite recipes have baked or grilled chicken in them.
“There’s a really good lime-herb chicken that I do. I just put it with black beans and rice. My roommates like it,” said Truhe.
She isn’t the only one who cooks in her campus apartment. Her roommates also take turns cooking.
“Well in my room we have it set up where we each have a specif-ic night each week that we cook. I cook for the entire room on Thursday nights,” said Truhe.
Truhe enjoys cooking and learned how to cook in high school.
“My mom works outside the house, so a lot of times I would get dinner started,” said Truhe.
She said that at her house she made a lot of pasta and pies, which aren’t things she cooks a lot here.
“I’m pretty health conscious. In college you sometimes have to watch what your food intake is because of your activity level compared to what it was in high school.”
Being conscious of what goes in her body is not the only reason she changed what she cooks in college.
Truhe said, “The other part is what’s available to me. I don’t have the resources to go out and buy tons of hamburger, chicken, and pot roast.”
She doesn’t mind not having the resources to buy those things because it has allowed her to get creative with using what she has access to.
Brenna Truhe, English junior, sautes chicken, carrots and peppers for a meal. Truhe has gotten creative and uses phones apps to find the best food deals. (Maggie Dunning/Collegian photographer)
Roommates spice up foods in their own wayBy Kylie StamperStaff reporter
Every Thursday night at 6 p.m., the Wallingford kitchen bears witness to cooking, laughter, and memories. Jordan Romines, business administration junior, claims the Wallingford kitchen each week and invites a group of friends over for a home-cooked meal. After the meal, Romines and his guests stick around for what they call BibleTalk.
“BibleTalks started because of a student organization named Manistry. The original intent of Manistry was just to get together and to have fellowship and Bible study amongst men. It just turned into having people over on Thurs-days,” said Romines.
The dinners started in the spring semester of 2014. Romines started cooking and people started gath-ering. “We just had nice home-cooked meals and then a short 10-15 minute Bible discussion on the basis that we are college kids and sometimes we’re hungry,” said Romines.
Romines thinks of cooking as
more than just a way to provide the necessity of food. He and cooking also go back a few years to his younger days.
He has been cooking since he was about 7 years old.
When he was in high school, he began fully developing his craft. He said, “I spent the entire winter making two loaves of bread every day trying to perfect the King’s Hawaiian recipe. I just really en-joy it. There’s so much art as well as mechanics.”
Although he cooks for his friends each week, his heart be-longs to baking.
As a man of many talents, Ro-mines will cook or bake whenever he has a chance.
He said, “Basically I just enjoy learning how to cook different things. My favorite thing to cook is probably homemade chicken strips and mashed potatoes.”
The Thursday night gatherings also provide an opportunity for fellowship. “The BibleTalks that we have on Thursday are a great opportunity for people just to come and meet other students. It’s an open group. You can come and
bring anyone you want. There’s always enough food and if there’s not, we will cook more,” said Ro-mines.
Daniel Reffner, religion & phi-losophy sophomore, is Romines’ roommate. He said he enjoys get-ting a good, quality meal every week with people he enjoys be-ing around. “It is a good hearted thing; the idea of a family style meal where close friends get to-gether and have a Bible study. It’s a good thing, good food, good people,” he said.
The idea of the gatherings goes beyond filling their stomachs with a delicious home-cooked meal.
The purpose of the gathering is to build relationships, make memories, and to be in fellowship with one another. “It’s a mean-ingful thing to do, especially in college, to cook a meal together. I’m glad that we have that,” said Reffner.
Pancakes, sloppy joes, home-made chicken strips, and mashed potatoes are some of the favorites among the dinner guests. Reffner
“I really had to figure out how to get protein in different ways other than from meat.”
Maggie Dunning is a junior majoring in communication. You may email her at [email protected].
Jordan Romines, business administration junior, adjusts the heat on the stove for his Thursday evening meal. (Angel Vadillo/Collegian photographer)
Jordan Romines, business administration junior, cuts some ingredients up to add to his dish. He cooks and holds a BibleTalk every Thursday evening in the Wallingford kitchen. (Angel Vadillo/Collegian photogra-pher)
take too long so I cook that a lot,” said Gurrero.
Housemate, Raul Estrada, psy-chology junior and midfielder for the soccer team, also favors a chicken dish, but with a twist. “I do chicken but I mix it with a special sauce that I call the Raul Sauce but it has secret ingredients and so I’m not really supposed to share its recipe. All I’m going to say is that it’s delicious,” said Es-trada. Gurrero was quick to agree that the Raul Sauce was delight-ful.
“I serve it with a bit of rice on the side, probably a little salad too. The salad would be just some lettuce, chicken, tomatoes, ranch dressing and a little bit of the Raul Sauce,” said Estrada.
Estrada and Gurerro’s original plan was to divide the cooking between the two of them and their third housemate, Cullen Grantham, accounting junior, each cooking on alternate nights, but the demands of college aca-demics along with soccer practice
rendered this plan too difficult. “The most challenging part
about cooking for ourselves is when we’ve had a long day in classes and then a late practice, just finding the energy to prepare something substantial,” said Gur-erro.
“We’re regulars at the fast food drive-thrus in town,” said Estra-da.
The boys often invite friends and teammates over for meals; some of whom even cook them-selves. One of which is Cristian Cortes, business marketing ju-nior, who was present at the time of interview.
“Menudo is a Mexican type of thing. Basically it’s soup with a little bit of chili and beef, then you add lime, chopped onions, and crushed oregano, and then some chopped cilantro. It’s so tasty,” said Cortes.
Sam Jones is a freshman ma-joring in communication. You may email him at [email protected]
BibleTalk highlights Thursday evening meals
said, “It’s about the care that goes into making it, the intentionality. It’s not just putting some meal to-gether. It’s quality food.”
After the meal, Romines leads a Bible study with those who show up.
Each week he presents a differ-ent lesson and a different take on a traditional Bible discussion.
Carlene Dick, elementary edu-cation sophomore, is a regular in the group.
She said, “I really like what Jordan presents to us because it’s really relaxed. It’s serious, but it’s not heavy. I always walk out of there thinking of something new and normally it raises more questions for me and that’s ok. They’re questions that I want to ask. It just keeps me thinking. I like the honesty.”
Besides BibleTalk and eating the food they prepare, the group passes their time together in other ways as well.
During their time together, the group is known to play spoons, Uno, and other games. Ultimate spoons occasionally finds itself in
the mix, too.Romines enjoys the opportunity to share his passions with other people.
His favorite part of cooking each week is seeing everybody else interact with each other and watching the happiness spread. He said, “That moment when I can step back from the group—when I have to get something from the closet or when I go to my room to grab my speaker—when I come back and I see a room full of people working together for a common purpose and a common good, that’s just really cool to see that happen.”
Romines and his dinner group are a very welcoming crew and would like to extend an open invi-tation to anyone who would like to join them on Thursday nights for a fresh, home-cooked meal, memorable conversations, and possibly games as well.
They meet in the Wallingford kitchen at 6 p.m.
Kylie Stamper is a sophomore majoring in communication. You can email her at [email protected].
