Cooking is a big part of who I am as a young adult, and so when Pinterest started posting recipes for some of my favorite foods, I hopped on board to try them out myself. I’ve tried almost twenty-five percent of their feed with my roommate for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners and here’s my input on a few of the meals I’ve tried.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH CAKE

My roommate Haley and I were born a day apart and she wanted to make me a birthday cake to celebrate our birthdays. She thought that this chocolate chip cookie dough cake would be a perfect idea because of my love for cookie dough ice cream as well as eating straight up cookie dough out of the bowl. It consisted of a vanilla cake with an egg-less cookie dough center, which was really delicious by itself. The cake was actually rather hard to make and not as easy as it may have looked. The frosting on top was a vanilla frosting but it made it extremely sweet with the cake and the cookie dough. After three bites, Haley and I both felt like the sugar was so intense that we couldn’t eat the rest of it. Maybe the cake could have been better with a smaller amount of icing by not putting it in the middle of the cake.

CHICKEN MOZZERELLA PASTA WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

This was such an amazing meal and extremely easy for Haley and I to make. There was a ton of cheese and lots of taste in it that we weren’t expecting. The recipe asks for red pepper flakes, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, grilled chicken, penne noodle pasta, and other flavorful ingredients. Haley and I felt so confident when cooking this dish that we decided to add spinach to it as well to bring in some veggies that were very much needed in this high-carb meal. The outcome was so rewarding and we can’t wait to make it again. If you have an hour out of your night to make dinner, I highly suggest making this worthy pasta.

HEALTHY GREEK YOGURT AND HONEY BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Muffins are always to die for but most of the time has a lot of unwanted carbs in it. Not to fear. These healthy greek yogurt and honey blueberry muffins make up for that. Instead of using usual fattening ingredients, this recipe uses honey, Greek yogurt, and oats to bring in more protein and make it a healthier option. The blueberries were super fresh and paired really well with all of the other ingredients. The muffins turned out just as amazing as they sound and became a great to-go breakfast for my roommate and I.

SLOW COOKER TERIYAKI CHICKEN

Pictures can be deceiving. This slower cooker teriyaki chicken was one of them. It calls for Yoshidas Teryaki Sauce which you have to order online from Amazon which my roommate and I were not able to do in order to have a quick dinner. It says that the teriyaki chicken only has three ingredients, that being boneless chicken breast, Yoshidas Teriyaki Sauce, and Niko Niko Calrose Rice. It was misleading because it is assumed that chicken and rice would be separate ingredients from making a teriyaki sauce. Therefore, the turn out of our teriyaki chicken was horrible. The chicken was saturated in a thick sauce that Haley found at a local grocery store and it didn’t really work out in our favor. This deceiving recipe resulted in a very unappetizing meal.

For being in college and cooking for myself or at some occasions, a plus one, Pinterest has been super helpful in my growth as a young adult. Although some of the meals that were made weren’t completely successful, it was a great learning experience.