The Guide to a Dorm-Friendly Thanksgiving Meal

Some college students are fortunate enough to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but some of us aren't. those of us who aren't often miss out on the holiday fun. We all know the best thing about the holiday is the good eating! Well, if you can't go home during Thanksgiving don't fret! You can still have a wholesome meal without going home or ordering from Pizza Hut.

These ideas are also good if you aren't a great cook, but want to offer your kids a nice meal for Thanksgiving. If you're not cooking for many, and you don't want leftovers tempting you these are also wonderful.

The Ham: Instead of having to buy a ham and all the toppings, a wonderful substitute is ham steaks. Ham steaks are not like ham deli meat. It is really ham, just pre-sliced. It is pre-cooked and all you have to do is microwave it. They come in large slices about four to a pack, and they are extremely affordable.

The Potato Salad: Everyone loves potato salad, but in a dorm it'd be mighty hard to dice up all the potatoes and boil them. Try eating fried potato salad. In this recipe, instead of fixing potatoes you can go to your favorite fast food restaurant and get an order or two of large fries. Chop the fries up, mix them with your pickles, mustard, mayo, etc. and you have a tasty combination. Tater tots or chopped hash browns may replace the French fries. This is quick and easy. You could eat them out of the bowl you mix them in.

The Rolls: Rolls with no oven are difficult. Fortunately, Pillsbury offers dinner rolls and biscuits that are microwaveable. All you have to add is the butter!

The Macaroni: You can try to cook macaroni in the microwave and ruin it, or you can use Stouffer's Elbow Macaroni. I make a mean elbow macaroni, but it doesn't come close to Stouffer's, and at $0.87 for a regular sized bowl it is definitely on my shopping list. It taste like it was cooked out of your grandma's kitchen.

The Baked Beans: Baked beans are easy, they come in a can and require little extras. Most canned baked beans are okay tasting, but during Thanksgiving we're aiming at fantastic. A small box of brown sugar, and a little bacon is needed. The canned baked beans is likely to already have veggies like green onions inside. It will also have bacon, but the bacon is cheap and bland. Microwave the beans with a couple spoons of brown sugar inside. Buy your own bacon, microwave it, and crumble it in your baked beans. Then wa-la you have home-style baked beans. I'd suggest using Bush's Baked Beans, but since you're adding ingredients you could probably swing for a cheaper kind.

The Dressing: Stove Top Stuffing offers several varieties like pork, beef, cranberry, turkey chicken, cornbread, herb style, San Francisco sourdough, traditional sage, and mushroom and onion and they're microwaveable. The best part about this is that they're delicious and taste better than the dry concoction my sister calls stuffing. My favorite is turkey because it goes with the Thanksgiving theme, and it is moist and flavorful. You may want to add your own ingredients. The website has a page of add in ideas like apples, corn, cheese, carrot, oysters, bacon etc. There are about nineteen different ideas that you can mix creating thousands of combinations.

The Pie: The pie is my favorite thing to make because it is surprisingly easy and scrumptious. Instead of buying a pecan or soggy pumpkin pie from a bakery, you can make your own at home. My suggestion is an ice cream pie. The pie I made was an "Oreo Mocha Mudslide Pie" covered in chocolate pecan cookies. First, I picked an Oreo crust because that adds a wonderful flavor, but feel free to pick a crust that matches your taste buds. Second, don't pick a boring ice cream like vanilla. Pick something that explodes in flavor and has a lot of texture. By texture I mean cookies or nuts in the ice cream when you buy it (or by the add-ins yourself and mix in the ice cream-but this is more expensive.) Wal-mart has wonderful small boxes of ice cream that cost about $1.50. These boxes can fill up two pie tins, so you'll have ice cream left over. Third, pick a topping. I chose Pepperidge Farm cookies that had chocolate chunks, and pecans. I crumbled the cookie over the pie and it made a wonderful crust. Don't crumble the cookie then sprinkle it on the pie because it can get messy.

The Cake: Store bought cakes can taste like air with its low fat icing. To save cash don't buying a whole cake that will go stale in a few days. Purchase cupcakes that are individually wrapped because they're made to last long and stay moist. Take a small package of crunched Oreos and add them to some cheap can of $1 white frosting. The Oreos and white frosting is a WONDERFUL mix. I promise you it taste so food you may just eat the frosting creation by itself. Spoon the frosting on the cupcakes and you have a star dessert.

Well there you go, a holiday meal you can fix in the microwave in a matter of minutes that have the taste like home. Happy holidays and enjoy!