Foodbuzz 24×24: Welcome to the JMU Diner!

It’s been three years since I graduated college and not an event goes by that my friends and I don’t reminisce some part of our life at JMU. When people say the best four years of their life, they just don’t understand what that really means, unless they went to JMU.

Foodbuzz was gracious enough to help my friends and I relive our glory days and accept my proposal to make all of our dining hall favorites. You might be thinking, dining hall food? Are you insane? My answer: No. No I am not. JMU, during my time there, was ranked #4 in the nation for best dining food. Yeah. Mull that one over. We were lucky enough to have some of the best food options presented before us which made gathering at the all you can eat dining hall even more fun than just our Tuesday/ Thursday lunch date.

Thursdays were for grilled cheese. Also known as Grilled Cheese Thursdays. How original we were. Then there was that one day that happened every so often but was never a scheduled occurrence, one meal to reign over all other dining hall meals. I speak of Buffalo Mash. I’m not sure if anyone else has ever had the supreme pleasure of eating this dish but let me explain.

Mashed Potatoes + Fried Chicken Tenders + Blue Cheese + Hot Sauce = BUFFALO MASH!

This was the star of my dinner supported by macaroni and cheese and some crunchy veggies to help mediate all the cheese I served up with tomato soup.

Welcome to the JMU Diner! In case you are wondering as you look at the photos, purple and gold were our colors and I made white and red sangria to go with the theme but they were drank so fast that I didn’t get a picture. Luckily my friends brought other drinks to share otherwise we would have been very thirsty the rest of the evening!

Menu:

• veggies and dip
• homemade tomato soup
• grilled cheese
• macaroni & cheese
• buffalo mash w/ all the fixin’s
• dessert bar complete with brownies layered with cookie dough (made by my friend Jenn via Brown Eyed Baker)

The slow-cooker I bought specifically for my office’s chili cook-off has become so handy I can’t believe I store it in the box, it might need a permanent spot on my baker’s rack. The tomato soup recipe I used as a base was Ina Garten’s Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup. However, I used canned tomatoes instead of fresh because the grocery store wasn’t carrying awesome looking tomatoes at the time. The recipe was simple, dice onions and carrots and saute, add tomatoes (2 28oz cans of whole tomatoes), 1 cup of water, 1 tbsp tomato paste and simmer for 30 minutes. Add 3/4 heavy cream and blend. “How easy is that?”