Hey, Phoodies! We are taking a hiatus to travel for a week around the US and even across the pond over to the UK.
If you want to follow our adventures, check our Instagram and our Twitter (@215phood). We will be in New Orleans, LA; Newport, RI; London, England; Boston, MA; Burlington, VT; and Montreal, Canada.
We’ve got big plans for the spring, so stay tuned!
Another favorite treat among the staff here at Phood are peanut butter chocolate cake pops. We know that sometimes when you crave sweets you really crave ‘em, and it’s never a bad thing to have plenty of treats on hand. These are a great dessert to make with friends and to share with everyone. Or maybe you’re the kind of person who likes to make 3 dozen cake pops all for yourself. Trust us, there’s no shame in that (just don’t eat them all at once!). This recipe takes a little while to get through because of all the downtime spent baking, cooling, and chilling the different components, but it’s definitely worth the wait.
If you read our brunch roundup post, you’ll remember how much we love Metropolitan Bakery, so when we got our hands on their signature salted chocolate chip and sour cherry cookies recipe, we knew we had to share it with everyone we know. I’ve made these cookies for countless parties, and I’ve even used oat flour to make them completely gluten-free for my friends with food allergies. They’re sure to be a crowdpleaser, and the tart cherries are always a great surprise to unsuspecting eaters. Be warned: this recipe makes very large cookies (around 5 inches in diameter), so halve the recipe if you’d like to make fewer or smaller cookies.
Indulging in the occasional treat is no big deal, but if you find yourself craving chocolate every day like I do, finding ways to work it into something a bit healthier can make rich snacks feel less like a cheat meal. Almost every morning, I throw zucchini in my chocolate peanut butter breakfast smoothies, or snag a cookies and cream Quest protein bar on the way to class. While that gets me through the day, I always need sweets at night. Sweets-sweets, not those sad, 100-calorie snack packs of stale chocolate chip cookies. I need brownies. These black bean brownies might seem a bit much, but if you make them correctly, you won’t notice any trace of bean flavor.
Whether you’re shuffling to your next class or rushing to make an afternoon meeting, it can be tough to find an affordable meal that won’t hold you up for too much time. Being both convenient and fulfilling, it’s no wonder that food trucks have exploded in Philadelphia and other major cities. College campuses are a natural place for these trucks to thrive, with students regularly having all kinds of cravings and needs to fuel their rigorous studies. Below are our picks for the best mobile bites in University City and beyond, all cheap(ish) and all satisfying.
As powerlifters, my boyfriend and I revolve our eating habits around two things: chicken and meal prep. As great as this sounds, baked chicken breast with rice and assorted veggies can get a little boring after about three days (or, more honestly, after three bites). We would always look forward to the end of the week, a beautiful time when our baked chicken would run out and we’d buy our favorite food — chicken over rice from the ubiquitous halal food carts. At some point, we got smart and realized that we could make our own food truck-style chicken over rice, saving us money and turning our prepared meals from something we tolerate into something we look forward to weekly.
There are few things more comforting than breakfast foods. After a long, rainy week, we like to decompress with some waffles or eggs benedict. We’re sure that our favorite brunch and breakfast spots will be yours, too. Don’t just take our word for it (although you might if you took any of our taco recommendations), read on to see why we love the places we love, and why we think you will love them, too.
I can hear the exasperated sighs already about yet another taco post, but hear us out. We aren’t talking any ol’ tacos, we are talking about breakfast tacos, which means fluffy scrambled eggs, gooey cheese, crispy home fries, and guac all wrapped up in warm lil’ tortillas. It means a delicious, protein-filled breakfast that can easily be tossed in foil and taken on the go. And, for one Drexel hotel and restaurant management alumnus who wanted nothing to do with the the restaurant business after graduation, it meant the founding recipe behind a successful taco shop. We sat down with Tom McCusker, owner of Honest Tom’s Taco Shop (formerly a food truck), to talk about the challenges of starting his own restaurant and the simple beauty of short menus. So yes, we’re back at it with the tacos again. And we love it.
For our next review, we decided to check out an eatery that has gotten nationwide buzz: Rosa’s Fresh Pizza. As soon as you walk into the small store located at 25 S. 11th St., you can tell that this store is not just about the $1 pizza. Nearly every wall is covered in multicolored sticky notes of all shapes and sizes. Each one has a handwritten message that ranges from sweet and sincere to puns that are even cheesier than the pizza.
After you’ve attempted making your own cheesesteaks, or bought one from Jim’s to create the carb-monstrosity (carbstrosity?) that is the Philly Taco, what better way to quench your thirst than with arguably the city’s favorite libation — beer? Though not one of those trendy brewpubs that have popped up as of late, Local 44 is a 2-doored beer bar/bottle shop mashup that prides itself in both its extensive beer list and tasty food. Side note: vegan beer-lovers, rejoice in knowing that their menus have an array of veg-friendly options, instead of restricting yourselves to the token french fries or sad house salad.
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