Raid-Friendly Recipes Mission Statement

I like to talk and write about food. I'm a big fan of food, it's kept me around for this long and I figure I ought to appreciate it. I'm also a huge geek. I've been playing video games for a long time, but I've always intentionally avoided MMORPGs because I just knew that if I got started, I'd never be able to stop, and the game would take over my life. Then World of Warcraft was released, and I could hold back no longer. Before I knew it, I was hooked. I quickly learned how to balance real life with fun, and found a raid that felt like another home.

I may have had the balance of cooking for my boyfriend and I while raiding down, but I noticed others did not. Whether it was due to being an inexperienced cook, having a busy life outside of the game, or just not having enough recipes in their repertoire to cook every night of the week and not get sick of eating the same stuff over and over, people were eating a lot of delivered pizzas. Not that I have anything against pizzas! They're very tasty. But let's be fair - everyone deserves a delicious, home-cooked meal just like mom used to make, even if you're away from home or even if you're a parent yourself. There's websites dedicated to recipes for busy moms, for budgets and for special diets - why not one for gamers?

And so I decided to make this little blog as a collection of recipes designed with the raider in mind. But what makes a good raiding recipe?
-Slow cooking is your friend. Most raids last at least 4 hours - why not have something in the oven or on the stove, slowly cooking to perfection while you kick ass and take names?
-Fast Cooking is also good! Things that cook quickly often tend to not be as rich or flavorful as slow-cooked foods, but nobody can deny how easy and delicious they can be. Recipes that can be completed in 30 minutes or less are perfect for raiding.
-Easy does it. Your stereotypical gamer is a college dude with no cooking experience. While we definitely don't all fit that stereotype, I think it's important to make recipes easy to follow even for n00b cooks. Even for the tougher recipes I post, I plan on breaking down each step to a simple enough process so that everyone can try it.
-Save money! While this isn't a budget recipe site, sometimes gamers want to spend their money on other things, like college, gas...or a diorama of a Blood Elf rogue fighting a Draenei paladin. So we'll try to focus on foods that are within everyone's budget - sorry, you probably won't see any filet mignon.
-Easy Access Now I'm the first person to say that I love exotic ingredients like Yuzu, fresh seafood (and by fresh I mean it was swimming a few hours ago) and ostrich meat, I know that not everybody has access to such culinary delights. Same goes for tools like a pasta roller, food processor or stand mixer (okay, so you may be able to get them, but the price on these means you're not going to be able to grab a stand mixer on an impulse buy). We'll focus on ingredients you can get at your local mega-mart or grocery store and easily afford.
-And most importantly...DELICIOUSNESS! Flavor! Delicious foodstuffs! Something that ISN'T a Hot Pocket! I mainly started this project so that people like me who love to game don't have to sacrifice a delicious, home-cooked meal for the sake of their hobby. So let's make those meals tasty!

If you have a recipe you would like to recommend for Raid-Friendly Recipes, feel free to drop me a line: sadaye @ gmail DOT com