When Felicia Lindholm, the owner of the Commons Cafe, had extra strawberries and biscuits, an idea popped into her head: strawberry shortcake. Combining everyday food items in the commons, Lindholm was able to take just a few ingredients and create a delicious snack. We eat at the commons everyday yet it’s easy to just grab the main course. But, as Lindholm pointed out, there are dozens of toppings and fun food hacks we can do with our lunches and snacks. I put Lindholm’s mentality to the test.

I got a cup of yogurt and added a lot of toppings. These toppings included strawberries, mango, granola, coconut and chocolate chips. I was going for a kitchen sink type of yogurt parfait. It was fun adding a lot of different toppings to make the yogurt even better. The best part about this experience was that all my toppings didn’t even cost extra. This is great for a breakfast/snack, and although $3.95 might be slightly more than store-bought yogurt alone, I was able to put unlimited toppings on, so it was especially delicious.

I wanted to sample a fun food hack snack. So I chose a croissant with whipped cream on top. This food hack was definitely odd and I was skeptical at first, but excited to try it. I ended up loving this combination, but who wouldn’t like a French pastry covered in whipped cream? Because the croissant was savory while the whipped cream was sweet, it made for a great sweet treat that can honestly be eaten at any time of the day. This snack cost $2.85 for a large croissant and a lot of whipped cream on top. The whipped cream doesn’t cost anything, so it’s a great way to make your snacks fun without costing more.

For lunch, we had hoisin noodles and dumplings that day. Utilizing the salad bar, I compiled a lot of ingredients to build a flavorful dish. I started with some fried rice and hoisin noodles as my base. I added a few dumplings on top and made my way to the salad bar. From there, I added edamame, carrots, broccoli, green beans and peas. I also added some extra soy sauce for even more flavor. This bowl was absolutely delicious! This lunch was just that much better with a lot of toppings and sauces to level up my noodles. The bowl came in at $6.60, but again, it was just the price of the bowl and how much protein I had added, not the amount of toppings.

Just taking a few extra minutes to fix up your food, no matter what or when you eat can make your experience that much better. The Commons Cafe offers a multitude of ways to hack your food so the next time you eat there, try out a few hacks to level up your food, even if that’s just adding whipped cream on top of your dish.