NAMPA, Idaho – When the Verdieck family breaks bread on this Thanksgiving Day, you can expect their son Steven to be in the kitchen getting dinner ready.

The Northwest Nazarene senior baseball player from Troutdale, Oregon, isn't in the way in the kitchen, rather he is in his element.

Verdieck is an avid cook, often grilling up special meals for himself and his roommates and even has an Instagram page dedicated to his work called dorm_eats2020.

"My long-term goal is to own a restaurant," he said. "I take pride in learning what I can do with cooking – making different recipes and seeing what I can make whether by following the recipe or changing it and putting my own twist on it."

The accounting and management double major plans to pursue a job in the accounting field and hopes to fund a Buffalo Wild Wings type restaurant once he has enough money.

That would fit in with his favorite dishes right now, which are mainly grilled.



As a junior he lived in Corlett Hall, which is an apartment-style dorm that features a full kitchen. That is when his interest in cooking was renewed full time. This year, he lives off campus and continues to cook for not only himself, but his three roommates.

"I was a little surprised at first because I kind of thought it was a joke because of the dorm_eats page," NNU senior Jayce Allred said. "Steve loves it, though, and don't tell him I said this, but he's pretty good at it too."

Allred, David Blum and Andrew Marable are Verdieck's longtime roommates and all have a favorite meal that he makes.

From a Surf and Turf to homemade mac n' cheese to cupcakes to stuffed chicken breasts to burgers with fried eggs, the group has had diverse meals that differ greatly from a typical college dining experience.

"There is not a single thing that Steve has made that has not impressed me," Blum said. "There are meals he has cooked that maybe didn't interest me, but they still looked excellent."

One of Verdieck's favorite meals he has cooked is crab cakes. He caught the crab in the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon Coast and then made the crab cake in the family fifth-wheel while camping.

Verdieck first developed a passion for cooking the way many people do these days – by watching cooking shows.

He watched a lot of shows on the Food Network and the Travel Channel after school growing up and eventually found his skill in it when he took a home economics class in high school.
"It is one of those general education classes that people take because it is easy, but I took pride in it," he said.

His joy in cooking waned a bit as a freshman and a sophomore as his access to a kitchen was rare, but he did help cook the family Thanksgiving meal as a sophomore and has been frying up plenty of meals the last two years.

"Eggs are one of my frequent recipes along with burgers," he said. "I try to get the higher-end lean meats and chicken because those are better to keep my body in shape. You can't always have pizza, even though it sounds like the best thing.

"Sometimes you have to innovate with things like eggs. I do omelets, egg breakfast burritos, egg sandwiches … just trying to make something interesting even if it is just eggs. I try to make foods that aren't as good, taste flavorful."

And from all accounts, everything Verdieck makes is pretty flavorful.