Cooking 101-- College Student meets Good Eats

Hey everyone!

So, I’ve moved my food blog to my “main account” (though I’m going to keep Cooking 101 up for reference!) Follow me now at: http://messycollegekitchen.tumblr.com/

Thanks!

It’s good to be back home, although I miss HC already and know I’m only going to miss it more each day as I get closer to my year abroad. This explosion of updates was a combination of food from this week at home and some things I forgot to post from this semester. Prepare yourself: I’m going to cook like a madwoman this summer, and cannot wait to see what new recipes will challenge me as I work on this “avoiding meat” policy…

Until next time (hopefully very soon,) the kitchen is closed!

For all you Harry Potter fans… Butterbeer!!!

One of the fun adventures of college is cooking with friends, or just experimenting in the kitchen. Twice this year my friend Nick (he’s the red-head above) and I decided to mimic the recipe for this drink that you can find at Harry Potter World (is that what it’s called?) in Universal Studios. He was very determined and eventually found what he thought best suited our goal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7OOlxs04Cs

Yes, it’s a youtube video, so be patient while following it, you will have to pause and rewind and such, but trust me— it’s worth it!

According to Nick, we followed this recipe exactly EXCEPT we replaced butter extract with 1/4 tbsp melted butter.

If you have the right ingredients, this is a VERY easy recipe and turns out beyond good. Too good. It’s almost magical… very sweet, but just the right amount!! I imagine Harry would be satisfied if he gave this a try.

Don’t leave out the foam at the top by the way.. it makes the drink!

Banana-Nutella Oatmeal

Yup. Breakfast just went from being intrinsically awesome to out-of-this-country-awesome (“country” in reference to Nutella’s origins from abroad.)

Here’s the link to happiness: http://sumptuousspoonfuls.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/quick-easy-banana-nutella-oatmeal/

What I did:

-my banana was not over-ripe, but all the same suited the purpose once mashed

-I used 1/2 c. oats, 1/2 c. water and 1/2 c. milk (that way I could get in more fiber and whole grains!)

-no cocoa powder (couldn’t find it…) vanilla, or salt. substituted these losses with a teaspoon of turbinado (“sugar in the raw”) sugar

-Cooked for a total of 4:00 (stopped after 2:30) because there were more oats/to make the oatmeal thicker

I LOVED how this food blogger decided to cook the banana WITH the oatmeal— that’s something I’ve never considered before, though I’ve thrown banana into my oatmeal countless times. Soft, warm banana flowed well with the oatmeal and soaked up the nutella, too!

This was a great way to start the day. Honestly, I could have had more nutella in there.. but more than a tablespoon of that stuff isn’t very healthy. I love that this recipe still sticks to a healthy version of oatmeal while taking a snack-like spin. In my mind, oatmeal is always a great way to start the day, but you need to be careful not to add too much sweets— such as sugar, butter, etc.— to take away from your nutritious breakfast. This recipe just goes to show that there is a way to make a healthy balance!! Will definitely be doing this again!

Whenever I come home from break, I need to visit my favorite restaurant in town: Three Amigos Mexican Grill. Usually, I’ll get a black-bean burrito, but this past Friday I decided to try something different and simpler..

Black bean enchiladas.

Three Amigos has this way of making black beans— which can be rather bland— extremely desirable in your order. They also have the best rice I’ve probably ever tasted. Setting these well-filled enchiladas on top of a bed of this rice was clearly not a problem. The corn tortillas were also topped with a delicious sauce and loads of cheese… though I didn’t finish the cheese, let’s just say that this meal did not go to waste. Gotta love Mexican food!

Egg-White Wrap

On campus, the best place to get breakfast without question in the Science Cafe. You can get an egg-white wrap (a spinach wrap to be exact, my favorite) with cheddar cheese, among many other great choices. At home, I decided to follow suit this past week…

Ingredients:

-Egg whites (I used “egg-beater” egg whites), about 2-3

-A 6-inch wrap (whole wheat in this case, but I prefer spinach)

-About 1/8 c. cheddar cheese

Directions:

Heat up a panini grill. In another small pan, pour in the egg whites and cook until they turn white. Scramble as they cook. Pour the cooked scrambled eggs onto the open wrap, and sprinkle the cheese in a straight line down the eggs. Fold the wrap up, spray the grill with cooking spray, and cook until there are dark grill marks on the wrap. Cut in two and enjoy!

What’s great about this is you don’t need too much cheese, so you still avoiding a lot of cholesterol in the morning while having a healthy, good-tasting start!

Keeping it simple— Whole Wheat Pasta with Broccoli and Spinach

I know, broccoli again. But we need to remember simple recipes here, right?

I’ve been home for officially a week now, and have cooked dinner multiple times. This is one of the quicker meals I put together just to take care of myself while my parents were out. As recommended by my mother, I used chicken broth to add flavor.

But HOW?!

Well. Cooked the pasta in one pot, and heated up the broth in another with the spinach and broccoli sitting in it. After draining the pasta of water, I placed the broccoli and spinach on top, and then poured the leftover broth over the plate. Then sprinkled on some parmigiana and bam— a healthy, flavor-filled dinner that took about ten minutes to complete! (Minus chopping that broccoli… chopping always takes the longest..)

Broccoli-Cheese Chowder

This was possibly THE BEST soup I’ve ever made from EatingWell, in my life. I know I sound dramatic, but this was plain ridiculous. 

Listen. I never get broccoli and cheddar soup; it always looks like a pot of melted cheese with a few bristles of broccoli scattered throughout.

But no. This is different.

You need to try this recipe. I mean it. Here’s the link: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/broccoli_cheese_chowder.html

Things I changed:

-Used red onion

-Canola oil

-2 potatos

-regular mustard, not dry (couldn’t find it)

-no extra salt

-no cayenne pepper

-probably used more than 8 oz. of broccoli

-Instead of mashing 2 cups, I mashed as much of the soup as possible; after realizing that it is very messy to transfer a bit to a bowl and use the hand-mixer, which splashed broccoli and celery bits everywhere, I stuck the thing into the pot and tried my best to stay neat.

I cannot emphasize how much I loved this soup. Definitely ate way too much more than I should have, even though it’s EatingWell I still had one too many servings… which would explain why I was just riding our stationary bike WHILE updating this food blog.

Anyway. As I just stated, the perfection of this soup cannot be expressed. Added a slice of toasted whole-wheat bakery bread. It is broccoli-and-cheddar soup without an overwhelming amount of cheese, a perfect balance of several types of vegetables, and just the right flavor between chicken broth, sour cream, and cheese.

YOU MUST TRY THIS.

Over winter break, a group of friends and I went up to visit a friend that lives in Vermont. She took us to this awesome lunch place in her town called “The Pretzel Factory,” where I got one of their trademark filled-pretzels. It has parmigiana and (I believe) spinach, or was it garlic? Either way, it was an awesome “twist” (if you don’t mind my bad joke, or even if you do) on a pretzel!!

For spring break, I participate in my school’s Immersion Program. This past break I was a volunteer at Narrows, VA, where I had some of the best southern cooking I’ve had since… well, since the last time I was on Immersion in Virginia!

On our way back home, we stopped at the fast-food restaurant “Chick-fil-A,” which apparently is a pretty big deal down there. I got a plain order of a chicken sandwich, and it was QUITE good— perfectly fried and the roll was flavorful. I put on the chick-fil-a dressing, but it wasn’t too too impressive. I also wasn’t super thrilled with the waffle fries, but everyone else in our group would disagree with me. Anyway, since this place is such an icon in the south, I thought it deserved a post!