freshman 15

my friend getting creative in our cafeteria. photo credit to her.

This is about the time of year that some college freshmen start noticing their pants are a little tighter and hiding miserably behind their coats. and some sophomores, seniors and out-in-the-real-world people too. Since this is a blog about food, I wanted to share my thoughts and tips on the subject:

Easy-Cheesy Lunch

Happy new year!

I’ve been adjusting to graduate school and not posting much because, well, mostly everything I eat is boring. I cook quick easy ordinary things for myself. But in a recent conversation I realized that quick easy things to cook for yourself are pretty handy, and recipes us fresh out of college folk don’t necessarily have mastered yet.

So! Let’s start with my favorite thing to bring for lunch recently: warm, tasty, healthy, and easy to pull together

Speedy rice tips

So you need rice Now?

I’m not a magician, it will still take 20 minutes. but here are my rice asap tips:

How to make rice

So, you’ve graduated. You’re off in the big wide world now, a confident, competent adult. And then you find yourself asking, “Wait… how do you make rice again?”

Thank you cookies

Project of the day: delicious tokens of appreciation

Well hello again! It’s been some time because I’ve been busy applying to, getting into, visiting, deciding on, and settling things with graduate school. It was quite a process, and many people helped me out in tons of ways–rides to the bus station, letters of recommendation, listening to me agonize over pros and cons… And so I had a lot of people to thank. As I said to one friend after she dropped me off at the bus station yet again, “I owe you such a cookie!”

And so I made her, and the rest of my kind friends and advisers, such cookies! And they turned out so well I thought I’d share : )

Baked eggs

Project of the day: newfangled comfort food

Its been a really mild winter this year! Which makes those occasional cold and/or wet days feel a little more dreary.

Those days you come home, curl up with a blanket and a cup of tea, and crave something warm and creamy for dinner. Macaroni and cheese, soup, mashed potatoes, pot pie… Everyone has their favorite. But if you’re in the mood for something new, or maybe something simpler, or really just something delicious, you have got to try baked eggs.

Meatballs

Project of the day: Nice group meal

You know when you need to make a meal for people, and you want it to be fancy and delicious but without spending too much? Got you covered 🙂

Meatballs! I put them on rolls to make subs to much approval, but you can put them on top of spaghetti or skip the sauce and add them to soup… However you serve them, meat balls are delicious! And when everyone finds out you made them yourself, they will be incredibly impressed!

Banana bread

Project of the day: waste not, want not

You know when you take too long to eat bananas? And they get all brown and soft? I like my bananas just past green, but even if you like them more on the brown side, for most people there’s a point of too far gone. When that happens, don’t throw them out! Make banana bread!

You have the power to transform mushy unwanted produce into moist, delicious bread that will attract every nose in your building to your kitchen, where their attached faces will wait and stare at you imploringly until they receive a fresh warm slice. And it makes an awesome grab&go breakfast!

The other cool thing with banana bread is that mashed bananas are often used as a substitute for butter or eggs in vegan cooking. SO all you really need to make this is flour, sugar, baking soda, and bananas! If you have an egg it will help it be less crumbly, and the oil helps keep it moist,  but if you don’t have any, just add some more banana! The spices and extracts just add a little extra flavor. Use what you have, and if you have none, it will still taste like bananas, so you’re good! Assuming, of course, that you like bananas. (If you don’t, what are they doing in your house anyway?)

If you’re lucky enough to have a freezer and don’t quite have the time to bake, throw your past-ripe bananas in the freezer until you do. They’ll keep for a long while and be even mushier when you thaw them out.

Banana bread

Forging new traditions: Saltine brittle

Project of the day: Simple dessert

Trado, tradere, tradidi, traditum. Our derivative from the latin for ‘to hand down’ is one of the most frequently used words this time of year. Everyone has their favorite traditions: gift giving, decorating, candle lighting, that special holiday dish, gathering, service, or sweater.

But sometimes that old sweater gets torn, or people move away, and the old tradition just doesn’t work. Its hard to adjust to our new conditions, sad to let go of the old traditions.

The traditional christmas eve of my childhood was to gather at my mother’s parents house with her brother’s family for a big dinner and gift giving. We would have tons of delicious food, some of Grammy’s specialties like pearl onions or waldorf salad, and sparkling cider or orange juice with seltzer in it. After dinner we’d lie in front of their fireplace as Grammy read The Night Before Christmas aloud. After we worked through our presents, always organized in piles according to recipient, we’d turn to the impressive spread of dessert. There was usually rumpie, sometimes trifle, and other varying treats, but always tea served with lots of milk and sugar in teeny little teacups.

But Grammy died last september, my uncle moved to Kansas this summer, and Poppop’s getting older. Since it’s just Poppop and my family, we had him over to our house for christmas eve this year. With such a smaller gathering, it seemed silly to have as large a meal. So for dessert after our dinner of salad, carrots, rolls, and a roast, I wanted somthing light and simple.

Eggnog, all grown up

Project of the day: Tree decorating!

I adore family traditions! One that goes way back is drinking eggnog while we decorate the tree. The grocery store jug of yellow stuff became a delicacy when dusted with nutmeg in a fancy wine glass, enjoyed in the sparkly twilight of rainbow lights and shiny ornaments.

It wasn’t until much later that I learned that my favorite holiday treat was often marred with alcohol, and my Grammy’s special eggnog had more than the cool bowl and whipped cream going for it. I accepted without question that we should save the fancy stuff for the guests at her New Year’s party, especially because she always saved a normal carton in the downstairs fridge for me : )

But the taste of rum no longer offends my now 21 year old palate, and so this year I thought I’d start a new tradition and make my own, from scratch.