Learning About Nutrition
Making easy college dinners can be very stressful when you are just learning how to cook. Growing up, I was very lucky to have home cooked meals almost every night of the week. My mom and dad loved to cook and always made sure we were getting that colorful plate.
When I moved out, I wanted to do the same for myself. I undeniably get fast foods more than I did at home. Fast foods were pretty much unspoken of at my house. We got the occasional takeout or pizza on Sundays.
To start, I went on Pinterest to get some inspiration. I wanted to make what I knew and learn how to make other meals that were foreign to me.
The hardest thing that I slowly learned was that I wasn’t getting enough protein when I first moved out of my parent’s home. My energy levels were rapidly dropping, and I was so sleepy all the time.
I wanted to get to the root of this. Surely my buttered noodles were not doing this to me… right? All I heard in the back of my head was my mom saying, “are you drinking enough water? Are you eating foods that make you feel good?”
No, I wasn’t.
From that point on, I picked up the knives and cutting board and went to work.
Related Post: How to Survive Living on Your Own
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Seasoned Chicken
Super simple but starting out, very complex. I don’t have any formal recipes, but I can provide you with what I do for my chicken.
What you need:
Pan
Tongs
Seasonings (any that you like, I prefer salt and lemon pepper)
Chicken Breasts
Meat Thermometer
Olive oil
When you are cooking meat, you always want to cook it between medium and low. Grab your pan and start heating it up. Add some oil and plop your seasoned chicken in the pan. Make sure to cut the chicken horizontally to make it thinner. Flip the chicken every couple minute and use the meat thermometer to make sure your chicken is thoroughly cooked.
I used this recipe book the first year on my own. It has 100 easy recipes!
Strawberry Chicken Salad
This is a favorite of mine!!! Such a quick meal to make and super easy.
What you need:
Cooked chicken
Strawberries
Pecans
Romaine Lettuce (or whichever kind you prefer)
Poppyseed dressing (any kind works)
Dice up your lettuce and strawberries and plop them into a bowl. You can either keep the pecans whole or crush them (I prefer them whole). There you go!
Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps
These are super yummy and are very quick!
What you need:
Shredded chicken
Hot sauce (of any kind)
Lettuce (I chose romaine)
Ranch or Bleu cheese
Once your shredded chicken is done add in your hot sauce based off of your preferred spice level. Then plop it into the little lettuce wraps and add your ranch or bleu cheese or both! These are awesome meals or appetizers. Enjoy!
Sushi Bowl
I am a huge lover of sushi, and this is the best substitute to make at home!
What you need:
Imitation crab
1 avocado
1 cucumber
Sticky rice
1 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar
Yum-Yum Sauce
Add all of these into a bowl once you are done making the rice and dicing up the rest. Top it off with the rice vinegar. Mix it all up and ad in your Yum-Yum Sauce. You can also add sesame seeds and soy sauce if you please. So yummy and so quick!
Charcuterie Dinner
My family ALWAYS did charcuterie and appetizers for family movie nights. I am personally the biggest fan of snacking dinners and think that this is super easy and convenient.
What you need:
Cheese (any kind)
Sausage
Any type of nuts (I like to put sesame sticks in mine)
Crackers
These are great for get togethers and takes almost no time to put it all together!
Taco mac salad
So, at first glance, it looks kind of crazy. But I grew up with this and it is a comfort food of mine.
What you need:
Colorful Spiral Pasta
Ground Beef
Taco Seasoning
Romaine lettuce
Diced Cherry Tomatoes
Shredded Cheese
French Dressing
Add the lettuce, tomatoes, taco meat, and spiral pasta into one big bowl. Serve into another bowl and add your cheese and French dressing. Seriously, so delicious and highly recommend.
Finding new recipes
My advice is to get on Pinterest and find some easy and affordable meals to make. These are the ones that I found and LOVED. These meals make an appearance in my diet frequently and they are absolutely delicious.
I also recommend to just play around with what you have in your kitchen. You would be surprised what combinations your brain will make up that turn out to be a new favorite. Good luck to you and your cooking journey!