Indian-inspired Broccoli and Cauliflower

No need to take out Indian with this recipe on your finger tips. I whipped this up with cauliflower and broccoli but other veggie combinations work very well (think zucchini, bell peppers, carrots, potatoes, peas...). Serve over rice or eat plain.

Indian-inspired Broccoli and Cauliflower
4 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup water
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 medium head cauliflower
1 medium head broccoli
1 heaping tablespoon of fresh ginger, minced
8 cloves of garlic, minced

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions with next four ingredients (cumin through red pepper) until onions are golden (about ten minutes). Add remaining ingredients and simmer until vegetables are tender (about 30 minutes). Lap up!

Tabouli

This is a fantastic meal for the multi-tasker. I set up the bulgar and hot water before running to class. When I came back, the only "cooking" in this recipe was taken care of. All I had left to do was chop away. The best part about tabouli is it only gets better as it's refrigerated. No mediocre left-overs when you've got it whipped up.

Tabouli
6-8 servings

1 cup bulgar
2 cups boiling water
1 bunch of parsley, chopped (about 1 packed cup)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 medium cucumber, seeded and chopped
6 green onions, chopped
5 gloves of garlic, minced
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Place the bulgar in a large boil and add boiling water. Cover the boil with a plate and let sit. After an hour, mix in everything else.

Roasted Parsnips, Potatoes, and Butternut Squash

I love roasted vegetables and find this combination particularly successful. I don't peel the parsnips or potatoes but I do peel the butternut squash. If you don't have a heavy duty vegetable peeler, chop the squash with the skin on and then chop the skin off each piece (much less efficient but definitely a possibility-- confession: I don't have a heavy duty peeler).

A general note about parsnips: I remove the tough part that runs down the middle by first cutting the parsnip into fourths (lengthwise) and then removing the darker colored interior. This helps ensure a more uniform texture in the cooked parsnip.

There isn't much to this recipe, but it's as tasty as it is easy. A nice perk: there's no need to cook up a grain to go with these veggies. The starch in this dish will fill you right up as is.

Roasted Parsnips, Potatoes, and Butternut Squash
4 servings

4 medium parsnips, fibrous insides removes and discarded, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 medium potato, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large roasting pan, mix the potato, parsnips, and squash. Add remaining 4 ingredients (salt through olive oil), tossing to coat. Roast vegetables for 45 minutes, tossing every 15 minutes to prevent burning. Eat up.

Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions

I love a tasty, filling pilaf and this recipe fits the bill. The brown rice and lentils make a very substantial (and nutritious!) meal. I toast my rice before cooking it, a little trick I picked up from my parents-- it lends rice a deeper, richer taste.

Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions
3 servings

1/2 cup lentils
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 brown rice

In a saucepan, bring the first 6 ingredients (lentils through salt) to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered.

While the lentils simmer, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and red pepper and saute until the onions are caramelized (about 10 minutes). Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.

Add a little water to the frying pan to deglaze the pan. While deglazing, add the brown rice to the frying pan and toast rice for 2 minutes.

After the lentils have simmered for 15 minutes, add the toasted rice to the saucepan and simmer, covered for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally until water is absorbed and rice is cooked. Add caramelized onions and eat!

Tzatziki Stuffed Pita Bread

I happen to be a yogurt fanatic (keep your eyes peeled for a post on making your own yogurt... coming soon). One of my favorite breakfasts/ snacks: yogurt and cereal. Just mix for instant heaven. As with everything, it's important to look at ingredients and nutritional information when buying yogurt. Watch out for outrageous amounts of sugar. Even a plain yogurt may have upwards of 30 grams per cup. Try to stay in the 15-17 grams per cup zone.

The tzatziki sauce recipe is adapted from Cooking Light's recipe found here. The pita bread recipe is adapted from this recipe. Don't worry if your dough is particularly wet and sticky. All the better for the final texture. I just knead quickly so that the dough doesn't stick too much to my kneading surface. The time involved in making your own pita bread is worth seeing it puff up in the oven, honest.

Tzatziki Sauce
4 servings

1 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 cloves garlic, minced

Place yogurt in a coffee filter and strain for at least an hour (the longer you strain, the thicker the yogurt becomes-- no need to buy expensive Greek yogurt, just strain plain yogurt overnight). Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Stuff into pita, dress a Greek salad, or spoon directly into your mouth.

Pita Bread
8 pitas

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
2 teaspoons yeast
1.5 teaspoons salt
1.5 cups water
2 teaspoons olive oil

In a large bowl, mix the flour and water and let sit for 20 minutes. Then, add the yeast and salt and knead dough for 10 minutes (want a cool way to knead?). Oil the bowl, return the dough to the bowl, cover with a towel and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm area.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Separate the dough into 8 pieces, coating each piece with the olive oil in the bowl. Roll-out each piece of dough into a flat circle of 5 inch diameter. On a baking sheet, bake each pita for 3-4 minutes (watch them puff up!).

Artichokes and Peas

This recipe comes from Claudia Roden's cookbook, Invitation to Mediterranean Cooking: 150 Vegetarian and Seafood Recipes. And it is fantastic-- the flavors blend together so well. Plus, the preparation and cooking time are minimal. I'm not usually a fan of frozen veggies, but in this recipe they work (neither taste nor texture are compromised). Using frozen vegetables seriously saves time by cutting down on chopping... good news: you'll have more time to read Gogol.

Left-over idea: mix refrigerated left-overs with cold pasta for a tasty pasta salad. Save the extra fresh mint, dill, and half of a lemon for tzatziki sauce.

Artichokes and Peas
4 servings

1 medium onion, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb bag of frozen peas*
12 oz bag of artichoke hearts
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons water

In a large frying pan, saute onion and garlic until browned. Add peas and artichokes and continue sauteeing for 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

*In Claudia's recipe, she uses a combination of fava beans and peas. I couldn't find fava beans, but if you can, experiment with them. Try also substituting frozen edemame for the peas.

Shopping List

Meals:

Peas and Artichokes
Tzatziki Sauce Stuffed Pita
Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions
Roasted Parsnips, Potatoes, and Butternut Squash

Come shop with me. Above, I've mapped out dinner for the upcoming days (I'll be rethinking left-overs for lunches) and below have compiled a shopping list. I'll be posting my recipes as I cook... just follow along and you'll be all set food-wise. First step, the grocery store.

Shopping List:
Cost: about $15.00

1 large tub of plain, nonfat yogurt
1 lb bag of frozen peas
12 oz bag of artichoke hearts
4 medium parsnips
1 medium butternut squash
1 bunch of fresh dill
1 bunch of fresh mint
1 lemon
optional*: whole wheat pita bread

If you don't have these following foods as staples (see The Essentials: the food), you'll also need to buy:

Cost: about $40.00... but you'll be well on your way to a stocked pantry. Buy extra potatoes and onions to stock those too.

1 bag brown rice
1 bag dried lentils
1 medium potato
4 medium onions
1 bulb of garlic
unbleached flour*
whole wheat flour*
yeast*
olive oil
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
crushed red pepper flakes
pepper
salt

*Note: I'm going to be baking my own pita bread-- alternatively, you can buy whole wheat pita when you shop

Oooh I just love grocery shopping...

Split-pea Soup

This is a variation on my lentil soup recipe (posted here) using split-peas and collard greens in place of lentils. The collard greens complement the peas in taste, nutrition, and color. I chop them into 1/4 inch strips like this:














Left-over idea: this soup thickens as it refrigerates so you can use reheated left-overs as a spread on toasted bread. Top with some grated Swiss or Gouda cheese and voila... you've got open-faced sandwiches for lunch

Lentil Soup
4 Servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 heaping tablespoon of paprika
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup split-peas, soaked overnight and then drained
1/2 pound of collard greens, rinsed and chopped

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and next 6 ingredients (through red pepper flakes) and saute for 10 minutes, until the onions have browned. Add split-peas, collard greens, and enough water to generously cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low heat. Simmer for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, until the peas are very soft. Serve and enjoy.

The Essentials: the food

I don't have the luxury of a pantry, so I've had to think carefully about and experiment with what to stock up on given my limited shelf space. Here are what I've determined "the essentials" which I make sure to always have lying around:

Spices-- salt, pepper, paprika, hot pepper flakes, cumin, oregano, curry powder, nutmeg, cinnamon

Olive oil-- I prefer olive oil to butter in my cooking so I always have olive oil on hand for sauteeing and dressing.

Grains-- some combination of pasta, brown rice, wild rice, white rice, barley, bulgar, and quinoa. Also, quick cooking oats are my go-to breakfast most days of the week (simple and very filling).

Dried beans-- black beans, lentils (which don't need to be soaked overnight before cooking), and split-peas are my favorites for soup

Potatoes, onions, and garlic-- always good to have on hand!

Canned, frozen, and jarred food-- I'm not the biggest fan of canned or frozen food (fresh vegetables taste so much better) but it's not a bad idea to have a few things on hand if you need to throw a meal together quickly. Here's what I recommend having: canned corn, tomatoes (I like the diced tomatoes with chilies for adding a spicy flare to rice), and beans, frozen edamame, green beans, and peas, and jarred tomato sauce (making your own and freezing it is also an option... but if you buy it jarred, make sure it doesn't have added sugar)

Peanut butter-- look at the ingredients when buying peanut butter... all you need are peanuts (and trust me, it'll taste better that way). A tablespoon of peanut butter makes a quick and easy snack. For some variation, try spreading a bit in between two slices of zucchini for a bite sized sandwich.

Baking supplies-- all purpose flour (unbleached), whole wheat flour, cane sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and corn meal

The Essentials: the tools

I've compiled a list of the most useful utensils for college cooking. Once you have the following, you can more or less improvise the rest (I needed a rolling pin the other night and used a tall drinking glass instead, for example). Here goes:

Chopping knife-- at first, don't worry about getting a collection of knives. One good versatile knife is all you really need. I use this guy here, which comes with a storage sheath.

Cutting board-- my cutting board is 11x14 inches. It's a delicate balance between getting a cutting board that's big enough to chop an eggplant on but small enough to fit on whatever flat surface you can find in your dorm room.

Can opener-- enough said.

Sieve-- this will come in handy when cooking with canned food (wash off as much sodium as possible before using) or washing grains (make sure the sieve holes are small enough to hold rice, bulgar, quinoa...).

Vegetable peeler-- I picked up my vegetable peeler in a grocery store for pretty cheap. It's not at all heavy duty, but it does the trick for potatoes. When peeling something more challenging (like butternut squash), I prefer to chop into large chunks and then cut the skin off instead of peeling it.

Large cooking spoon-- something you can use to saute veggies, stir a soup, and serve food with.

Tupperware-- get microwave safe and a couple different containers. Separate left-overs into meal size portions to take with you for lunch and/ or quickly zap to reheat without hassle.

Mixing bowl-- I would recommend sticking with plastic for now. Since I store my cooking things in a bin under my bed, the less breakable everything is, the better.

Measuring cups-- pretty standard. It's useful to have 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 1 cup measures.

Measuring spoons-- the traditional measuring spoon has a round head (as oppose to an oval one). This makes for some tricky measuring when you need a tablespoon, say, of paprika, and the container's opening is rather small. The tablespoon likely won't fit inside, and you'll be forced to measure out three teaspoons instead. I've got a set of narrow, oval measuring spoons, and they've simplified my life because they fit in the tight spaces. Check out something like this.

Saucepan-- try to get one on the large side. Even though you may only be cooking for one, having left-overs to pack a lunch or re-use as the starting point of a new dish is a serious time-saver. If you're trying to conserve space (like I am), buy a saucepan that has a small diameter but is tall. It'll be easier to store than a saucepan with equal volume but a larger diameter. My saucepan is a Krona vented multi-pot with a straining lid (check it out here). It's terribly useful-- you can measure within the pot (there are markings for cups/ liters on the inside of the pot), the lid makes straining easy, and the pot has a lip for pouring.

Frying pan-- again, go for big volume. I love sauteeing veggies and need a large frying pan to contain everything before it cooks down.

Roasting dish-- a rectangular bake/ roast pan works well not only for roasting veggies but also as a lasagna pan, a baking sheet (think homemade pizza), brownie dish etc.

Bread pan-- besides the occasional loaf of zucchini or banana bread, a bread pan works as a small baking/ roasting dish. Use a bread pan to make a small gratin or lasagna (you won't always have enough ingredients to make a mondo version) or use to bake thick brownies.

Pot holders-- when my brother and I were little, we got a potholder-making kit for some holiday or another. For years then on, my poor parents got a new potholder at every gift giving occasion. To make matters worst, the potholders were too small to actually be functional... Get a potholder or two for your cooking collection and make sure they are thick and large enough to properly protect your skin.

Pi Day

Happy pi day! Being the nerdy baker that I am, I got this pi cookie cutter in my stocking this Christmas. And speaking of cookies... I have a tip for finding top cookie recipes. My greatest success has always been with the recipes printed on the back of baking ingredients. I mean, it makes sense... is there a better way to successfully sell your product than to hook your customers with a very tasty cookie recipe?

My two favorites are the oatmeal raisin cookie recipe from Quaker Oats found here and the toffee oatmeal cookie recipe from Hersey's found here (I don't use the optional coconut and I sometimes throw in some chocolate chips-- do as you like). Remember... the cookies will taste just as delicious with cheaper ingredients -- you don't have to stick with the brand name products that the cookie recipes call for.

Just a note about cookies-- there are substitutions that you can make to "healthify" cookies so that you're not just spooning sugar and fat into your mouth (applesauce instead of butter for example, artificial sweetener... which might be poison, instead of sugar). But I'm a proponent of baking the real deal and sticking to moderate cookie consumption (and infrequently) versus compromising texture and taste for something "healthier". One substitution I would recommend: play with a mixture of whole wheat and white flour. The whole wheat flour will give cookies a nice satisfying heartiness.

Cook a batch of cookies to celebrate a birthday. It's an easy treat to whip up and fun to share with your friends. And as college students are use to the preservative packed, month old, plastic covered cookies sold at the university convenience store, a homemade, straight-out-of-the -oven cookie will hit the spot.

Lentil Soup

I took a loaf of bread out of the oven this afternoon and thought a couple slices would go delightfully well with a hardy soup for dinner. So I whipped up lentil soup with potatoes.


This soup works well for dorm room cooking. There are few ingredients, the chopping is manageable on a small cutting board, and once the sauteing is done, the dish is very hands off-- I left it cooking in the communal kitchen and got a little work done while the soup simmered away. Added bonuses: no fancy tools required (no blender or butane torch needed) + this recipe calls for only a few utensils which means an easy clean up (that's a big plus for me considering the dorm sink I wash my dishes in is as big as the sinks in the airplane bathrooms). Try it yourself-- just get everything going and then read some Kurt Vonnegut until the lentils are tender.

Left-over idea: place arugula and cold, left-over lentil soup in a sandwich wrap. Eat!

Lentil Soup
4 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium cooking onion, diced
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 cup dried lentils, washed and drained
4 cups water

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add onions and potato and saute with paprika, red pepper flakes, and nutmeg until the onions brown (about 10 minutes). Add garlic and continue sauteing for 2 minutes. Add lentils and water to saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce to low heat. Simmer for 1.5 hours. Serve with freshly baked French bread.

French Bread

Baking your own bread is a penny pincher's dream. Using Wegman's All Purpose Flour (unbleached) at $1.79 / 5 lbs and bulk yeast at $4.69 / 4 oz, my loaves cost around $0.40 each. Talk about cutting costs. This recipe is adapted from the French Bread recipe found here (I highly recommend this site). I don't have a food scale so I played around with converting the flour measurements, given in weight, to cups (spoon the flour, don't pack it) until I was satisfied with the final product. Although measuring flour by volume is a less precise method for preparing bread, it's a more practical method for the college baker. I do my kneading on my cutting board and find that the blasted-with-heat dorm rooms here serve as the perfect environment for my bread to rise.

Eat with soup for dinner or make a tasty sandwich on this bread for lunch.

French Bread
2 loaves

5 cups white flour
2/3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups warm water
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon salt

Spoon the flour into measuring cups and place in a large mixing bowl. Combine the flour and water and let sit for 20 minutes (this resting period is called the autolyse during which the flour really soaks up all the liquid).

Add the yeast and salt. (Note the measuring spoons I use-- they're thin and narrow instead of the traditional rounded spoon. This is extremely useful when trying to measure out of containers with narrow openings.)

Remove dough from bowl and knead for about 10 minutes. I started kneading my bread like this, having been inspired by the video (plus it's a good upper-body workout). If you adopt this method, shoot for throwing the dough 400-ish times.

Return kneaded dough to bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. Remove dough from bowl, stretch dough into a thin rectangle, and fold in thirds length-wise and then width-wise so that the dough is folded into a cube shape.

Return dough to bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for 45 minutes again (you can sprinkle water on the towel to increase the humidity). Repeat the fold and let dough rise for 30 minutes covered. Repeat the fold and let rise 10 minutes.

Separate the dough into two equal parts and let the doughs rest for 10 minutes. Shape both sections into boules (great instructions for shaping here). Sprinkle two baking sheets with corn meal (optional) and place the shaped dough on a cooking sheet. Cover both cooking sheets with a moist towel and let rise 45 minutes.






While the dough rises, preheat the oven to 440 degrees F. After the dough has risen, dust each boule with flour and then cut an X into the top, about a quarter inch deep.





Toss some water into the oven to produce steam. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven but keep the bread inside for an additional 5 minutes. Remove bread from oven and enjoy!

Welcome!

So here's the deal: I'm a Princeton undergrad cooking for myself as I finish up my last two years here. I'm all about whipping up some healthy, delicious grub in the name of the joy of cooking.

Cooking in college isn't glamorous-- I share a communal kitchen that's located outside of the building I'm living in (makes for some fun in the winter), I store all of my cooking supplies in a big bin under my bed, and I have no counter space to speak of. But there are some major pluses: I love cooking, am not subject to the whim of the dinning hall chefs, and save a lot of money by not buying a meal plan. Plus, I'm a vegetarian-- what better way to make sure I'm eating what I want to eat than by preparing it myself?

So follow along, and I'll share with you the tricks of cooking your way through college.