“How did you make that?!” is one of the questions I often receive from my peers when they try something I have cooked or baked. My answer is always the same; “it’s easy!” Cooking and baking can seem intimidating to many teenagers who are too busy with their everyday lives to learn how. Oftentimes the only things I find on a teenager’s cooking roster are toast, scrambled eggs, pasta, and ramen. Although preparing food for the first time may seem difficult when you have no idea where to start, I can change that for you. I’m going to lay out simple “recipes” for when your stomach is empty, but your wallet is too. These are not traditional recipes, but simple ways to prepare your food and make it delicious.
Let’s start with breakfast: the most important meal of the day. Skipping breakfast is proven to raise your cortisol levels significantly, which leads to increased stress. Don’t skip breakfast because you only have five minutes; set aside time for it every morning to improve your day. This simple yogurt bowl is easy and delicious.
Yogurt bowl recipe: pour about one cup of any plain or vanilla yogurt in a bowl. Then, add about 1 ¼ cups of cereal to the yogurt (I like Cheerios). Add ½ to one cup of sliced fruit — blueberries, apple, strawberries, etc.Mix everything together and top with honey or maple syrup and your favorite nuts. Enjoy!
Next is lunch. Students often find their funds drained due to purchasing off-campus lunch. Making lunch is a great way to practice your cooking skills and avoid this. If you need something fast and easy to prepare for lunch, make these delicious peanut noodles with some simple condiments.
Peanut noodles recipe: boil your favorite noodles to package instructions — Soba or rice noodles are my favorite. Drain the pasta and let sit in the colander while you prepare the sauce. Add two tbsp of peanut butter to your thermos, one tbsp soy sauce, one tbsp granulated sugar, one tsp sesame oil, and one tsp sesame seeds. Mix the sauce until combined. Pour your noodles into the thermos and seal the lid. Shake to mix together. Enjoy!
Lastly, dinner. Dinner is when students will likely have the most time to make a more complex meal. It is when you usually eat with your family, but if you ever find yourself having to cook at home, don’t automatically order takeout. This is a great opportunity to make something new. Here is a super easy recipe for a dumpling and rice bowl. Using frozen dumplings is an easy way to have something delicious on hand.
Dumpling and rice bowl recipe: in a bowl put 1½ cups of cooked white or brown rice. Leftover rice can be reheated in a microwave. Season the rice with a drop of sesame oil and soy sauce. Mix to combine. Prepare eight frozen dumplings of choice — Trader Joe’s has good ones for cheap — according to the package instructions. Pour them hot from the pan onto your rice. Slice a cucumber horizontally and place in your bowl. Drizzle everything with soy sauce and sesame seeds. Enjoy!