Student life is busy and overwhelming, where time is always of the essence. But nutrition is no aspect to kick down the priority list. With a constantly oversaturated schedule, you want to strike a goldilocks zone of time-efficient but also nutritionally complete meals with your cooking.
It can be hard to grant meal planning the attention it deserves within the small windows of free time students get between their endless assignments, which is why many students go online for help. That is why we have carefully picked out and pieced together the best go-to recipes to guide your daily cooking.
Basic Omelet
What do you do when you are out of time or money for a high-quality meal? – you fry some eggs. But if done correctly, an omelet can turn into an exquisite meal you choose instead of having to settle for.
This is the simplest recipe on the list that appeals to the layman. It is a default tool in your cooking arsenal that is fast, easy, and cheap – three magic words for any student.
Here’s what constitutes a perfect omelet :
- Heat the butter in a non-stick frying pan over low heat until the butter has melted.
- Beat the eggs and season with salt and some pepper.
- Pour the eggs into the pan and allow the eggs to fill the surface by tilting the pan slightly from side to side.
- After about a minute, you can add extra ingredients of your choice – ham, mushrooms, shredded cheese, etc.
- After another 2-3 minutes of cooking, fold the omelet in half gently and slide it onto a plate to serve.
Homemade Pizza
Do you instinctively grab a phone when you think of having a pizza? Ordering in may be comfortable but can strain the finances of a struggling student in the long run. Making a pizza at home is a cheaper option and a flexible one, as you can adjust the ingredients according to preferences and availability. So delegate your next due assignment to a reliable custom essay service, and roll up your sleeves!
Pizzas look complicated, but they are easier to make than you might think. Here’s how :
Ingredients
- Self-Raising flour (100g)
- Milk (50g)
- Olive oil (1 tbsp)
- Sprinkle of Mixed Herbs
- Grated cheese
- A tin of Chopped Tomatoes
- Any toppings of your choice!
Method
- Start by preheating the oven to around 200 ℃.
- Mix flour, oil, and milk in a bowl to form the dough.
- Sprinkle some flour lightly onto a flat surface and tip the dough.
- Roll the dough and flatten it to the desired thickness of the crust and place it on a baking tray.
- Spread the chopped tomatoes up to the edges and sprinkle the herbs over the dough.
- Finally, add the toppings and bake on the upper shelf for 20-25 minutes.
Spaghetti Bolognese
For advanced gourmets, here’s something a bit trickier. Try our simplified recipe for this quintessential feature of Italian cuisine.
This dish has many permutations and is quite open to individual interpretation, so don’t worry if you are missing or dislike some of the ingredients listed below. They are easy to substitute with alternatives.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add saute, onions, and whichever other vegetables you want to include (carrots, garlic, celery sticks all work well) and fry for 2-3 minutes.
- Next, add chopped bacon or ground beef and fry until crispy and no pink shows on the meat.
- Add tomato paste and oregano and mix it all up.
- Now, add tomato and chopped parsley if available.
- Simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. And finally, serve with freshly cooked spaghetti. (we are assuming you are good on spaghetti)
Brownies
No recipe list would be complete without a dessert. Sweets are commonly called brainfood, And students of all people could benefit from some sugary mental boost. Brownies are one of the easiest desserts to make within the home environment, with just a handful of ingredients involved. All you need is a couple of eggs, oil, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar.
Like with other entries on this list, brownies are a versatile concept that can make do with a bunch of extra ingredients of choice (wink wink).
Here’s your walkthrough to making brownies :
- First of all, prepare two separate bowls.
- In one of them, mix powdered sugar, flour, cocoa, chocolate chips, and salt. In another one, combine olive oil, two eggs, and some water.
- Next up, combine the contents of two bowls and stir to get a uniform, thick mixture.
- Pour the mixture into a baking pan previously.
- Coated in parchment paper and level the top with a spatula.
- All that is left now is to bake for 40-50 minutes, and you are good to go!
And Finally, Don’t Forget to Add Your Personal Touch
Youngsters are notorious for cutting corners, finding loopholes, and clever workarounds wherever possible. Why waste this natural peak of ingenuity on blindly following off-the-shelf recipes? They say reason without imagination is sterile. Cooking is about more than mere bookkeeping and rule-following. As you try to replicate a formulaic recipe as closely as possible, remember that someone had to come up with it in the first place.
As any chef will proudly proclaim, cooking is a form of art. It’s about creative vision and experimentation. Don’t hesitate to go outside the box and apply your own vision so that one day, you may be the one posting a recipe for others to follow!
Diane Sherron is a writer and a small business owner. She is an avid cooker herself and hosts a culinary blog where she exchanges cooking advice and expertise with her followers. She enjoys cooking exotic meals from around the world as well as experimenting with her own recipes, which she always puts out for others to use.