Sloppy Joes 4 College Cooking

Start off the semester with some incredibly simple meals reminiscent of summer and home! (Plus, I always love recipes that only requiring a skillet, stirring and eating). Set the tone for eating good food on a tight college budget with quick meals like this classic recipe from decades ago! Make it even better by sharing it with friends!

Found this recipe from The Pioneer Woman's Frontier Cookbook, but decided to substitute ground turkey for beef--less fat and lighter, but just as delish! Other than knowing how to dice a pepper and onion, there is really no skill required--simply add one ingredient after the other--really!

Make sure you use a sturdier roll, slightly crusty, i.e. Kaiser Roll when eating these tasty sandwiches--something that won't sag into mush upon contact with meat mixture! 

Sloppy Joes 4 College Living

Equipment:

Large non-skillet

Wooden spoon

Ingredients:

1 tsp butter

2 tsp olive or grapeseed oil

1 1/4 lb ground turkey breast

1/2 green pepper, diced

1/2 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup water

1 Tbls brown sugar

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1-2 tsp worchestershire sauce

Tobasco to taste

Salt & pepper to taste

4 Kaiser rolls

Instructions:

1. Wash your hands. 

2. Prep your ingredients and get equipment ready!

3. Heat skillet with butter, olive oil and brown meat. 

4. Add green pepper and onion.

5. Add garlic. 

6. Add ketchup and 1/2 cup water. If you like it "sweeter", add more ketchup. 

7. Add brown sugar, chili powder, dry mustard, pepper flakes, and Worchestershire sauce.

8. Stir and let flavors simmer over low heat. Adjust salt, pepper and flavor to taste.

9. Toast your rolls with light butter. 

10. Assemble and dig in.

These sandwiches will rock any college apartment living and off-campus dining. 
Nice on the wallet!
Minimal skills required!
Easy to double the batch!
Under 20 minutes from start to finish!

Make it this week, then share it!

Pucker Up Citrus Cookies

Can't believe summer is almost over! It's just now starting to hit 90 degree weather! For some, school has already gotten started…for others, enjoy the remaining few weeks that are left!  

If you are packing up for the dorm or off-campus living, take some of these with you to make an entrance or first impression, or welcome your roommates back--either way, you will keep and make a few new friends! These little bites are light, buttery citrus-infused desserts that melt in your mouth with a pop and wake-up call.

Super easy recipe for college cooking; although, having a hand mixer is necessary. Hopefully, if you have been cooking (and baking) along since the inception of this blog, you (or someone around you) has one to utilize! Key to this recipe is having butter and eggs at room temperature and your ingredients prepped. Things will go fast from stirring to eating. Enjoy!

(Adapted from Pioneer Woman's Frontier Cookbook)

Pucker-Up Citrus Cookies

Equipment:
Baking sheets, preferably with parchment paper
Mixing bowls
Zester or Grater
Whisk or fork

Ingredients:
4 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 egg yolks (put 1 egg white aside)
1 Tbls orange, lemon, lime zest each
4 cups of flour
2 Tbls orange, lemon or lime juice (choose your preference)

Icing Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbls whole milk

1 Tbls zest, your choice

1 Tbls egg white (optional)

Juice of 1/4 lime

Juice of 1/4 lemon

Dash of salt

Instructions:
1. Wash your hands.
2. Preheat over to 350F degrees.
3. Prep all of your ingredients.
4. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl.

5. Add the egg yolks.

6. Add the zests.

7. Add the flour until just incorporated.

8. Add 2 Tbls of juice--choose your preference--lemon, lime, orange.

9. Use a heaped teaspoon size to roll balls of batter and place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet or parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake x 10-12 minutes.

10. Make the icing combining all ingredients into a small bowl, and dip each cookie once they have cooled.

Prep these cookies for travel and consumption!

Never Eat Alone: Chicken and Sausage One Pot Meal

I am always trying to find simple meals for my busy schedule! Browsing thru the Cook's Country Magazine this weekend, they featured a little known old-school Southern recipe called the 'Carolina Chicken Bog'--what the heck does that mean? 

Well, after reading the recipe, I translated it to mean: Simple. Affordable. Delicious. Flavorful. Satisfying. Crowdpleaser. 

In fact, a 'bog' recipe was originally intended to "combine inexpensive ingredients--chicken, smoky sausage and rice--into an easy one-pot meal that works for big weekend gatherings"…so, I decided to try it out (with a few adjustments)!

Perfect for college cooking and college living. Invite someone to dinner tonight for some low-country cooking!

Carolina Chicken & Sausage Bog

Equipment:

Large Dutch oven with lid

Ingredients:

2 - 3 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded 

(or, store-bought roasted chicken if time an issue)

1 Tbls butter

1 Tbls grapeseed or vegetable oil

8 ounces of Hillshire Farms Kielbasa (Reduced Fat), 1/4" sliced

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups chicken broth (or re-constitue bouillon cubes)

2 cups long-grain rice

2 cups fresh or canned corn

Instructions:

1. Wash your hands. 
2. Remove meat from roasted chicken and prep all ingredients.

2. Heat 1 Tbls oil in large dutch oven over MEDIUM heat.

3. Add sausage and onion and cook until onion becomes translucent, approx 3-5 minutes.

4. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, approx 30 seconds.

5. Add rice, broth, salt and pepper.  

6. Stir and cover with tight-fitting lid and cook x 20-25 minutes until rice is done.

7. Add shredded chicken, corn, and stir until combined. 
(this photo without corn, obviously)

Top it off with chopped parsley or parmesan cheese!

Call your friends.

FYI. The original recipe calls for skin-on chicken thighs (ultra cheap):
--searing the skin-on chicken thighs or breasts in large dutch oven, removing skin,and setting aside.

--adding chicken back to the sausage, onions, and garlic with the broth, salt and pepper and cooking x 20 minutes.

--removing the chicken from broth and dutch oven. cooling and shredding.
--adding rice to dutch oven, covering and cooking x 20 minutes until rice is done.
--finally, re-adding chicken back to dutch oven.

I find this too cumbersome for college cooking!

Meyer Lemon Mock Alfredo

Sunshine. Summer. Citrus. 

It all comes together in this linguini or bucatini pasta dish perfect for college cooking and college budgeting! Less than 24 hours after making this for dinner…Jon had consumed the rest for breakfast! 

If you can boil pasta and put a few ingredients into a magic-bullet blender, this is perfect for college living on a tight grocery budget; and, can be done with little or no skills! Honestly! 

Eat better! Cook smarter! Save money! Eat together!

(Adapted from The Cooking Light 2015 Dinner Tonight Magazine)

Meyer Lemon Mock Alfredo

Equipment:

Magic Bullet Blender

Large Pot (for boiling pasta)

Large Non-stick skillet

Ingredients:

8 oz long pasta, any type (1/2 box)

1cup pasta water, set aside

1/2 cup Part-Skim Ricotta cheese

1/4 cup Meyer lemon (or regular lemon) juice
2 tsp grated or zested Meyer lemon rind

1/4 cup Heavy Whipping cream
1/4 cup chopped chives

1/4 cup Parmesan

1 tsp kosher salt 
1/2 tsp fresh pepper

Optional For Special Occasions / Added Protein:

Seared / Sautéed shrimp
Seared / Sauteed chicken breast

Instructions:

1. Wash your hands.

2. Boil your pasta. Drain & set aside 1cup pasta water. Prep your ingredients.

3. In a magic-bullet blender, combine 1/3-1/2 cup of pasta water, lemon zest, ricotta,cream, and juice.
4. Pulse until well-combined.

5. Heat a large skillet over MEDIUM heat and add the ricotta cream sauce.
6. Cook for 1-2 minutes until heated.

7. Add the cooked pasta, chives, salt, and pepper. 

8. If pasta too sticky, gradually add 1-2 Tbls of remaining pasta water.
9. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan.

If mom and dad have bought your groceries. or your celebrating an awesome event and achievement, take it up a notch with a few seared shrimp. Or, sear a chicken breast for some added protein if you can't live without the meat.