Matt and Molly's Crock Pot Chili

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1 bell pepper
• 3-5 cloves garlic
• 1 lb ground turkey (or beef)
• 1 jalapeño
• 1 can black beans (drained)
• 1 can kidney beans (drained)
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can corn
• Spices (cumin, oregano, chili powder, paprika, ect) to taste

Tools

• Slow cooker
• Knife
• Cutting board
• Can opener
• Pan
• Wooden Spoon

Steps

1. Brown meat in pan. Drain.
2. Chop veggies and toss into slow cooker with beans and meat. Add spices to taste (probably use a little more than you think you need)
3. Stir ingredients until well mixed. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
4. Enjoy!

Oops

It's been awhile since I posted anything here. Luckily, I've been experimenting with my friend Matt!

Easy Burrito

I've been making this a lot the past couple days, just keeping the mix in my fridge and reheating it. It was inspired by the Stuffed Bell Pepper recipe, and it's super good.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey (or beef)
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can corn
• 1 cup (before cooking) brown rice
• Cheese (to taste)
• Salsa (to taste)

Tools

• Pan
• Stirring implement (wooden spoon, spatula)
• Pot/rice cooker

Steps

1. Cook rice according to instructions on package.
2. While rice is cooking, cook meat in pan with oil and whatever spices sound good. (I used Trader Joe's everyday spice and Cayenne).
3. Mix turkey, beans, corn, and rice together. (I keep this mixture in my fridge)
4. Assemble burrito with mixture, top with cheese and salsa.
5. Enjoy!

Nalii's Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup elbow macaroni
• Powdered Mustard (to taste)
• Garlic (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• 1 cup cheese (whatever type sounds good)

Tools

• Pot
• Wooden spoon (to stir)

Steps

• Put milk and pasta into pot and bring to a low boil. Add spices.
• Boil 15-20 minutes, stirring, or until most of the milk has been absorbed.
• Stir in cheese until it melts.
• Enjoy!

Healthy Pita

This is something that I have been making for snacks and lunch a lot lately. Super easy, and super healthy. Pretty much the most convenient and yummy way to be healthy.


Ingredients

• 1 pita
• 1/4 cup of alfalfa sprouts
• 5 baby carrots (or a handful of shredded carrots)
• 2 tablespoons of hummus
• 2 tablespoons slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Tools

• Knife (if using baby carrots)
• Cutting board (if using baby carrots)
• Spoon

Steps

1. Chop baby carrots. (if using those)
2. Spoon hummus into pita, try to spread around evenly.
3. Spread alfalfa sprouts around inside pita.
4. Fill pita with the rest of the ingredients.
5. Enjoy and feel good!

Peach's Southwest Chicken Salad

Me and my friend made dinner together. We basically followed the directions on the back of the Shake and Bake box with some slight alterations and it turned out super good.

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken breast, sliced into strips
• 1 fried chicken mix
• 1 package baby lettuce
• Chipotle ranch (to taste)
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese (to taste)
• 1 cup corn

Tools

• Baking sheet
• Salad bowl
• Cutting board
• Knife

Steps

1. Prepare chicken according to instructions on packaging. Once it's finished (about 20 minutes to cook)
2. Toss lettuce, corn, cheese, and ranch in a salad bowl.
3. Slice chicken, and add to salad.
4. Enjoy!

Kenna's Stuffed Bell Peppers (part 2)

Here's the slightly higher calorie, but still pretty healthy, version of Kenna's recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 bell peppers that can stand on their own
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 cup salsa
• Mexican blend shredded cheese
• Hot sauce (optional)

Tools

• Knife
• Cutting board
• Pan (for beef)
• Pot/rice cooker (for rice)
• Baking Sheet
• Bowl
• Pot (for boiling)
• Spoon (for seeds)

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Brown beef with seasoning of choice (such as garlic, chili powder, or green chilies), and drain thoroughly.
3. Cook rice as per instructions on bag. (quicker if you do this ahead of time)
4. Cut tops of off peppers and clean out seeds and pith (squishy stuff seeds are attached to).
5. Put water to boil in a pot. Once boiling, parboil (precook by boiling) the peppers for 2-3 minutes. (the peppers shouldn't be mushy) Let cool.
6. Mix rice, beef, salsa, and half of your cheese in a bowl. Fill bell peppers with the mixture and top with the rest of the cheese. Make sure the innards are covered, because the cheese will help prevent it from drying out.
7. Place on baking sheet and bake at 400° for 5-10 minutes or until cheese begins to brown.
8. Cool and eat.

Kenna's Stuffed Bell Peppers (low cal)

A good friend of mine gave me this recipe, and this is the healthier version of it. I can't wait to try it.

Ingredients

• 2 green bell peppers that can stand up on their own
• 1 can of tuna
• low fat cheese, such as mozzarella
• 1 small Roma tomato, diced

Tools

• Knife
• Cutting Board
• Pot
• Baking sheet
• Bowl
• Spoon (to hollow out pepper)

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Cut the top off of the bell peppers. Hollow out the center and throw away the seeds and pith (squishy stuff that the seeds are attached to).
3. Put a pot of water on the stove, heat to a medium boil. Put in the peppers and boil them for 2-3. (They should not be mushy) Let cool.
4. Open can of tuna and drain. Toss into a small bowl and mix with diced tomato.
5. Fill the cooled peppers with the tomato/tuna mixture and put a slice of cheese on top as a lid.
6. Place peppers on baking sheet and bake at 400° for 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
7. Cool and eat.

What To Keep In Your Pantry

Here's my list of the ingredients you should keep in your pantry at all times. Pick and choose as you see fit for your situation, but these are what I use most often.

• Flour - mostly used for baking, but also used in things like fried chicken. I tend to just use basic white flour. It's not the healthiest flour out there, but it's the cheapest and most versatile.
• White Sugar - also called granulated sugar. This is the sugar I use most often in cooking/baking.
• Brown Sugar - while I use this in baking a lot of the time, I mostly just use it to flavor oatmeal.
• Powdered Sugar - I know, this seems like a lot of sugar, but powdered sugar is important if you're making desserts like lemon bars or frosting.
• Salt - I usually just use a salt shaker, but having a bulk package of salt (like Morton Salt) is super convenient if you actually need to measure out an amount of salt
• Pepper - I just keep a grinder or shaker of it around. I prefer having a small grinder, but it's sometimes cheaper to buy a small shaker instead.
• Baking Soda - not only useful in cooking, but also can keep your fridge from smelling gross, and can get rid of some nasty shoe odor.
• Baking Powder - this is different than baking soda. They're similar, and both leaveners, but they have different purposes.

Katy's Chicken Caesar Salad

One of my favorite summer meals. My mom taught me to make this, and it's fantastic. Also, if you don't want caesar for whatever reason, it's equally as good with any other dressing. (ps: I'm not great at exact measurements, but I'll try to be as helpful as I can)
Ingredients

• Head of romaine lettuce (3 heads feed about 4 people, 1 head is a little too much for me to finish by myself) [alternative: bag of romaine lettuce]
• Parmesan cheese; grated or flaked (to taste)
• Caesar salad dressing (to taste)
• Rotisserie chicken [alternative: pre-cooked chicken breast strips]
• Bread (any type; about 2 slices per person) [alternative: croutons. (also replaces oil, garlic, and seasoning)]
• Olive oil
• Garlic (a couple cloves)
• Italian seasoning

Tools

• Large salad bowl
• Baking sheet
• Large frying pan/skillet
• Wooden spoon or spatula
• Cutting board
• Knife
• Garlic squisher (optional)

Steps

1. Remove meat from chicken. This can be gruesome if you don't like messy things/reminders that you're eating a previously living thing. If you can handle it, use either your hands or a fork and knife to remove the meat from the bones. Set the chicken meat aside.
2. Rinse lettuce. Chop into edible sized pieces. Place in salad bowl. [if you bought a bag of lettuce, just rinse the lettuce and toss it in]
3. [skip this if you purchased croutons] Turn on oven to high broil. Cut bread into medium-sized cubes. Toss into a pan with several tablespoons of olive oil. Squish or chop garlic and add to pan, along with Italian seasoning. Heat pan over stove, adding more olive oil to lightly coat bread. Stir, and cook until garlic is lightly cooked (or burnt, whatever) and bread is coated with yumyums. Turn off stove, and pour bread chunks onto cookie sheet. Put in oven for 3-5 minutes, until lightly baked.
4. Add chicken and croutons to salad bowl, followed by dressing and cheese to taste. Use either salad tongs or two wooden spoons to toss salad and serve immediately.

Other Tools

These tools are more optional, but I highly recommend them if you can afford it.

• Blender - I love my blender. I was really lucky that my parent's didn't really need theirs, so I get to use it, and it's powerful. I love smoothies and protein shakes, so that's my main use for it, but I also make the occasional lactose-free milkshake.
• Muffin Tin - Not only for muffins anymore! While I do love making cupcakes and muffins, I also love using my muffin tin to make single serving meatloaf. It's super convenient and delicious. Plus, meatloaf cooks much faster in muffin tins than in one big lump. Be forewarned though, you might want to use muffin liners when you make savory things in a muffin tin, or your roommates might be annoyed with their meatloaf-flavored blueberry muffins. (oops!)
• KitchenAid Mixer - I am super lucky that I get to use my mom's. These are super expensive, but the greatest mixers I've ever used. I highly recommend them if you have the money or if you find a cheap one at a yard sale or thrift store. (careful if it's used though, sometimes the motor is broken) These are great for baked goods, mashed potatoes, and pizza dough.
• Steamer - This is a pot with holes in the bottom, that fits into another pot. It's how you steam things like carrots or broccoli. As I was recovering from getting my wisdom teeth pulled, I gained a new appreciation for squishy things, and remembered how much I love steamed veggies. Yum!
• Garlic Squisher - I should probably learn the real name for this, but if you love garlic as much as I do, you should probably invest in a good one. Finding a good squishier is pretty hard though, because I tend to be very picky about them. If it's not great, it's usually just too annoying for me to use.
• Waffle Maker - Because who doesn't like waffles?

Basic Tools

Here are the most important tools I have in my college kitchen: (ps: pictures are not mine. I'm working on replacing them with my own soon)

• Pots - Pots come in all shapes and sizes. Having a variety of sizes and shapes is very helpful in creating whatever you need to eat in college.

• Pans -  Pans also come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are useful for everything from eggs to sauces to frying to just warming a tortilla.

• Wooden Spoons - My main tool for stirring pretty much anything. I know that all of the different shapes have different uses, but I pretty much use them interchangeably.

• Spatula - I mostly use this for fried eggs, because my flipping skills leave much to be desired. Also important if you want to make pancakes!

• Cookie Sheets - Used for cookies, meatloaf, garlic bread, croutons, and anything else that I feel like baking. Mostly cookies though.

• Microwave - Cooks everything! Not the ideal method for many things, but very convenient.

• Colander - Also called a strainer, this is very important to have in a college apartment. Trying to drain pasta without one is no fun and almost always ends in a mess.

• Measuring Cups/spoons - A must for pretty much any recipe.

The Basics

In college, and life, knowing the cooking basics lets you make almost anything. So here's a list of my cooking basics. (bear with me here, I'm kind of playing to the lowest common denominator)

• Boiling Water - I know it seems easy, but it is an important facet of cooking, especially in college. How to: put water in a pot, put on stove. If the stove is on high, it should start boiling within five minutes. Helpful tip! If your water is boiling over (happens a lot with pasta), try adding a little bit of vegetable oil to the water.
• Dicing - This means cutting into small bits. How small is usually up to the specific recipe and your preference. Helpful tip! Chopping anything tends to be a lot quicker if you keep the tip of the knife on the cutting board and bring it down from that angle.
• Sautéing - Cooking in hot oil in a pan. How to: put pan on the stove. Turn on the burner, then add a few tablespoons of oil. Let that heat up for a minute, then put your ingredient in the pan. Stir until cooked thoroughly.
• Broiling - Different than baking. But not much harder. Often used for meats such as chicken, and a convenient way to make garlic bread if you don't have a toaster oven. There should be a button on your oven next to the bake button. I usually broil on High, and you just turn it on and give it a few minutes to heat up, then pop whatever you're cooking into the oven.
• Scalding Milk - You probably won't run into this with the more simple recipes, but it's basically burning milk. Most recipes in which you cook milk want you to avoid doing this by stirring constantly and turning off the heat before it begins to boil. How to: put milk in a pot on the stove. Keeping a careful eye on it and stirring constantly, allow it to just reach boiling point, then turn off.
• Defrosting Meat - Before cooking frozen meat, you should defrost it first. Only defrost as much as you need. There are three main safe ways to do this. How to: best way- plan ahead and put meat into the fridge a day or two before you cook it. Water method- submerge meat (in original packaging) in cold water, changing water every 20 minutes or so (to allow continued defrosting). This can take 1-3 hours, depending on the size of meat. Fastest method- remove meat from packaging and place on a microwave safe plate. Put the meat in the microwave and press defrost button (most microwaves have one) and input the weight of the meat in pounds (found on packaging) if the microwave asks for it. This can take 4-15 minutes. Keep in mind that this will not always defrost evenly, and may cook or warm some outer parts of the meat.

More to come later. :)

Welcome!

Hey there! This is your friendly neighborhood Chef Molly. I am a student at UC Davis, and I like food.

Background to this blog: I just finished my second year, which in Davis, is usually the year that students move into their first apartments. Without the safety of the dining commons, I realized how many of my friends didn't know how to cook very much or at all. So, I thought I'd make this blog chronicling my yummy, healthy(ish), and cheap college food adventures and advice!