Week Seven: Finals Week Breakfast Special

Greetings! With dead week finished at UNI, I know that myself and others all across the U.S. (and other countries) are preparing for their final exams. Now, finals week is a very important week, and no one can really argue otherwise. With so much pressure on students to do well, one part of the day - the most important part - is often overlooked.

Breakfast.

This week's special will focus on delicious, fast, and fun breakfast items that will take your mind off of finals while you prepare and eat them. Some important things to remember about breakfast:

-Breakfast begins your day at a metabolic level. The sooner you get your metabolism going, the sooner you will wake up and the faster you'll be able to think and focus. Eat breakfast as soon as possible after waking up - within a half an hour is best, but within an hour will do just fine.

- Because breakfast gets your metabolism going so quickly, it helps you to digest and process everything in your food. You can literally eat just about anything for breakfast, and by the end of the day, any sugars or fats have been digested, filtered, processed, and expelled. In fact, this also helps to digest and process food throughout the day. The oven is hot and ready to go, as they say.

- Eating breakfast will help you to concentrate throughout the day, and will help you to study, too. Eating breakfast on days when you don't have finals will be beneficial to your studying, and also will help to keep you healthy so that you don't get sick as easily. It will also improve your stress levels and elevate your mood over time.


This Week's Recipes Are: Chocolate French Toast, Pizza Omelets, and Homemade Cinnamon Rolls


Chocolate French Toast
Makes 6 Servings
Prep Time: 7 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 slices bread, crusts removed (best if 1 day old)
• 3 milk chocolate candy bars (such as Hershey's) at 1.55 ounces each, halved
• 2 tablespoons butter
• confectioner's/powdered sugar (optional)

1. In a bowl, beat eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt. Pour half into an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.

2. Arrange 6 pieces of bread in a single layer over egg mixture. Place one piece of chocolate in the center of each piece of bread. Top with remaining bread; pour remaining egg mixture over all. Let stand for 5 minutes.

3. In a large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Fry sandwiches until golden brown on both sides. Dust with confectioner's/powdered sugar.

4. Cut the sandwiches diagonally; serve warm.

Review-
I tried this recipe last week and was incredibly impressed with it. You have to be sure that the egg mixture has solidified the bread enough to flip the sandwich, otherwise you'll end up trying to move soggy bread back into place. Other than that, however, this recipe was very easy to make. I'm not very good at making french toast, but even I could make this simple recipe. If you like chocolate, and you like french toast, then you'll love this recipe! :)


Pizza Omelets
This recipe makes one serving.
Start to Finish: 10 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup pizza sauce
• 10 slices pepperoni (more or less to preferences)
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon shredded/grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and milk. In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the egg mixture. As the eggs set, lift the edges, letting the uncooked portion flow underneath. When the eggs are completely set, remove from heat.

2. Spread pizza sauce over half of the eggs. Top with pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. Fold omelet in half; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Review-
This is an incredibly easy and fast recipe, and it's definitely fun. If you like pizza and omelets as much as I do, you'll definitely enjoy this. You can switch out other toppings (like ham, olives, onion, etc; ) for the pepperoni if you so desire, and it works really well. This seriously takes all of ten minutes per omelet, and is absolutely delicious.


Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Makes: 12
Start to Finish: 15-20 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 1/2 cups biscuit/baking mix (such as Bisquick)
• 1 1/3 cups milk

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup raisins, optional

Icing:

• 2 cups confectioner's/powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, combine biscuit mix and milk. Turn onto a floured surface and knead 8 to 10 times. Roll dough into a 12-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Spread with butter. Combine sugar, cinnamon and raisins if desired, and sprinkle over the butter.

2. Roll the dough up from a long side, and pinch the seam to seal. Cut into 12 slices, and place the slices with the cut side down on a large greased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Meanwhile, combine icing ingredients in a small mixing bowl, and then spread over the rolls. Serve warm.

Review-
I remember cold winter mornings when I would wake up, greeted by the smell of my mother cooking cinnamon rolls on the other side of the house. Those days were always the best. Now, I'm engaged to a wonderful fiance who loves cinnamon rolls to the point that when I surprise him the way that my mother used to surprise me with them, the only word to describe his reaction is delight.
I have been looking (lazily) for a good recipe for cinnamon rolls made from scratch for over two years, and this is the best I've found. We absolutely love this recipe, and I enjoy making it. It can be tricky to make the first time, but if you read the instructions first, it's easier. While not the fastest (I had to re-knead and re-roll my dough twice because I messed up), this recipe certainly is well worth it.

Week Four: Grocery Inventory, Shrimp, Chicken, and Deviled Eggs

Be sure to check out Week Three's entry! This week was a two-for-one due to midterms.

One major part of menu planning is the grocery inventory. Knowing what you already have will help you to plan what you need to buy. I’ve saved $20 on weekly menus because I keep track of what I already have. Very often, I look at a menu, write down what I don’t have, and find that in order to make Mu-Shu Pork, I just need to buy the pork. Keeping track of what you have does in fact save you money. This is especially true of spices and herbs, which can be incredibly expensive, let alone when you buy them and don’t need them yet. Keeping a food inventory is simply keeping yourself up to date on what food items you have available to you to use this week. Here are some key ways to maintain a food inventory:

1. Organize refrigerator, freezer, cupboards, etc; so that similar items are grouped together. This means actually using your vegetable drawers for vegetables, and your meat drawer for meat. The reason for this is so that you can just glance inside the fridge and see how much of what kinds of meat you have available to you, or how much of what vegetables and fruits are still unused. This helps so that you use what you have, which helps you save money because less food goes to waste, and thus you waste less money buying things you already have.
2. Every three months, clean your refrigerator, your cupboards, and your freezer. Take note of what foods you still have that maybe were buried behind those cans of tomatoes, or that box of noodles. Then, either make a menu that will use the older items, plan a day to donate them to a food pantry, or if they’re past their expiration date, throw them out. Do this for your condiments, too. Do this every three months – mark it on your calendar.
3. If you have a large chest freezer, you might try making an actual inventory list for the door. Go through every shelf, and write down what food is on what shelf. When you use that pound of frozen beef, cross it off your list. When you buy more pork chops, add those to the list. Attach and pen with a string to this list to make it more convenient for you to keep track of these things. Renew your list every month or so, because a quick look at it will help you plan out your menu for that week, and will save you time in the long run when you no longer have to dig through it for ten, twenty minutes every week to see if you have something or not.
4. Keep menu planning! Weekly menus will keep you buying only what you need, and so you save money and waste less food. In Cheap. Fast. Good!, the Desperation Diners say, “We were startled to discover that the average American household throws away 470 pounds of food every year and that as much as 12% of purchased grocery items are never used.” By menu planning and grocery inventorying, you can cut down the amount of food thrown away in your home, and cut back on how much is never used.

Now, onward to this week’s fast and cheap recipes!

This Week’s Recipes Are: Easy Shrimp Scampi, Chicken and Apples with Dijon Cream, and Delicious Deviled Eggs.

Guest Recipe & Review: Apple Butter, submitted by Jill B.

Easy Shrimp Scampi

Photographed by me.

Serves: 6 to 8 Start to Finish: Under 25 minutes

Ingredients:

· 1 lb. frozen, shelled, de-veined shrimp

· 1 package long pasta, such as angel hair or thin spaghetti

· ½ cup butter

· 4 cloves fresh garlic, or 2 tbsp. bottled minced garlic

· 1 cup dry white wine

· ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

· ¾ cup parmesan cheese

· 1 tbsp parsley

1. Boil salted water with noodles until al dente. Drain well and return to the pot. Rinse the shrimp under cold water to thaw, and then remove the tails. Set aside.

2. While the noodles are boiling, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When butter is melted, stir in garlic and shrimp. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes.

3.Stir in the wine and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 30 seconds while stirring.

4.Pour shrimp and sauce over drained pasta in pot (or serving bowl), and sprinkle with cheese and parsley. Serve at once.

Review-

This was one of the first recipes I learned how to make once I started cooking. I believe I found it originally on allrecipes.com, but there are a lot of good recipes there, so you never know. My fiance loves this recipe, being the big fan of shrimp and seafood in general that he is. This recipe is a very simple way to make shrimp scampi, and it works very well. The time consuming part is de-tailing the shrimp, but if you do that beforehand, this will go much faster.

I know a very good way to cheat if you don't have any garlic, and most college students can do this pretty well. If you have garlic butter from pizza orders saved in your fridge, you can add those to the butter mixture to get that garlic flavor. :) It's a shortcut that I've tested time and again, and it gets rid of the garlic butter that gets saved.

Chicken and Apples with Dijon Cream (pg. 150 of Cheap. Fast. Good!)

Serves: 4 Start to Finish: Under 25 minutes

Ingredients:

· Salt for cooking the rice

· 1 1/3 cups long grain rice

· 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

· 8 ox fresh button mushrooms

· 1 tbsp. vegetable oil

· 1 tsp. butter

· 1 small onion

· 2 large tart cooking apples (I use Granny Smith)

· ¾ cup apple juice

· ½ cup dry white wine, such as Chardonnay, or ½ cup additional apple juice to substitute

· 1 ½ tsp. sugar

· 1 chicken bouillon cube

· 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

· ¼ cup half-and-half or heavy cream (heavy whipping cream in many stores)

1. Bring 2 2/3 cups lightly salted water to a boil in a covered medium-sized saucepan. Add the rice, stir, and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan and simmer until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, if the chicken is frozen, run it under hot water so you can remove the packaging. Place the chicken on a microwave-safe plate and microwave, uncovered, on high power for 3 minutes to partially defrost.

3. While the chicken defrosts, rinse, pat dry, and slice the mushrooms, removing and discarding any tough stems. Set aside.

4. Heat the oil and butter in an extra-deep 12” skillet over medium heat. Peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the skillet as you chop.

5. Cut the chicken (fresh or partially defrosted) into bite-size pieces, adding them to the skillet as you cut. Cook, stirring occasionally, while you cut each apple in half and remove the core. Without peeling them, cut the apples into ¼ inch slices. When the apples are sliced, add them to the skillet along with the mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until the mushrooms just begin to soften, about 2 minutes.

6. Add the apple juice, wine, and sugar. Crush the bouillon cube between your fingers or with the back of a spoon and add it to the skillet. Stir well. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until the sugar has dissolved and the chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 4 minutes more.

7. Stir in the mustard and half-and-half. Cook, stirring, until the mixture is warm throughout, about 2 minutes. If you use half-and-half, do NOT let the mixture boil. Serve at once over hot rice.

Review-

This recipe is one of the easiest “fancy” recipes I’ve ever tried. You can make this recipe fairly quickly, with almost no multi-tasking, and yet it comes out with a fancy, restaurant quality taste to it that will keep anyone from doubting your abilities as a cook. This is one recipe that I call an ice-breaker recipe, in that people may not believe you’re going to make this, but once you have, they’re ever so grateful for it. I wouldn’t enter into any professional cooking competitions with this, because it is incredibly simple, but this could probably take a local competition with minimal effort.

This recipe brings together three unlikely flavors in one amazing dish. The taste of the apples, chicken, and that hint of Dijon mustard is anything but bland, and the interesting combination will have you eating more just to keep experiencing it. A must-have in any contemporary recipe book.

Delicious Deviled Eggs

Makes: 16 Deviled Eggs Start to Finish: Under 25 minutes

Ingredients:

· 8 large eggs

· 5 tbsp. regular or reduced-fat mayonnaise

· 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

· 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

· 1/8 tsp. black pepper

· Salt to taste

· Paprika to taste (optional)

1. Place the eggs into a 2-quart or larger saucepan and add cold or lukewarm water until all eggs are covered. Lightly salt. Place pan over high heat and bring the water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and place eggs in strainer to cool, running lukewarm water over them.

2. In the meantime, put mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, and black pepper into a bowl. When the eggs are cool, peel them and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and add them to the mayonnaise mixture. Mix together until smooth, seasoning with salt to taste.

3. Spoon the filling into the egg whites. Dust the filled eggs lightly with paprika if using, and serve.

Review-

I’ve been a fan of deviled eggs my entire life, and I have to say that this recipe blows my old method (mayonnaise, yellow mustard, dash of whatever vinegar is around) out of the water. These are stupendous, and will be a big hit at any party or pot luck. The only person who I have had try these that didn’t care for them was my fiancé, who doesn’t like things with mayonnaise as a base ingredient. That said, this recipe works just as well for egg salad, and in whichever form I make it, it’s all gone by the next day. When it comes to sides, you can never go wrong with some nice, delicious deviled eggs.


Apple Butter Guest Recipe & Review by Jill B.
Serves: 6+ Start to Finish: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 large granny smith apples (or baking apples if you want it sweeter)
• 2 cups apple cider
• Cinnamon
• Honey

1.) Put the two cups of apple cider in a pot large enough to accommodate the apples and set on stove to boil

2.) Peel the apples and cut into cubes or smallish pieces

3.) Once the cider is boiling, carefully add the apple pieces. Sprinkle with cinnamon and honey and stir

4.) Turn the heat down to low and cover, simmering gently for an hour. Stir occasionally and add more honey and cinnamon to taste

5.) After an hour, remove the pot from heat and let sit for about ten to fifteen minutes to thicken

6.) To serve, simply dish it into a bowl and enjoy!

Review:

This recipe is one I discovered in a colonial cookbook one Christmas and I decided to give it a shot. It's now a family favorite and requested at all of the family gatherings! Over the years, I've tweaked it, added a few spins of my own (adding the honey and cinnamon in at the beginning for example so the flavor cooks right in), and it's one of the few things that I can cook without screwing it up somehow. So I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and me!

Week One: Menu Planning, Enchiladas and Egg Sammiches

One of my favorite cookbooks at the moment is "Cheap. Fast. Good!" by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross (the authors of "Desperation Dinners!" and "Desperation Entertaining!"). I bought this book for $7 at my university book and supply store, and never once have I regretted it. Many of my recipes will come from this book, though any that I’ve significantly altered will be renamed for the sake of respect to the authors.

One of the most important things I’ve learned from this book is that you don’t have to spend a fortune on meals every night. At my campus dining centers, dinner costs $9.75 per person. For that much money, I can have a home cooked meal on 5/7 nights of the week (keeping in mind that I cook for myself and three roommates). That’s quite a difference in cost per ounce of food.

How do I pull that off? Well, first I purchase my groceries from Aldi’s, a grocery store that has mostly generic brands as opposed to pricey name brands. Second, I sit down once a week and build a menu for my house. Yes, it sounds corny, but you’d be surprised at how well menu planning works.

Seriously- this week, I want you to sit down with a cookbook or cooking website (I like allrecipes.com), and plan out a 4 to 5 night menu, with plans to have leftovers for at least two nights (more if you’re cooking for just yourself). Be sure to get your roommates involved for better savings, but be prepared to work with their tastes as well. Now, as you’re writing down what recipes to use, be sure to start making your grocery list alongside it, so that you know what you need to buy. If you can find recipes that use ingredients that you already have, all the better!

Having a menu and weekly grocery list DOES make a difference- think of all the money you save by buying small ingredients instead of overpriced final products. The trade off comes down to paying a lot of money for the time that you don’t have to spend cooking, but as anyone who’s been a college student knows, there just isn’t that much money in the wallet to spend on overpriced food. As a college student majoring in Drawing, I have to put as much of my extra money towards art supplies as I can for classes. That on top of rent and utilities adds up fast. I know I’d rather spend $10 a week on delicious hot meals that I don’t have to question the contents of.

Having a distinct grocery list will also help to prevent you from making unnecessary spontaneous purchases (I know all about this, believe you me). Just be sure to have eaten before you go to the grocery store. If you forget to do that, then your mantra for that shopping trip is, “Is it on my list? No? Then I don’t need it.” Trust me, when it comes to limited fridge/freezer space and not enough money, you DON’T want to end up with buyer’s remorse.

This week’s recipes are: Flexible Mexican Filling, Homemade Enchiladas, and Cheesy Egg Sammiches.

"Flexible Mexican Filling,"

found on page 352 of “Cheap. Fast. Good!” This recipe makes about 5 cups, and takes about 20 minutes of prep time.

Ingredients:

· 1 lb. ground beef

· 1 large onion

· 1/2 package (or 2 tbs.) taco seasoning

· 1 can condensed tomato soup

· 2 cups shredded Cheddar or Mexican-blend cheese

· 1 cup sour cream

1. Place beef in extra deep 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Begin browning beef, stirring often to break up the meat. Meanwhile, peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the skillet as you chop. Cook, stirring often, until all meat is crumbled and cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes. Drain any accumulated fat from the skillet.

2. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add taco seasoning and tomato soup and stir until well blended. Add the cheese and stir until it melts, about 30 seconds. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the sour cream. Serve at once, or cool and store for future use.

Author's Notes: Flexible Mexican Filling can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for 2 to 3 months. Refrigerate or freeze the filling in 1-cup portions in microwave-safe containers. To defrost, remove the container lid and microwave on the defrost setting according to the manufacturer's instructions. Or defrost the filling in the refrigerator overnight.

Review-

This recipe is one of the most versatile recipes I’ve ever seen. You can use this recipe in enchiladas (seen below), tacos, burritos, and even in quesadillas if you like gooey quesadillas. Not only that, but you can also use this recipe as a homemade nacho dip, or even just eat it by itself (I’ve been caught doing this several times, myself!). And, as another plus, if you have room in your freezer for it, it’ll stay good for three months. How great is that?

Homemade Enchiladas

Photo taken by me.

This recipe serves 4, and takes about 10 minutes of prep time, with 25 minutes of optional baking.

Ingredients:

· Cooking oil spray

· 1/4 cup Flexible Mexican Filling per enchilada, defrosted if frozen; alternatively, 1 lb ground beef

· 4 large (10- to 12-inch) flour tortillas

· 1 can (16 oz) refried black beans or regular refried beans

· 1/2 cup already cooked rice (optional)

· 1 jar (16 oz) mild or hot Mexican-style salsa or taco sauce

· 1/3 cup regular or reduced-fat sour cream (optional)

· 2 tablespoons regular or reduced fat mayonnaise (optional)

· 1/2 cup shredded taco-style, Mexican blend, or Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 13x9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish with cooking oil spray

2. Place the Flexible Mexican Filling in a small microwave-safe bowl and cover it with a paper towel. Microwave on high power until just warm, about 2 minutes. Remove the dish from the microwave oven and set aside. Alternatively, brown the beef in a skillet, seasoning to taste.

3. Assemble the enchiladas by placing ¼ cup of the filling in the center of each flour tortilla, and then spooning one fourth of the refried beans and 2 tablespoons of the rice (if using) over the meat mixture. As you fill each tortilla, fold it up, tucking in one end burrito-style, and place it, seam side down, in the prepared baking dish.

4. Stir the salsa, sour cream, and mayonnaise together in a bowl and pour this sauce evenly over the enchiladas. A simpler option here is to simply use taco sauce to cover the enchiladas. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake until the sauce bubbles, about 25 minutes. Baking optional if all ingredients have been properly cooked.

5. Remove the pan from the oven, uncover it, and sprinkle the cheese evenly over the enchiladas. Bake, uncovered, until the cheese melts, about 3 minutes. To serve, use a spatula to place an enchilada on each plate.

Review-

This recipe is a personal favorite of mine, especially given that you can make it as simple or as complex as you want. I’ve made this recipe countless times, each time doing something different to suit my mood. For instance, the first time I made this, I followed the recipe to the letter, except for where I forgot to use foil. The enchiladas came out just fine. Since that fateful first attempt, I’ve discovered that you can substitute taco sauce for salsa (we like to use mild, so that it doesn’t overpower the enchilada itself), and that you don’t have to bake this recipe. If you want other kinds of fillings, like green peppers, more onions, black olives, tomatoes, etc;, you can just add them to it, and even if you choose to bake, they’ll be just fine. Bake for the 25 minutes, or even just throw them together and then pop them into the microwave (for 2 minutes or longer for two enchiladas) or not, these make for a fantastic meal or snack!

Cheesy Egg Sammiches

Photo taken by me.

This is for a single serving, and takes a maximum of ten minutes.

Ingredients:

· 2 large eggs

· ¼ cup milk

· tbsp. vegetable oil

· American cheese slices, or alternate cheese

· Two slices of your choice of bread

1. Heat the oil in an 8” skillet. At the same time, mix the eggs and milk together in a bowl with a fork. When the skillet is heated, pour the egg and milk mixture into the skillet.

2. Cook the egg until the bottom begins to solidify, and use a spatula to fold the egg into a half-circle, much like an omelet. Use the spatula to push the egg into the center of the pan, either forming a rectangle or retaining the half-circle shape, and let cook for another minute.

3. Add one cheese slice to the left or right side of the egg, and then use the spatula to fold the egg in half again, covering the cheese slice. Let cook for two minutes, until the center of the egg is solid enough to flip in the skillet. Flip the egg in the skillet, and let cook for another two minutes or so, until the egg is cooked all the way through. Keep in mind that the cheese will ooze as it melts, and this may be mistaken for uncooked egg.

4. When the egg has finished cooking, use the spatula to place it on a slice of bread (toasting optional). Put the second cheese slice on top, followed by any condiments you’d prefer, and the second piece of bread. Let cool for one minute, and then enjoy.

Review-

This is a recipe that my mother taught me, and I still use it to this day. If you have an 8” skillet, the sizing is perfect, but you may use a larger skillet if you’re willing to do some extra folding to make the egg fit on your bread. This recipe is fast, easy, and incredibly cheap. It’s great for a quick, hot breakfast, lunch, or breakfasty dinner. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment and mix things into the egg/milk mixture such as bacon bits, spices, etc; to suit your tastes. :)

Be sure to tune in next Saturday for the next batch of recipes and tips! :D