College Cooking: First-Hand Experience

Mr FS and I took a long-planned trip to visit Miss Em, our very own college cook. A few days before our visit, we received an email: I need 35 more burritos and some frozen ratatouille. We were happy to oblige.

It was our first visit since move-in day. We realized that the kitchen area is soooo tiny and so hard to work in that preparing ANYTHING is an ordeal. We realized that our cookbook WOULD be great: mix some stuff in your rice cooker and voila: a meal. Yes, we were wise to rely on chopped frozen onions and peppers.

Still, as I've mentioned before, Miss Em has used her rice cooker for rice and oat groats, both of which she cooks in quantity and refrigerates. The bean and cheese burritos have made her first semester as a college cook so easy.

It took us (Mr. FS, really, since I fell asleep early that night) about an hour to make the 30 burritos. Talk about a good return on time investment.

If you don't have a family willing to make and transport a semester's worth of bean burritos, make them yourself. OR check out the cookbook Frugal Son and I put together, which makes college dorm cooking possible and maybe even enjoyable.

From Amazon, if you have a Kindle. Or from us (see upper-right)if you want a pdf.

We even tell you how to make burritos in the book. See the recipe here.

Eggs for the College Cook

EGGS just seem to be in the air these days. On the College Cooking front, I have this report. Always on the lookout for stove-free cooking options, I discovered this little item.

Really, this is silly. However, I spotted one at Goodwill for 99 cents, so I bought it. It's definitely worth 99 cents. I put some of the beaten egg for a pasta frittata I was making in each side, cooked for a minute, added some cooked pasta and cheese, and finished it up. Then I folded it closed: tada! a very pretty fake omelet.

I think this would actually be good for microwave-only cooks: there is little clean up, really; it produces an attractive item (so important for solo eaters); it can accommodate all kinds of leftovers, and so on. Next time I use it, I'm going to try beating the eggs IN the contraption, for even less clean up.

Can you think of any other uses for this little item?

Migas: More Corn Chip Cuisine

A few days ago, we posted our recipe for egg-filled burritos. No stove required. Amazing to learn that you can cook eggs in your rice cooker. That recipe is also in our ebook (see above right to order), which outlines our whole system: 20 ingredients, some condiments, 14 meals, no stove, no chopping, (almost) no mess. If you have a kindle, you can order from Amazon!

Here is a recipe not from the book: it uses one ingredient common to the college dorm that is not among our crucial 20: the humble corn chip.

Have you ever heard of migas? I learned about them from one of Martha Shulman's cookbooks. Maybe this one.

Migas are eggs scrambled with corn chips. Easy and good.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
handful or more of corn chips, stale OK
Cooking oil
¼ cup frozen chopped onions
¼ cup frozen chopped peppers
½ cup cheddar
Rotel
Salt and pepper to taste



Two large eggs will make a large serving. Start by adding one to two teaspoons of oil to the rice cooker and let it heat up for a minute. Add ¼ cup onions (more if, like me, you love onions) and then add ¼ cup frozen bell peppers to the oil and let them cook. Season the vegetables to taste with salt and pepper or, as always, use Cajun seasoning. When they have cooked for a few minutes, crack your eggs directly into the rice cooker and stir thoroughly (be sure to use a wooden or plastic stirrer to protect the non-stick coating) until the eggs have cooked through.

Before the eggs are done, throw in the corn chips and, if you want, salsa. Stir a bit more, then serve. No matter how you do this, it's good.

If all you have are eggs, salsa, and chips, it's still good. Remember: salsa has onions and peppers already. the work's been done for you.

Do you cook with corn chips?

Thomas Keller Soup Favorite in Your Rice Cooker

Oh, what a deceptive title. It is all over the blogosphere: Thomas Keller likes Progresso lentil soup. The source of that rumor (or fact) is Food and Wine: Keller's partner, Laura Cunningham, describes what they eat at home:

I wish I could say we cook at home, but we've been too busy; oatmeal, bread and cheese, yogurt and Progresso lentil soup have been the favorites this past busy year.


Isn't it great to know that you can eat what the great chef and restaurateur eats--and you don't need a stove. So, get some Progresso lentil soup and heat it in your rice cooker.

To add some bulk and nutrition, throw in some noodles or rice and some frozen spinach. You might need a bit of water or broth too.

This is what it looks like, courtesy of Amazon:

I've seen a lot of the lentil recently at Big Lots and Dollar Tree for a dollar or a little more. Don't tell Thomas!

Roger Ebert's Rice Cooker Book: Disappointing, Alas

Don't even read beyond the title. I am sooooo disappointed. I requested that the library order this book and I got a call when it came in. Opened with anticipation....and there's just not much there. Most of the (mediocre)recipes are on his blog, and recipes make up only about 20% of this short book.

You do get Ebert's wit and wisdom, but that too is mostly stuff from his blog. I will desist, because you can read the reviews on Amazon.

I wasn't going to mention this at all, but I did write about the book several times.

So, if you want a rice cooker cookbook, the best is probably

If you're looking for a simple system to begin cooking in a restricted situation (like a dorm), check out our little tome. There are a number or rice cooker recipes there.

P.S. I still love Roger Ebert.

Egg and Cheese Burritos for the College Dorm Cook

We call this an assembly-only recipe. That's sort of, well, not true. You have to cook your eggs. Believe it or not, you can scramble eggs in a rice cooker. We ate these for breakfast every day when we visited San Antonio. They're good any time.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 or 3 tortillas
Cooking oil
¼ cup frozen chopped onions
¼ cup frozen chopped peppers
½ cup cheddar
Rotel
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional:
Hot sauce
Beans

OK. Not quite assembly-only. For our first rice cooker meal, you will scramble some eggs. Yes, you can scramble eggs in a rice cooker! Please take our advice and buy a rice cooker with a nonstick coating; the added expense will more than pay for itself in saved clean-up time.

Two large eggs will make enough to fill 2-3 tortillas. Start by adding one to two teaspoons of oil to the rice cooker and let it heat up for a minute. Add ¼ cup onions (more if, like me, you love onions) and then add ¼ cup frozen bell peppers to the oil and let them cook. Season the vegetables to taste with salt and pepper or, as always, use Cajun seasoning. When they have cooked for a few minutes, crack your eggs directly into the rice cooker and stir thoroughly (be sure to use a wooden or plastic stirrer to protect the non-stick coating) until the eggs have cooked through. Remove the eggs from the rice cooker and spoon about three tablespoons of filling into each tortilla and top with a tablespoon of cheese. Top with Rotel or hot sauce, and then pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds and enjoy.

Lagniappe (something extra, Louisiana-style): Try mixing some beans into your egg burritos for a hearty and simple huevos rancheros style breakfast. You’ll only need about two tablespoons of eggs and one tablespoon of beans for each one. Arriba!

Homemade Meals for the College Cook: No Cooking

Recently, I asked our College Cook what she's been cooking. After all, it was her decision to get a tiny meal plan and learn to cook in her stoveless kitchen that inspired Frugal Son and me to develop an easy, cheap system for the College Cook.

I haven't cooked yet, said Miss Em.

Have you used the rice cooker, I inquired.

Only for hot cereal.

How could this be? Well, because we made Miss Em about 50 bean and cheese burritos, packaged for the freezer. Then, we made maybe 15 freezer packages of this ratatouille-like concoction that she likes.

So between those items, plus hot cereal, plus peanut butter on crackers, plus 4 weekly meals in the dining hall, plus tuna, plus yogurt, plus various free meals from barbecues and babysitting, plus a few meals in restaurants, well, there hasn't been any need to cook.

I think it's a good idea to do similar meal prep AT HOME where it's easy. Then package and freeze enough for the semester. There are some great possibilities: lasagne, enchiladas, stews, soups, and so on.

These are frozen dinners that are actually good. Plus, if you make the food you grew up with, it will rings your comfort food chimes. What could be better?

While you're planning your cooking, check out our labor of love: on pdf above right or, for Kindle, on Amazon.