Why Your College Cook Needs My Cookbook

Miss Em forwarded me a story from her college paper. The intrepid reporter--also a good writer--did a test drive of some recipes for a cookbook geared to college students. The book itself has quite favorable reviews on Amazon, as it happens. The article is titled: Simple Recipes for Students End Badly. After Miss Em read the story, she emailed the writer and said, "My mom and brother put together an ebook that addresses all the problems!" So Frugal Son and I may be interviewed. Fame??

The problems with the college cookbook--this one in particular and in the genre as a whole--are many: they are a bunch of discrete recipes, and hence don't take into account the issues of shopping, equipment, know-how, storage, cost, and whattodowithleftovers. These are issues for any cook, of course, but especially for the College Cook, who often doesn't even have easy access to a stove.

The problems with the cookbook under review can be summed up in two words: PINE NUTS (or is that one word?). I looked at a pasta recipe. It called for a ricecooker (good for the stove-less). It called for simple ingredients. It was easy. BUT IT CALLED FOR A TABLESPOON of pine nuts!A 2 oz bag of pine nuts will run about $4.00 at the store. The leftovers will no doubt languish in the fridge. That's an expensive tablespoon.

Below, I've pasted the review of recipes. If you want to read the original, here it is. Basically, the author spent over $50.00 for three recipes that didn't come out well. UGH.

The book Frugal Son and I put together can be found on Amazon (if you have Kindle) and here (for a pdf). For the $50.00, you can eat for a week. And shop once. And everything comes out. Because we tested all the recipes (and they are forgiving recipes in any event).



Here is the article.

My “kitchenability” skills involve making grilled cheese, baking brownies from the box and, if I do say so myself, making an excellent bowl of cereal.

College life has made me appreciate all the foods I have at home that I don’t have here. As such, I found myself turning to “Kitchenability 101: The College Student’s Guide to Easy, Healthy, and Delicious Food” by Nisa Burns, which is a cookbook meant for students who live in both dorms and apartments that offers basic recipes and tips for beginning cooks.

Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I thought I would start off with a “Creamy, Gooey, Drippy Bagel” (34). All I needed was a bagel, cream cheese, cinnamon and honey, which were all easy enough to find at Publix.

Next came “Avocado Lettuce Wraps” (56). This is where I found myself wandering through the grocery store trying to track these ingredients down. Two avocados, two tomatoes, lime juice, salt and pepper, cilantro and one head of lettuce.

Finally came the main course, “Tropical Pineapple Chicken” (78). This required three chicken breasts, but I substituted for two. I kept looking for a package that only came with one chicken breast — you know, the kind meant for single people who are more often than not making dinner for one — but that package did not exist.

Reaching the checkout line, I cringed as I watched each item go through the scanner. An action card swipe at the dining hall hurts a lot less than a credit card swipe at the grocery store. My total came to $52.93, a swift blow from reality and the reason why I have a meal plan.

Since we are not allowed to have a toaster in our dorm room, I had to stick the bagel in the oven on a broiler pan so it could toast. Lacking a timer on our archaic oven, I had to keep checking it every few minutes to make sure it had not caught on fire. After I spread the cream cheese and sprinkled the cinnamon, the bagel didn’t look quite as dainty as the one pictured. Mine was scattered with clumps of cinnamon cemented in place by the honey.

For the lettuce wraps, what the cookbook failed to mention is that it is nearly impossible to get a leaf fully intact after you have peeled it off the lettuce head – my lettuce “wraps” looked more like lettuce tacos. While they did taste good, most of what I ate ended up in my lap due to my beginner lettuce-wrapping techniques.

When it came to the “Tropical Pineapple Chicken,” the recipe did not specify how long to cook the chicken. It might as well have said, “If it looks good, then I guess you can eat it.” After I cut through the middle and it appeared fine, I served it to my roommate. A few bites of rubbery chicken later, it was safe to say it was actually not cooked all the way through.

Although my roommate now believes that I tried to poison her and my bank account aches, the endeavor proved worthwhile as I discovered something I never knew before.

I should stick to microwave meals only.

Poor Hannah! I sent her a pdf.

Good Present for College Cooks: Martha Shulman Cookbook

Miss Em just asked for this. She made a wonderful soup, involving canned tomatoes and other things she had. The little neat thing: it was cooked with rice. This is pureed with the stick blender, so it turns to a creamy soup. Perfect for Finals Week.

P.S. You can use jarred roasted peppers and adjust recipe as you wish. Miss Em didn't have slivered basil leaves around.




Puréed Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

I noticed that the most popular boxed soup at my supermarket is a tomato and red pepper soup, so I decided to come up with my own version.

2 red bell peppers, roasted

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2 cup diced celery

Salt to taste

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes with juice

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 sprigs fresh basil

Pinch of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)

1 1/2 quarts vegetable stock or water

1/4 cup rice, preferably a medium-grain rice like arborio

Freshly ground pepper

For garnish (optional):

Garlic croutons (toast thin slices of bread, rub with a cut clove of garlic, and cut into squares)

Freshly grated Parmesan

Slivered fresh basil leaves

1. Roast the peppers as directed, allow to cool in a covered bowl, then peel, seed and dice. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot and add the onion. Cook, stirring often, until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes, and add the carrot and celery and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender and fragrant, about 5 more minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the tomatoes with their liquid, the tomato paste, basil sprigs, cinnamon, sugar if using, and salt to taste. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have cooked down slightly and smell fragrant, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the diced roasted peppers, the stock or water, rice, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. Season with freshly ground pepper, taste and adjust salt. Remove the basil sprigs.

4. Using a hand blender, purée the soup, or use a blender and purée in batches, being careful to pull a dish towel down over the top and not to cover tightly with the blender lid, then return to the pot and heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve topped with croutons, Parmesan cheese, and/or slivered basil.

Yield: 6 servings.

Advance preparation: This will keep for about 3 days in the refrigerator and can be frozen.

Nutritional information per serving: 134 calories; 1 gram saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 21 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 269 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 3 grams protein

You can add this to the gift box.

Gifts for the College Cook

I start thinking about gifts for my two College Cooks way ahead, because it's hard to think of good--or even halfway decent--ones. Example:

Me to Miss Em: What do you want by way of presents?
Miss Em: More burritos and soy milk for next semester.

Do frozen burritos and boxed soymilk count as presents? Of course, we are happy to provide them, but presents are fun for the giver.

I have a few plans for my College Cooks, but will not divulge them at the moment. If you ARE a College Cook, here is what you should request. And, parents and other relatives, these are gifts that will be used.

First up, I will recommend the little pdf or ebook Frugal Son and I put together.

This is a virtual stocking stuffer, I guess. Trust me, it's very helpful. If your giftee wants the Kindle to read it on, you can get it from Amazon. If you are sans Kindle, check out the pdf. It's only $2.99, the lowest price permitted by Amazon.

The Kindle has gone down in price, I think!

As for cooking equipment, this is not the time to go for Global knives or Calphalon pots. So cheap but good is my motto. I have recommended these items before, but they have proved their worth in my family.

Knife:

Rice Cooker (everyone is surprised by how cheap these are):

I don't think you need to have recommendations for measuring cups and the like. For dishes, I would go for Corelle. I've started using these myself because they are light and unbreakable (or almost).



Wow! Under $60.00 for the whole shebang. Under $30.00 if you skip the dishes and let your student use the remnants of various sets that may be inhabiting your cupboards.

Any other gift ideas for the College Cooks in your family?

Get Your Rice Cooker

As our e-tome is evolving, we are beginning to see that the immersion blender and even paring knife are optional. (You should have a paring knife, however.) The rice cooker is absolutely essential.

I, the mom of the team, have a well-stocked kitchen, replete with a few pieces of super-expensive All-clad cookware. But I am a convert to rice cooker cookery. So easy! No mess! Almost no clean-up!

We will be using the cheap cook-warm rice cooker, rather than the expensive fuzzy logic models. Once again, I will pimp for the model we have. Whatever you get, make sure it has a little hole on top to vent the steam and a nonstick finish inside the pot.

Here is the cheapie we have and love.

If someone owes you a graduation gift, ask for one of these. It is far more useful than Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the Places you'll Go!" One of my students received 17 copies of that book for graduation. The rice cooker is more useful. Make your parents get one too. They'll love saving time in the kitchen--perhaps more than you will.