Photo Credit: Max Delsid via Unsplash
Home-tested recipes for you!
Drew Anne Glennie, The Mike Staff Writer
I have always loved cooking, especially in high school when I still lived with my parents. When I came to university, however, I had less time to do it. In first year, I went to the dining hall for nearly every meal, trying to make my overly expensive but required meal plan worthwhile. In my second year, pre-pandemic, I spent too much time away from home studying on campus to have any amount of meaningful time to do it. This quarantine has changed that: not only do I often have nothing else to do, but even when I am doing schoolwork my kitchen is just a few feet away from me at all times. Here is a list of recipes, all fairly healthy and tested in my own kitchen, for every meal of a day. They are also deliciously simple: for all of these recipes, I usually have almost all of the necessary ingredients lying around. They also require no extra materials: while I love a good smoothie, all the recipes I am sharing today require no more than an oven to cook them.
Breakfast: Apple Crisp Pancakes
This recipe became a favourite of mine when I was looking for something to make out of pancake mix I had left over and the apples in my fridge that were at risk of rotting. It is based off of Betty Crocker’s recipe, with a few modifications.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups any dry pancake mix, plus whatever ingredients it requires
- ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg
- Diced apples, to preference
- Cooking spray
- ¼ cup of brown sugar
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 2 tablespoons of cold butter
- Maple syrup
Instructions:
- Mix brown sugar, oats, flour and butter together with a fork until the mixture has a crumble consistency.
- Make pancake mix and then add cinnamon, nutmeg, and apples.
- Heat a sprayed pan on medium-high heat, pouring as large of pancakes as you want and covering with some of the crumble mix.
- Flip over pancake to cook on other side when bubbles start appearing.
- When both sides are done, serve with maple syrup.
Lunch: Cheddar and Green Onion Scones
I have a confession: I have never actually made these, but my roommate has been making them about once a week since the pandemic started. It is the silver lining of the situation. This is the easiest scone recipe I have ever seen, requiring no yeast, but they are no less delicious. This recipe is based off of the Laughing Spatula’s, but she discovered that using green onions instead of their recommended chives makes them much tastier.
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups of flour
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- ½ cup of salted butter
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup buttermilk, or 1 tablespoon vinegar and 2/3 cup milk combined
- 2/3 cup grated cheddar, plus ¼ cup to put on top of each scone
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; cut the butter into the flour.
- Whisk 2 eggs and combine with the buttermilk. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just moist.
- Stir in the cheddar and green onions.
- Turn the sticky dough out onto a floured board and knead lightly. Cut dough in half. Roll each half into a circle, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut each circle into 4 wedges.
- Whisk remaining egg in a small dish and brush on top of the scones.
- Let the scones rest for about 10 minutes before baking.
- Sprinkle each scone with about a tablespoon of grated cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.
Dinner: Turkey Chili
Ambitious Kitchen has made the perfect chili recipe. It is my absolute favourite winter dinner, especially when that chill comes in. I like making it in a Crockpot, mostly for the way the smell fills my whole apartment, but I know from experience that it turns out just as well on stovetop. This recipe makes about three servings to get you through your week.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
- ½ pound (approx. 225g) of ground turkey
- 2 tablespoon chili powder, or 1 if you have particularly spicy chili powder
- 1 teaspoonsground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- Salt to taste
- ½ can diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup and 2 tablespoons chicken broth, or ¼ cup if using Crockpost
- 1 can of dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 7 oz of corn
- Cooking oil
- Tortilla chips and cheese (optional, but reccomended)
Instructions:
- Heat oiled pot on medium-high heat.
- Sauté onion, garlic, and peppers for 5 minutes.
- Add turkey and cook until no longer pink.
- Add in spices, stir for about twenty seconds.
- Add in tomatoes, chicken broth, kidney beans and corn.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30-45 minutes.
- Garnish with cheese and dip tortilla chips in.
