How to become a person who can (mostly) cook without a recipe
Perhaps you’ve noticed it, too: people who are good cooks have a habit of saying something like “oh, you just toss some things together, whatever you have on hand.” I didn’t think it was possible, but I’ve become one of those people. Here’s how I went from a person who needs a recipe to a person who can just make it up as I go
Old fashion chicken and noodle soup without the work
I love cooking, but I’m also a graduate student in the tiniest of apartments. Neither of which are conducive to homemade meals. On the other hand, canned soups tend to have too much sodium for me. I have finally found a recipe that not only tastes amazing, but requires very little work.
Hawaiian-style meatballs for those who can barely cook
So the first “meal” I ever learned to cook by myself was Hawaiian-style meatballs. It was my favorite food when I was a kid, but my mom took hours to make it the traditional homemade way. I discovered this way in college when my three roommates and I went shopping… hungover. It takes all of 8-15 minutes.
If you can’t stand the heat, make these no-bake low-sugar mini cheesecakes
I, like our own Megan, don’t have mad cooking skills. Plus, I have a bunch of annoying dietary restrictions, making it even more challenging when I want to whip up something non-frozen. So this no-bake, low-sugar anytime treat is actually a pretty bad-ass solution for those two problems: easy, super nom-worthy, and fits my needs. Maybe it fits yours, too?
Italian chicken slow cooker tastiness in under fifteen minutes
I happened to check the time before I started making this Italian chicken slow cooker recipe and — starting with a clean kitchen all the way through putting the cutting board into the dishwasher and the slow cooker into the fridge for the night — it took me thirteen minutes to make this. Perfect for those days when you have too many things to do and not enough time — or for when you don’t have time to waste in the kitchen because you need to catch up on Game of Thrones.
Megan-simple slow-cooked pea and ham soup
There are a zillion ways to adapt this recipe (which I’ll explain later), but at its most basic it is dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, sugar-free, nut-free; pretty much everything-free except meat. So it’s a great soup for families with multiple allergies, or for when you’re hosting someone and you’re not sure exactly what they can eat.
Cooking Challenge Day 3 results: Blessed breakfast relief, and a lunch fail
Oh. My. Gawd. How amazing was it to wake up this morning and be able to eat immediately? It was MEGA amazing. I’m telling you, eating that bowl of granola cereal felt like a fucking vacation. Not because it was zomgtastey, or anything. I mean, it was — that granola is good. But it was just easy, and it gave me some time to relax in the morning. But lunch was a different story — actually, lunch was a similar story…
Cooking Challenge Day 5 recipes: Oatmeal, Greek-ish salad, and finally some meat!
Here are the final recipes of the challenge. We got an excuse to use more of the oats you didn’t use to make the granola, and the goat cheese left over from the frittata. We have a “Greek-ish” salad that has lots of ingredients, but not a lot of work. And finally… here comes the meat! Our one non-vegetarian meal will be my first slow cooker recipe. Offbeat Homie Laura submitted this to us, and she swears it’s easy and delicious. Get your slow cookers reader, and let’s do this…