Day 2: Cook a good meal

Quiz: Do you like Ramen? (Are you the correct demographic to be reading this blog?)

Strange how a soup comprised of noodles, water, and artificial flavoring has become such a stereotype. It's gotten to the point where it's synonymous with "lazy college kid" or perhaps just "college kid." I'm sure hipsters will be shunning it any day now. Or maybe it's too deeply ingrained to shun, and they'll just start using PBR as broth and call it gourmet.

Recipes for gourmet Ramen abound, like 100 Awesome Ramen Recipes for Starving College Students. See! College and Ramen go together like limes and scurvy. Which is to say, they're associated with one another, but the relationship is quite skewed.

A quick skim through isn't hugely inspiring. For example, if I had the money to buy mussels and steam them, I probably wouldn't pair them with Ramen. And why put spaghetti sauce on Ramen when you can buy a package of real noodles for a dollar and get four servings? I do like the idea of using them as those crunchy noodles you get from Chinese places though...

Anyway, this post isn't actually about Ramen at all. Fooled you, didn't I. It's about my personal staple, lazy burritos! Conversely, lazy stir fry! They're... well, they're pretty much the same when you get right down to it, which is a basic formula for using whatever you have to make a meal that is more nourishing, healthier, and way less salty than Ramen. Probably costs about the same, once you factor in the costs of adding chicken and veggies to your noodles.

Actually, this might be a totally and completely redundant post, but I know a lot of landlubbers who spend a whole lot of money on packaged food when it's actually really easy to make awesome food with no recipe; all you have to do is not be scared. Cooking rules are more like guidelines, after all.

The point of this is to use what you have, but you'll probably want to have one of the following:
Rice
Tortillas
If you have both, hooray! Pick one. If you only have one, hey, now you don't have to decide what to make. Win win.

So now go rooting around the fridge and freezer. I personally always keep a bag of frozen veggies on hand. As much as it's probably better to eat fresh, it's just so handy and cheap to have frozen. Especially since I do try and eat organic/local. There's a trade-off there, especially in the winter.

So I defrost my veggies and I add whatever else I can find. Seriously. If I have fresh veggies, yay! Chop them up. Pretty much any kind of leftovers except desserts will probably be great.  If I have meat, I'll toss that in a pan and cook it up with some spices, then add the frosty veggies. If I have beans, I'll soak those and cook them, unless I'm in a hurry in which case I probably won't bother. Canned beans do well here, though they're pretty salty a lot of the time. If I have cheese, I'll generally add it to the beans so it's nice and gooey and delicious.

Pretty much the only difference is in the spices at this point.

Stir Fry: Ginger, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, garlic, lime juice/lime zest (any kind of citrus really),
              sesame seeds, rice wine vinegar
Burrito-fajita: paprika, cumin, chili powder, garlic, lime or lemon juice/zest, cilantro, cheese, salsa
Or whatever else you think would be good! I've even used a spoonful of pumpkin butter in stir fry. The key is to taste often. If you don't know if it will taste good, take a large spoon or a spatula and take some of the veggie-meat mix out of the pan. Add a small amount of whatever you wanted to add, and taste it. Don't burn yourself.

Remember to cook your rice, or warm your burrito before you wrap it. I just put it over the pan of veggies like a lid after I turn off the heat, and let it sit for a few seconds.
Anyway, there you have it. A possibly redundant post about scrounging together food to make a meal. It's pretty scaleable, too - you can make a little or enough for a week.


Achievement: Wrap that burrito like a pro! 

 

If you have awesome skills like me, you'll probably end up with something like this:

Well crap. Wait! I know how to fix it!

Much better. Enjoy! You may also want a fork.