Boy cooking for himself in college :)

Sue22
Sat, 08 Mar 2014 16:02:50 +0000

Easy stir-fry:
Warm a little oil in a pan, chop up whatever vegetables and meat you like (chicken’s easy) into bite-sized pieces, cook it on med-med/high until it looks right, add a pre-made peanut, teriyaki or other sauce at the end. While the veggies/meat are cooking microwave a bag of Trader Joe’s (or other brand) pre-cooked frozen rice to throw it over. Any leftovers will keep well in the fridge or freezer.

A proper meal mom would approve of:
Buy a chicken breast, pour some Caesar’s salad dressing over it to marinade and let it sit for a few hours. Pan cook it. Serve it with a bagged salad or some fresh veggies. Red peppers are a hit in my house.

Cooking for a crowd:
Chili-buy a boxed mix, such as 3 Alarm Chili, which gives directions and contains all the spices you’ll need. The cook browns some hamburger and adds tomato sauce and water. Beans, onions and/or cheese are optional if he wants to get fancy. A pot of chili, a bag of tortilla chips and he’s got a meal to serve his friends.

You may want to tell him about how meats “release” when cooked. One mistake beginning cooks often make is to try to turn their meats too often. The meat doesn’t cook well and if it hasn’t released the cook ends up trying to scrape it from the pan.

Another gaffe my teenagers used to make is to burn foods by trying to cook everything on high.