Expand your culinary creations by trying out a Thai flavored dish that is sure to impress your friends with its yummy flavors. Making new or foreign flavored foods can feel intimidating but we have split this recipe into easy steps to follow and you are sure to succeed! Only two cooking techniques are needed and if you want a simpler dish you can simply forgo sautéing the chicken or even adding some precooked shredded chicken if you are worried about cooking raw meat. We take a piece of chicken out of the pan in our video below and cut it open to show you what fully cooked chicken looks like to help. The other technique used is boiling, and while salt isn’t called for in the recipe adding salt to water helps the water boil and also adds a little flavor to the noodles.

When you are making the sauce don’t be worried if you feel like the ingredients aren’t fully combining and it looks lumpy. When you add the sauce to freshly drained noodles in the warm pot the leftover heat will help to smooth out the sauce. If it still stays lumpy feel free to turn the heat on to low to help smooth out the sauce and remove the lumps. At first the sauce will be fairly thin, if you would like it to be thicker you can keep it on the low heat or let it sit for a few minutes before you serve it to thicken it up. Use the toppings we provided or feel free to add any of your own that sound good to you! See the video below for each step in the cooking process.

Cost Breakdown

No one wants to pay an arm and a leg for a yummy meal. We have broken down all of the costs needed for the ingredients. Feel free to substitute with whatever form of the ingredient you already own, no need to buy a specific kind or specifically fresh garlic, lime or ginger. For a single serving you could also simply make a pack of ramen noodles and then add a 1/4 of the sauce to it for some tasty Thai flavored noodles!

Thai Peanut Noodles

Author: Thursday Group 3 Cooking Method:Boiling, Sautéing Cuisine:Thai Courses:Lunch, Dinner Recipe Keys: T Thai Y Yummy I International

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 10 minutesCook time: 25 minutesRest time: 5 minutesTotal time: 40 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:405 kcal Best Season:Suitable throughout the year

Description

A delicious and simple Thai dish that will add some fun variety to your weekly meals and add a new dish to your weekly staples. Warm flavors blend together with the nutty flavor of the peanut butter to create a satisfying meal.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
• 3 Tbsp Peanut Butter
• 1-2 tsp Sriracha Chili Sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Minced Ginger
• 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Honey
• 2-3 Cloves of Garlic
• 8 oz Linguine Noodles
• Green Onions (to taste)
• Cilantro (to taste)
• Peanuts (to taste)
• 1 Lime
• 1 Chicken Breast

Instructions

1. Gather the ingredients and grab a pot, bowl, and pan.
2. Add water a little salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling add noodles.
3. Heat pan with oil for chicken and while it’s heating cut chicken into bit size cubes.
4. Once pan is hot add chicken and season to taste ex: salt, pepper, garlic, or onion.
5. While the chicken is cooking combine the chicken broth, peanut butter, chili sauce, honey, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a bowl and stir with a fork until mostly combined. It will still be a little lumpy don’t worry!
6. Drain water from noodles and while in the pot add sauce and chicken and stir.
7. Chop green onions, quarter lime, and chop peanuts for toppings
8. Serve into bowls and top with green onions, cilantro, lime, and peanuts.
9. Eat and Enjoy!

Video

Notes

• – Ingredients like garlic, lime, and ginger can be from any kind.
• – Proteins are interchangeable, substitute chicken for tofu, shrimp, pork etc.
• -Feel free to use whichever kind of noodles you prefer.

Keywords:easy, international, nutritious, yummy, noodles

One of the best parts of these muffins is their versatility. If zucchini is not your preferred vegetable, or you want to make these into a sweet fall treat, you can use apples instead. If you want to make these muffins a little sweeter, you can add your choice of chocolate chips into the batter before baking. Even sprinkling a little granulated sugar on top will add a perfect tasty crunch!  There are so many options to make these muffins your own, so get creative, and I promise you will never get bored of them!

The baking process is super simple, so even if you are new to the kitchen, or just don’t have any fancy tools, this recipe is for you! All you need are mixing bowls, a spatula, a whisk or fork, muffin tins, and an oven. After preheating the oven, the first step is mixing the dry ingredients. Next, you mix the wet ingredients. Once mixed, you combine the wet ingredients with the dry. Finally, you add in the zucchini and mix lightly. Divide evenly into muffin tins and then cook for about 17-22 minutes until light and fluffy. 

If you are concerned about the cost of these ingredients, we have a cost breakdown provided for you. If you want to make it even cheaper you can visit the SNAC pantry on campus. Additionally, a lot of people have an excess of fresh zucchini from their gardens and give it away to food banks and neighbors. Splitting the cost of baking ingredients with a friend or roommate can also relieve some financial stress. 

Overall, we love these muffins. They allow college students to make healthier choices for themselves by choosing whole grains and zucchini. Zucchini is low in calories, high in fiber, and is a good source of Vitamin C which makes it a great way to add nutrients to a not-as-nutritious food like muffins. Not only do you get to incorporate more healthful foods into your diet, but you will also build confidence in your abilities in the kitchen. And most importantly, these zucchini muffins are delicious! Bon Appetit!

Cost Breakdown

As shown above, this recipe is budget friendly (and gives you your veg for the day) because even the brokest of us need and deserve a delicious treat to get us through the day (or even to start our day).

First Things First

When making this recipe it is important to remember that you are incorporating a wet vegetable into the batter, which affects consistency. When we made this recipe, our batter was running dry even after mixing in the oil and eggs. We ended up using an extra teaspoon of oil and not squeezing all the water out of the zucchini to get our batter to the right consistency and it made the end result moist and delicious! You could hold back on extra oil and instead not squeeze your zucchini dry, this could also help retain the water soluble vitamins and minerals.

The other thing to keep in mind is what you desire out of your muffin. Do you want it to be a sweet treat or feel like it hits the healthy spot. This can determine how much sugar you use, what kind of chocolate chips you use, and the type of flour. We wanted a mix of both when we made ours so we did 3/4 cup of sugar, with semi sweet/dark chocolate chips.

When mixing, you don’t want to over mix it because then you can find yourself with a dense mess of a muffin. It can also make your muffins not look as appealing (which doesn’t matter if you’re eating them yourself but can be a pain if trying to make an impression) because they will cook differently and won’t rise up to perfection. You want it to be just barely incorporated, which leads to fluffy, melt in your mouth finished product.

You’ll want to use a scoop to divide your mix into the muffin tins, or if you don’t have one you can spoon the portions in. But a scoop is preferable because it gives you even portions in each tin to ensure even baking. Another thing to consider when cooking is that the oven should be preheated and you want to clean up any spillage on your muffin tin, otherwise it can lead to burning or weird looking muffins. Use an oven light if you can, which is preferred to opening the oven too soon, as this could also deflate your muffins. We didn’t have an oven light and so we waited for the 20 minutes before we opened the oven up and stuck the muffins with a toothpick. Ours came out clean but you can adjust your time based off of how the muffin top looks and if your toothpick comes out clean.

Nutrition information (per Serving)

Serving: 1 muffin

Calories: 186 kcal

Carbohydrates: 26g,

Protein: 3g, Fat:9g,

Saturated Fat: 2g,

Cholesterol: 29 mg,

Sodium:206 mg,

Fiber: 2g,

Sugar: 16g

There are quite a few vegetables that need to be chopped, but we will discuss proper cutting techniques and tricks in the recipe description that will help you cut each ingredient quickly.

Making Cowboy Caviar is a super fun and easy process. Once you figure out different knife cuts and the proper way to hold your knife, it is really quite relaxing. Getting to spend a little bit of time just cutting veggies can be fun! The quick and easy preparation process makes this recipe a perfect choose for those times you are in a rush or need a quick healthy side dish to bring to a party. It is also very budget friendly if you are looking to save money. You just need to buy a few vegetables and in addition to few other ingredients that you probably already have at home. This recipe can be very versatile. The vegetables in this recipe can be switched if you don’t like them or if you have other vegetables at home you are wanting to use up.

This dish is very delicious, nutritious, budget friendly, and simple to make. It tastes very fresh and would be great to use for your next home barbecue. It is best served chilled with tortilla chips.

Cost Breakdown

Tips for Making this Budget-Friendly

• The Student Nutrition Access Center food pantry on the USU campus typically has canned beans and corn.
• Buy generic products such as Great Value or Kroger to reduce ingredient cost even more.

Making Cowboy Caviar and Knife Skill Tips

Tip before cutting vegetables: Hold the knife between your thumb and pointer finger on the bolster. Then wrap the rest of your fingers around the handle.

Step 1: Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a large bowl and set aside.

Step 2: Gather the vegetables and other ingredients that will be put into the dressing.

Step 3: Rinse and drain the beans and corn.

Step 4: To cut the bell pepper, gently cut around the top. You do not want to cut all the way through the pepper. Turn it upside down so the stem is facing downward. Cut along each of the sections of the pepper (there will be three or four, depending on the pepper). Gently pull each section away from the pepper. Slice each section into four thin strips. Then dice. See the video for a more detailed visual.

Step 5: Cut the top of the onion off, leaving the bottom intact. Cut the onion in half. Beginning at one side, make cuts all the way across the onion. Then turn the onion and make perpendicular cuts. You should have small, diced onions. See the video for a more detailed visual.

Step 6: Slice the jalapeno in half and remove the seeds (you can leave some in if you like more of a kick). Cut the jalapeno into thin circles and proceed to mince the jalapeno until you are left with very small pieces. See the video for a more detailed visual.

Step 7: Chop the cilantro. See the video for a more detailed visual.

Step 8: Cut the avocado in half, throwing away the seed. Peel the skin gently off. Flip the avocado so the rounded side is facing up. Make thin slices lengthwise all the way across the avocado. Then turn it 90 degrees and slice all the way across the avocado. This should create little cubes of avocado. See the video for a more detailed visual.

Step 9: Add all the ingredients into the bowl with the dressing and mix well.

Eat with your favorite bag of chips, as a side for a hamburger, or just straight out of the bowl!

Are you a busy college student? Do you miss warm, homemade meals? Well we have a solution for you!

We are going to make a simplified homemade chicken pot pie. This recipe is cost effective, healthy, and quick. Between classes, working, and blooming social lives, college students have busy schedules. They don’t have the time, skills, or supplies to cook gourmet meals, however, they do need to eat balanced meals to sustain their lifestyle. This chicken pot pie is perfect because it has minimal ingredients, yet is packed full of vegetables, protein, and carbohydrates. You might not have time to slave away in the kitchen all day, which is why this recipe if perfect; you get the homemade taste without the time burden. Now that your mouth is watering, lets learn how to make it!

See video of each step below recipe!

Cost Breakdown

See below for the cost breakdown. Surprisingly, this recipe is relatively cheap, especially if you get ingredients from the USU SNAC Pantry. SNAC pantry ingredients may include mixed vegetables, cream of mushroom soup, and cream of chicken soup.

We highly recommend you try making this recipe as it is an inexpensive and healthy way to fuel your body. We hope you love this recipe as much as we do!

Reference: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/237960/campfire-chicken-pot-pie/

Cost Breakdown

What else do I need to know?

1. This chicken is great over rice, noodle, or potatoes, and paired with some steamed broccoli.
2. To make this dish even more budget-friendly, try switching out the ingredients for all generic brands.
3. Not a fan of spice? The sauce is so flavorful you can eliminate the sriracha.
4. The lime can also be substituted out for white rice vinegar.
5. This recipe is easy to double, or even triple. Just multiply each ingredient by 2 or 3.

Test your Knowledge: What’s
Cross-Contamination?
Most people don’t know the importance of keeping cuts of meat away from shared surfaces in food preparation. Why is this so important? Well, raw meat carries pathogens that when put in contact with other foods may cause food-borne illness. This process is called Cross-Contamination. It’s important to keep raw meat on a separate cutting board (as shown in the pictures) and to handle it with great care, being mindful not to use the same cutting board for different ingredients. This recipe uses raw meat, following these safety practices will ensure that your Honey Garlic Chicken is not only tasty but free of harmful pathogens.

Let’s Talk About It
I absolutely loved this recipe. Not only was the cooking process fun, it was easy and timely. The only difficulty I came across was making sure the chicken was cooked all the way through. Some steps I included to ensure that everything was cooked properly was by butterflying the chicken (cutting one breast in half as pictured above) to make the breasts less thick and cook evenly. For good time management, I made sure to begin cooking the rice and broccoli right after putting the chicken in the oven. This meant that everything would be cooked and served hot right as the chicken came out. I used canned garlic that was pre-minced, however adding fresh garlic can be another way to make this recipe budget friendly, fresh, and sustainable. Next time, I might change up the cooking process by only pan frying and allowing it to simmer in the marinate. This way, sauce is not lost as it bakes in the oven and gives the chicken more flavor and tenderness.

Pasta primavera is generally served at dinnertime but can be prepared for lunch as well. In the U.S. we tend to put a greater emphasis on the last meal of the day. So, if you plan to serve this for dinner, you may consider adding a side dish. Warm garlic bread goes well with most pastas and can be an enticing choice. The veggies in this dish make it colorful and nutritious. It is a great dish to share with people of any age. This meal may be served with grilled or shredded chicken to add flavor and additional protein. Or if desiring to eat vegetarian, it can be easily converted by substituting the poultry stock for an all-vegetable one.

Cost Breakdown

This pasta primavera is easy to prepare and pleasing to the eye. It is a wonderful way to sharpen your kitchen skills and boost your confidence in cooking. As a college student, it may be hard to establish cooking self-efficacy. But having a collection of reliable recipes you can return to will make you a more competent and effective cook. It is a perfect dish to return to time and time again. Since most items are cooked together in one big pot, it requires little prep work and minimal clean up. You can easily impress your dinner guests or save the leftovers for later. It only takes about 20 minutes to cook and 10 minutes to prepare.

Recipe Lightning Round

Reflection and Tips

Our goal in selecting and preparing this recipe was to appeal to the increasing number of college students and to the emerging young adults everywhere. We searched for a dish that included all the major food groups, could be prepared quickly, and that is budget-friendly. This recipe says that it makes 6 servings, and we found each portion to be quite generous. That makes this dish perfect if cooking for a group of roommates, or if you plan on saving/freezing it to be eaten over the period of several days or a few weeks. It’s the ultimate food planner’s choice.

Several skills can be learned and implemented throughout the preparation process of this dish, thus increasing one’s kitchen abilities and level of self-confidence. You will learn the different ways of cutting vegetables, and how to implement dry and moist heat cooking methods – through sautéing the onions and simmering the pasta to al dente. You will also mix up a creamy sauce and learn about appropriate seasoning.

We learned that there is minimal clean up required after cooking this pasta primavera. It is fun to cook with a group so that certain individuals can be chopping the vegetables while others prepare the broth and additional ingredients. As your noodles are simmering, you might consider preheating the oven and preparing a nice cheesy garlic bread to serve on the side.

As we were preparing this meal, we discovered some of the best ways of cubing cucumbers. Make sure to create a flat edge on each side to avoid rolling during the cutting process. We also substituted the chicken broth for chicken bouillon which we dissolved into hot water. It turned out fantastic and was much cheaper. After pouring in the broth, you may find that it doesn’t completely cover the noodles. Don’t worry about that. The vegetables shrink down, and it all softens and comes together quite nicely. Also keep in mind that you’ll be adding more liquid to the pot when pouring in the cream. We decided against adding the can of peas, and as a result the dish tasted fresher and lighter. We didn’t run into any difficulties preparing the meal or performing the cooking techniques, but we did have a slight problem with managing our time. We started preheating the oven too late and ended up broiling our garlic bread rather than baking it. That alteration allowed us to serve all components of the meal at the same time and while they were still hot.

Overall, we loved this dish because it is healthy, allows access to all the major food groups and does not go over budget. It smelled amazing and tasted just as good. It is a comfort food that can be served on almost any occasion. We would not make any alterations to the recipe; flavors were all there and it worked out quite nicely.

RESOURCES:

We found this recipe for Garlic bread very useful! https://bit.ly/FNGarlicBread

Budget-Friendly

For limited budgets, some of the ingredients can be found at the USU SNAC pantry or your local food pantry. The food pantry may have quick oats, eggs, and rice. These are not always in stock, but you could go and look. Buying generic brands of food and using coupons can also help to save some money. The generic brands work just as well as the name brand foods.

Cost Breakdown of Recipe

Nutritional Pointers

When cooking with meat there are several different kinds of meat to use, for example there is 93% and 80% lean ground beef. The difference between the two is that 93% beef only has 7% fat whereas 80% beef could have up to 20% fat. Since 93% lean ground beef is low in fat it is great to use in meatballs, making homemade hamburger patties, meatloaf, sloppy joes, and several other dishes. With meat that is lower in fat, it has more protein and fewer calories per serving. We used 93% lean ground beef in our recipe.

Our Experience Cooking These Meatballs

This recipe is very easy and straightforward to make. It is best to start off by creating the meatballs and the sauce (we doubled the sauce recipe), then setting them aside to start the rice (as that rice takes a bit longer to cook than the meatballs). After the rice starts boiling, place your meatballs in the oven. There are a few different ways to make broccoli, you can roast, steam, or boil. We prepared our broccoli by steaming. Another quick way to make broccoli is to set it in a little bit of water and add chicken bouillon to it then microwave or boil/steam until you can stick a fork into the broccoli, this adds a little more flavor. 

We placed the meatballs on top of the rice and poured the extra sauce over the meatball and the rice. You could add the broccoli to the rice and meatballs for a one bowl dish (yay less clean up!). The end product is delicious and savory. There’s different ways to incorporate your favorite spices or no spices if preferred, into the meatballs. The sauce being good as is, could be made creamier by adding a roux. It’s all up to your preference. That’s what makes this dish so great!

Making Yeast Bread Products

Kneading dough – Is kneading dough very common?

Yes! Kneading dough is an essential skill to learn for food literacy. The skill of kneading dough is needed for many recipes. It is a critical step in making cinnamon rolls, tortillas, rolls, bread, and other yummy treats. According to the Vegan and Raw Food Blog, “During the process of kneading dough, two key proteins within the flour, gliadin and glutenin, combine to form strands of gluten. Kneading warms up those strands, which allows the proteins to expand during fermentation and encourages the molecules to bond, making for a more elastic dough with better structure,” (greengirleats.com). The blog goes on to mention that foods such as solid fats, oils, and egg yolks coat gluten proteins and prevent them from forming, therefore impeding the overall rise and development of the dough.

To learn more about gluten and bread-making and the science behind successful bread products consider visiting these sites:

– Institute of Food Science & Technology

– American’s Test Kitchen

Dough

Knowing how to knead dough is a great way to expand your food knowledge because it allows you to experiment with different food groups. Dough is used in many different recipes, so learning to knead also aids in food preparation efficacy, as it boosts one’s confidence in their ability to make different types of dough recipes and be creative with them. Flour is a huge staple for dough and is a very affordable ingredient commonly found in most homes.

Tips

This is a budget friendly way to make a yummy treat for all your friends and family to enjoy! Make sure that you have sufficient amount of time to prepare and make the recipe, as you do have to allot time for the dough to rest two separate times. A good idea to manage time would be to prepare the cinnamon sugar mixture and the icing while the dough is rising or baking, that way it will be ready to go as soon as you’re able to move onto the next step of the recipe. Make sure to drizzle plenty of icing on the rolls, so that they are completely covered.

Cost Breakdown

These delicious and easy to make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are perfect to freeze so that college students have something to eat for breakfast. Made in advance, they only take 30 seconds to warm up in the microwave before a student heads to class. Made with whole grains and pumpkin, their nutritional value also makes these a great way to start the day! This is an easy and cheap recipe made for beginners. We had fun making this recipe, it is so straight forward anyone can make these muffins!

The simplicity of this recipe starts with the ingredients. The ingredients in the muffins are basic, they are things that every grocery store has, and they are easy to find. After purchasing all your ingredients, if you’re in a time crunch you can practice Mise en Place. You can have everything measured out in advance, then it makes it easier to dump everything in and combine it. Even without pre-measuring out the ingredients, this recipe is still fast and easy. Once all the ingredients are measured, start mixing the wet and the dry ingredients together in separate bowls. Then when mixed, pour the dry ingredients and chocolate chips in with the wet ingredients. You then fold the ingredients together, making sure you don’t over mix as that will crush the air bubbles and ruins the light and fluffy texture. Use a measuring cup or an ice cream scoop to dish into a greased muffin tin. Don’t over fill muffin tins, you don’t want them to overflow while baking. Bake for 16-18 minutes. You will know they are done when you stick a toothpick or a fork in the center and it comes out clean. We all thought the muffins were delicious, so these are a perfect cheap, easy, and incredibly delicious fall breakfast.

Cost Breakdown

Here’s the cost breakdown for these muffins:

Tips to Make this Cheaper

• Buying generic brands of expensive ingredients such as the canned pumpkin can
  be helpful.
• Buy some ingredients such as flour and chocolate chips in bulk, so they are cheaper per ounce if the whole package will end up getting used in other recipes.
• To make this recipe sustainable, ensure that all the extra ingredients get used in other recipes like pumpkin pancakes!

Reference: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/skinny-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-muffins/

In a typical college setting and schedule, it can be hard to incorporate variety and nutrition into our meals all the time. This recipe is an awesome option for cooking steak—a meat that is something more commonly cooked on a grill or other resources from a more established home. It can be intimidating to incorporate steak into a diet without cooking experience or understanding of preparation methods, especially given the typically limited space of a college apartment. Let’s bridge this knowledge gap and see how we can incorporate variety into our diets with our awesome, yet limited resources.

Despite the reduced space in an apartment and the typical lack of some cooking appliances, this meal is quite simple. After baking the potatoes for some time, the steak, oil, parmesan mixture, and asparagus can all be broiled in the oven:

• To broil, you simply push “broil” on the oven and place and rack closer to the top. After a few minutes, you can decide how well done you want your steak to be.
• If the potatoes or asparagus are being burned or cooked too much, you can remove them temporarily or cover them with tin foil to deflect some of the heat.

This meal may seem intimidating, expensive, and complicated, but those factors can be controlled for:

• To reduce the cost of the meat, especially for a singular college student, you can buy less and use a cheaper cut of meat than flank steak. Also buying ingredients on sale and freezing meat is a great option.
• Asparagus can be pricy when it is not in season, so either buying in season or choosing a different vegetable can reduce cost. Instead of using baby potatoes, dice up regular size potatoes into uniform sizes.
• Other ingredients, such as olive oil, can be purchased as a store brand and these ingredients are generally used frequently in other recipes. All of these suggestions for reducing the cost of this recipe were methods I used.
• If you are cooking this meal for a larger group of friends, you can suggest that everyone bring their own meat to reduce financial stress that could burden a college student in social food situations.

Here is a cost breakdown of all the ingredients in this recipe! This can be reduced by following the suggestions above:

Step-by-Step

Lets get cooking! The process is simple. Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Then cut and wash potatoes and asparagus.

Fun Fact: This preparation is called, “mise en place” meaning “everything in its place”. It is the first step of any cooking process!

Step 2: After tossing the potatoes with the salt, 1/3 of the garlic, and olive oil, bake the potatoes for 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Step 3: While the potatoes are cooking, make the parmesan mixture (¼ cup parmesan, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, pepper) and spread part of it over your meat. When the potatoes are done, add the meat, asparagus, and remaining parmesan mixture to the pan.

Step 4: Set your oven to the “Broil” setting and leave the pan in the oven for 4-5 minutes. Take the pan out, flip the meat, and let cook for another 4-5 minutes (or cook until the meat is as done as you prefer).

Thankfully, this meal is not labor intensive! You could even do some of homework while the potatoes and meat are being cooked! This meal is delicious and something I regularly crave. After a long week, steak can be a great meal to celebrate accomplishing so much.