This College Girl Cooks- Wholesome and Sweet Oatmeal Pancakes

Having been busy busy busy with finals week, moving to a new apartment, and planning for winter term in addition to the less-than-motivating freezing weather, I've sadly been neglecting my blog, but now that finals are over and all I have to worry about is what fun things to plan for my winter break (can't wait to be home! and warm...) I finally have time to post!

With three final exams and two papers all crammed into a short four day span, these past few days have been some of the most exhausting and stressful I've had in awhile. To help keep me going, I invented a new breakfast treat that has now become one of my favorites! Healthy, filling, warm, and guiltlessly decadent, my oatmeal pancakes are exactly what I needed to make it through finals week, but are so delicious that they've officially earned a permanent place in my breakfast regime. With their creamy, slightly sweet oatmeal banana center and golden-brown crust, these are the perfect meal for any oatmeal lover who wants a tasty, decadent breakfast without having to start off their day with a calorie-bomb. 

On a side note, these are also easily adapted for any vegan oatmeal and pancake lovers, just use your favorite dairy free milk and dairy/egg free pancake mix.

Wholesome and Sweet Oatmeal Pancakes

serves 1

Ingredients

1/4 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup your favorite pancake mix (I use Trader Joe's Multigrain Pancake and Baking Mix)

approx. 1/4 cup milk (usually slightly less does the trick)

1/2 banana

1/2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce

a dash of cinnamon (optional)

your favorite toppings- berries, maple syrup, peanut butter, jam, chocolate chips... whatever you like!

Preheat a griddle or frying pan over medium heat and lightly grease with cooking spray.

In a small bowl microwave oats with slightly less than 1/2 cup water for approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds, until the water has been absorbed and your oats are nice and creamy.

Add 1/4 of a banana and mash it into the oats. Add applesauce, pancake mix, and milk and combine. Slice the rest of your 1/2 banana into the batter, or save to top your cakes with after they've cooked. If desired, add a dash of cinnamon, and even toss in a few chocolate chips for an extra special treat (with the healthiness of this recipe, you deserve it!). 

Pour 1/4 cup batter into griddle, making 3 small cakes. Heat for a couple minutes on first side, until bottom has nicely browned, then flip and do the same. These cakes aren't your typical pancake texture and remain moist and creamy in the middle, so even if they don't seem cooked through since they aren't dry and fluffy, they really are. 

Serve with your favorite topping, I use strawberries, banana, and maple syrup. Enjoy warm and straight off the griddle!

This College Girl Cooks: Salmon Salad (Salad?)

Being a pescatarian, canned tuna has been a staple protein in my diet for quite some time. However, once I find a food I like, I stick with it for a very long time, and as a result have eaten a rotation of just a handful of meals every day for the past who knows how many years. Finally, after tireless requests from my mother to eat a wider variety of food, I introduced canned salmon to my diet (big change right?). Luckily, we were all happy! I changed up my food routine (and cut down on my chance of getting mercury poisoning...) like my mom wanted, and I happen to love salmon, but for some reason hadn't paid much attention to it in canned form. One of my favorite methods of preparation, besides slapping it down on a piece of toast, is placing a large scoop of it over a beautiful, healthy salad. I'm unsure of what to call this dish, seeing that usually tuna salad describes canned tuna mixed with a variety of condiments, so I'm guessing salmon is the same. But when you lay this salmon salad on top of an actual salad (lettuce, tomatoes, etc... you know what I mean), does it become a salmon salad salad? Either way, it's easier and sounds better to just call it Salmon Salad, so I'll stick with that.

Salmon Salad
Ingredients
1 can salmon
ketchup
mayonnaise
pickle relish
black pepper
finely diced red onion
your favorite salad fixings

In a small bowl, mix together canned salmon, 2-3 tablespoons mayo, 1 tablespoon ketchup, a heaping spoonful of relish, generous sprinkle of black pepper (freshly ground if you have it), and a teaspoon or two of diced red onion until homogeneous. *

*Note: These measurements are approximate. Depending on your tastes, you may want to add more or less of each ingredient (more mayo for added moistness, ketchup for sweetness etc.)

Prepare your favorite salad. Mine had mini heirloom tomatoes, cubed avocado, and edamame on a bed of romaine lettuce. 

Place a generous scoop of salmon on top of your salad. You may want to add a drizzle of your favorite salad dressing for extra flavor. Enjoy for lunch or dinner!

This College Girl Cooks: The Picturesque Breakfast Sandwich

When it comes to breakfast I'm 100% for fruit and yogurt parfaits. However, there are rare occasions when I'm in the mood for something other than the same breakfast I've eaten almost every morning for the past 4 years. This usually happens when I'm craving a breakfast-for-lunch type meal, and today was one of those days. Rather than make my standard peanut butter and jelly on toast for lunch, I decided to try something new, partly due to the fact that I had an opened carton of egg-whites in my fridge that I didn't want to go bad and be wasted. Hence my healthier, fresher, and tastier twist on a greasy, bland Egg McMuffin-type sandwich was born.

How can someone settle for a soggy english muffin, frozen egg patty and rubbery cheese sandwich when they can have one of these?!

The Picturesque Breakfast Sandwich


1 toasted english muffin of your choice
1 or 2 scrambled egg/ egg-whites
a small handful of chopped cherry or mini-heirloom tomatoes
spinach
2 mushrooms, sliced
salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried thyme or your choice of seasonings
cheese and ketchup, if desired

While your muffin is toasting, sauté tomatoes, spinach, and mushrooms together in a small fry pan. Add eggs and seasonings and scramble over low heat. If using cheese, either scramble it into your eggs to melt it together with the rest of your ingredients or lay it on top until it begins to melt. Spread ketchup on english muffin (not necessary but I happen to LOVE ketchup and generously smothered my english muffin with it). Place scramble on egg, put top of english muffin on, and dig in!

Melt in your mouth Peanut Butter Cookies

Whether it's eaten on bread with jam (preferably strawberry), in a bowl mixed with honey and banana, nestled inside a chocolate cup, or as spoonfuls straight out of the jar, peanut butter is just plain amazing. While all of the previously mentioned ways of eating peanut butter are great, we can't forget what is possibly the tastiest and most indulgent methods of peanut butter consumption- freshly baked peanut butter cookies.

Crunchy on the outside, unbelievably moist and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside, with crunchy peanuts and soft, sweet chocolate morsels throughout, I think I've found what may be the ultimate recipe for this classic cookie.

Peanut Butter Cookies
makes approx. 3 dozen cookies (or less if you make them gigantic like I do)


Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar, or 1/2 cup packed light
3/4 cup granulated sugar with dark brown sugar, or 1/2 cup with light
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups chunky peanut butter
1/2 to 1 cup each chocolate chips and whole peanuts (more or less depending on how much chocolate/texture you like)

Mix flour and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl cream butter, sugars, and salt until smooth and creamy, not fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and peanut butter and mix until homogeneous. Add in flour mixture, chocolate chips, and peanuts and mix just until incorporated. Wrap and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours, preferably 12.

Preheat oven to 325 deg F.

Form dough into 1 1/4 inch balls (or bigger...) and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each ball to a thickness of slightly less than 1/2 inch with a fork, pressing the back of the tines into the dough in two directions. Bake 14-16 minutes, until slightly colored on top and golden brown underneath. Cool completely before stacking or storing but they're best eaten when warm!

Breakfast Spice Muffins for a rainy autumn morning

While we all recognize shorter days and colder weather as a sign of fall, we must not forget the most important indication of this shift in season...a brand new repertoire of baking recipes! Rather than the bright, fruity, refreshing desserts typical of hot summer days, with autumn comes warm, spicy, soul-satisfying sweets that will make any gray, rainy day a little more bearable. 

My first fall time treat? Breakfast Spice Muffins. After having a delicious french breakfast muffin at a local bakery, I was eager to experiment with my own recipe for a dense, moist, and spicy breakfast muffin.

Not too sweet with spicy warmth from cinnamon and nutmeg, moistness from the addition of sour cream, and a crunchy cinnamon sugar topping, these muffins satisfied my craving for a satisfying, substantial, and flavorful morning (or anytime of day) treat. I liked them even more the next day, when the flavors seemed to have intensified.

Breakfast Spice Muffins


Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar plus extra for topping
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp ground cinnamon plus extra for topping
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 400 deg F. Grease or line a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Gradually add in sugars, stirring as you add. Mix in oil and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda and spices.

Stir dry mixture into eggs alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with dry.

Pour into muffin tins. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cook in pan for 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Enjoy warm with a hot cup of tea.

This College Girl Cooks- Tofu Stir Fry

Another easy, healthy, and flavorful meal I love- Tofu Stir Fry. Packed full of fresh, colorful veggies and flavored with salty, savory oyster sauce, this meal tastes as good as it looks.

Ingredients

1 block firm tofu

All the veggies you like (mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, pepper, broccoli etc.) Onions and garlic are a must!

Oyster sauce to taste

**A popular sauce in asian cuisine, oyster sauce is available in most asian sections of your local grocery store. 

Slice veggies into relatively equal sized pieces. Over high heat, sauté onions and any other harder veggies (carrots) until soft, add in rest of the veggies in order of cooking time. 

Things like mushrooms and zucchini take less time than pepper and broccoli, so put those in last. Add in garlic towards end to avoid burning. Dice tofu into bite sized cubes, add to pan of veggies and stir fry until heated through. 

Add in oyster sauce, tasting as you go until desired flavor is achieved. Serve over brown rice. 

This College Girl Cooks: Yogurt Parfait

My daily yogurt, fruit, and cereal parfait has become one of my greatest pleasures in life, and it's a rare occasion when I don't start out my morning with this quick and healthy breakfast. I guess this doesn't really count as cooking, more just throwing things together in a bowl, but for the purpose of my blog, let's just say it does.

Yogurt, cereal, and fresh fruit are a staple in most kitchens and if not, are available in any supermarket or even mini mart, so this is a great meal for those with a minimalist approach to food and grocery shopping. My favorite yogurt is Trader Joe's French Village strawberry nonfat yogurt which I always have a stockpile of in my fridge so there never comes a morning when I wake up to find that I am unable to have my all time favorite breakfast. I usually include strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries but having just moved in to my new townhouse, I've been getting by with only strawberries. I'm not a big cereal with milk eater, so I like to have one or two boxes of cereal that I think taste best in my yogurt parfaits, my favorites being Kashi Go Lean Crunch and Trader Joe's Bran Flakes. 

Yogurt Parfait

1 container of your favorite yogurt

a handful of your favorite berries and fruit

approx. 1/3 cup cereal or granola

Empty yogurt into a bowl (a cute polka dot one if you have it). Cut fruit and add on top of yogurt. Sprinkle on cereal, and there you have a deliciously sweet and simple start to your day. 

This College Girl Cooks: Tofu Patty Dinner

Having survived the jail cell-like experience of freshman dorm living, I couldn't be happier that I now live in a townhouse with a full, brand new kitchen. Overcome with joy and excitement over all of the yummy things I'll be able to make this school year, I decided to add a new section to my blog: This College Girl Cooks. Whether it be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack, I'll post photos and step by step instructions of the different foods I make with the limited time and money of a college student.

First post of This College Girl Cooks... dinner!!!! Surprised it's not something sweet? I'm still waiting on my package of bakeware to be delivered, so I'll have to deal with the baking withdrawls I know I'll soon suffer for a week or so (hopefully no longer).

For tonight's dinner I made one of my favorites, tofu patties with salad. Learning from last year's mistakes, I'm really trying to stick to the healthy diet I normally follow at home, and this dinner is great for that. Easy to make with just a few ingredients and requiring very little time, it's a great healthful yet substantial meal, especially for people with time and money constraints.

Tofu Burger Patty


Ingredients
1 packet Tofu Burger Mix (I bought a few of them at my favorite Japanese market back at home to bring up to school with me, but you may be able to find them in any asian market. It's a mix of breadcrumbs, veggies, soy sauce, and a few other basic ingredients.)
1 package firm tofu

Drain tofu well and put in a medium bowl. Add in tofu burger mix packet and mash tofu and seasoning together with hands.

Divide into 3 or 4 sections and use your hands to form patties. Pan fry in a preheated, greased pan over medium heat for around 5 minutes on each side, until nicely golden brown. Usually I eat them with bulldog sauce, a Japanese worcester based sauce, but having none I substituted with a mixture of ketchup and soy sauce.

Serve with a big, colorful salad. Tonight's had romaine, carrots, tomatoes, and edamame (I like to buy frozen, shelled edamame from Trader Joe's and prepare it in advance, keeping it in a container in the fridge to toss on salads or snack on whenever I feel like.) For anyone looking for an even more substantial meal, eat with rice, a fried egg, or both!