Category: Free Inquiry

Tonight I finally had the guts to cook (for the first time) chicken! I realized pretty quickly that to marinate and cook chicken it doesn’t work if the chicken is rock solidly frozen. I looked up multiple ways of how to defrost chicken and found various methods, one suggested leaving the chicken out for hours to naturally defrost,  another said to place the chicken in the sink and let the warm water defrost it (this seemed like a ridiculous waste of water) and finally some just told me to buy chicken and cook it right away. These were all not very helpful as I was hungry and eager to begin my cooking right away, I ended up phoning my mom who told me that she always puts the frozen chick in the microwave for 3 minutes to defrost it and this works just fine. Unforutuently, the wet chicken juices kind of grossed me out, so I ended up putting it in the microwave for 6 minutes which when I ended up taking the chicken out again I found out that I had pretty much-cooked half of it… This slight set back only depressed me for a few minutes and I got right back to cooking. The marinating process was easy, simply just mixing the seasoning together, rubbing oil on the chicken and then spreading the seasoning evenly over both sides of the chicken. I chose to follow advice from the blog  https://www.recipetineats.com/ That recommended putting the chicken in the oven at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time, thus allowing the chicken to keep its juiciness without drying it out. The ending results of the chicken seemed at first to be slightly concerning as the marinating substances I used ended up bubbling and burning all over the pan HOWEVER the chicken ended up being perfectly golden and cooked all the way through only in the oven for 20 minutes. The chicken ended up tasting so freakin good and I have already made it 3 more times since I originally wrote this blog.

T’was the night before reading break and all through the kitchen pasta shells were stuffing filled with ricotta and spinach. Based on my pretty incredible poem you might be able to tell what I am cooking up tonight… that’s right SPINACH AND RICOTTA STUFFED SHELLS! Now the back story behind this inspiration is quite a windy one, it started with a post I saw on Instagram, which led to one of my friends recreating the same recipe, which led to my tasting of my friend’s delicious meal, which ENDED with my looking up and making the recipe myself! It was a fairly easy recipe to follow however was pretty time consuming and as a person who lives life in the fast lane it did make me kinda annoyed waiting so long. I began by cooking the big pasta shells and cooking the spinach and then mixed all the other ingredients together. It was very messy filling the shells but since in the recipe you end up pouring the remaining sauce over in the dish it wasn’t a big deal in the end.

I pretty much copied the recipe exactly, however, with my friend’s advice I put a dollop of pesto on each little shell to add some tasty flavour! In the end, this recipe was ridiculously tasty and my only possible change next time would be maybe making the pasta with beef, just to add some protein.

This wrap was by far the best creation I have made yet! The recipe was accurate when it stated that in total the meal process would only take 10 minutes as you literally only had to stuff everything in a wrap and call it a day! I had to be pretty creative when I made this wrap since I was missing many ingredients and only really had modified versions of what I needed. For instance, I was supposed to use iceberg lettuce for the lettuce portion of the wrap but all I had was a salad mix which also had a very questionable expiry date. As far as the Fritos I didn’t know if I would enjoy having the additional crunch in the wrap and also did not wish to buy a random chip flavour that I did not know about, however, I decided to attempt it out and instead used just crushed tortilla chips, and surprisingly enough it tasted pretty incredible!

Below are images of the process of my “wrapping”:

This image is the beginning of my wrap, the pinkish sauce is made up of salsa and sour cream mixed together and the  first layers on top are the salad mix and cut up avocado

This image shows the same as the top however with the addition of my sauteed chicken and the crushed tortilla chips spread overtopped with more salsa, sour cream dressing

This final image shows my finished wrap that is rolled up and stuffed to the very max

I am so happy with how this meal turned out and I ended up engulfing the wrap in probably about 5 minutes, I will 100% recreate this recipe using proper ingredients to see if it tastes even better.

So by far today marked an incredible milestone for me as this is the first recipe I made using more than just one type of spice… Ok so that may be a tad of a stretch but still, this fancy ramen recipe took me out of my comfort zone in the best way. The recipe implied that it would take in total around 30 minutes to complete and this was very accurate timing. I started with making the sauce and had to change some of the ingredients because of preferences for certain tastes. I was slightly concerned about the sauce at first but only because the ingredients were not mixing together and the consistency seemed to be very thin, the thinness may have been because of the absence of cornstarch. I had completely forgotten about the cornstarch and had already started mixing the ingredients together by the time I realized I needed it. After doing the research I learned that cornstarch is used as a binder and thickener and would have made the sauce be less of just a broth, however, the sauce did taste very good in the end. The cooking of the noodles, vegetables, and the chicken was just your usual boiling of water and sauteing however when mixed all together you could see the sauce marinating into the chicken and soaking into the veggies and noodles. The taste, in the end, was honestly the best part of my day, the fancy ramen tasted better than real ramen! I will for sure make this recipe again because of its simplicity, amazing taste and because I now have so many of the spices I need to make the noodles!

So tonight I decided that I was in the mood for some sweets and what better sweets to eat than chocolate chip cookies! I was staying over at my boyfriend’s house and I convinced him that we needed to eat cookies (and you know make more blog posts). The recipe I had chosen was a fairly simple cookie recipe apart from the fact that it called for an obscene amount of flour…. 3 cups to me seemed like far too much and would make the dough rather dry and the cookies very hard. We added the cups of flour 1 at a time as the recipe requested mixing the dough after every addition of flour. By the 2nd cup, it was clear that the third cup would have been a poor idea so we finished off my adding 1/4 more of a cup instead. The recipe stated the cookies needed 10 minutes in the oven but we found that 12 minutes was that perfect cookie time when they are still soft coming out but harden over time. The taste test was very successful and all 4 of his roommates continued to eat all 33 cookies throughout the night. This was my first time making cookies while at university for the past 3 years, I don’t think I would make them regularly as I do try to watch my diet however they were a delicious treat.

I chose to make the sweet kale salad next because it is a pretty basic recipe that literally only involves mixing things together and cutting. I was slightly skeptical about the choice of vegetables in the salad even though I know the same vegetables are in the Costco one, specifically the Brussels sprouts. I have never been a fan of Brussels sprouts and especially raw ones however; I realized that once the dressing is on, the sprouts would taste very similar to the ones from the Costco salad mix. To start the salad I had to buy most of the ingredients especially since I don’t usually have the dressing ingredients needed on hand. I switched some of the ingredients for ones I feel more inclined to, instead of the balsamic champagne I chose the white wine vinegar and instead of the sugar I chose to use honey, also I switched the milk for unsweetened almond milk because I sometimes react to dairy in a negative way. The recipe was very simple to follow as the dressing only needed to be all added together. I did find it more difficult to do the initial prepping of the vegetables, especially the recommend broccoli sticks that had to be matched cut, HOWEVER, after watching one specific YouTube video that explained the process (was supposed to be for zucchini but it still worked) I figured it out! When I finally completed the salad and sat down to eat it I was actually surprised by how it turned out, it was yummy! I did had avocado slices to garnish because I was concerned for how filling the salad would be and it ended up doing the job. The salad wasn’t quite similar to the Costco one and I found that the dressing seemed to be more watery than my inspiration however since I made it myself I knew what ingredients went into the process I am proud to say I will be making this salad again.

I decided a good option for a starter recipe was one that has ingredients that I am used to and know I enjoy, and this is why I chose the sweet potato quinoa salad. To start the recipe I adjusted a few of the ingredients to my liking, instead of frozen corn I added frozen green beans and also for more vegetable fun I put carrots in. All of the vegetables were combined with quinoa and vegetable broth and then put in the oven. This salad was initially very easy to make, literally just cut and combine everything into a casserole dish raw and then cook, HOWEVER, that was not my situation… It ended up taking over an hour and 45 minutes to cook the salad enough so that the yams were soft and the quinoa had absorbed all the broth and I ended up eventually just giving up since it was 10 pm on a school night. As far as taste, the salad did quite amazing, however, not amazing enough to be worth the over 2-hour prep and cooking time. I think that next time I will try using the frozen corn and maybe experiment a little with the spices until I am satisfied, the volume of salad made was also quite extreme and I think next time I will only make a half portion of the meal. In all, I think I’ll give the recipe 3.5 stars out of 5 since I feel bad judging too early.

Today was recipe day for me and to make this post less chaotic and more able to follow I will sort the recipes I have found and chosen into categories. This post will be regarding dinners! I find that when it comes to dinner I end up making the same 4 main courses: a teriyaki stirfry, butter chicken, pasta with a jar sauce, then my frozen veggie dinners… I know pretty sad. This is why I am beginning my journey to better and more impressive meals.

So here we begin, potential dinner options:

Smoked sausage rice fry

Retrieved from  https://cookplus.info/sausage-pepper-and-rice-skillet.html

I chose this recipe as potential because I frankly never cook with rice or sausage yet these are two things I happen to LOVE. Another thing that entices me about this recipe is that it contains a lot of spices that I haven’t experimented with, now I know these are all very common spices and it’s kinda pathetic that I haven’t cooked with them but hey I am just a taco seasoning kinda girl who is ready to change her ways.

Fancy broccoli Ramen

Retrieved from  https://nataliakitchenblog.blogspot.com/2018/08/beef-and-brocolli-ramen.html

I chose this recipe because its base is a simple ramen noodle mix but is enhanced by different spices and aswell with protein and vegetables. It should be pretty straightforward to make and will end up being both lunch and dinner.

Oven baked chicken

Retrieved from https://www.recipetineats.com/oven-baked-chicken-breast/ So here is a fun fact, yours truly has never in her life cooked a piece of raw chicken because well its kinda gross, kinda sketchy and you know you could die if you contaminate your other food… I know that seems dramatic but it is the actual reason why I haven’t cooked it before. SO in these blogs, my goal is to finally attempt to cook a piece of chicken and I chose to make this yummy honey garlic one because well frankly it looks incredible!!!

Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells

Retrieved from  https://www.forkknifeswoon.com/spinach-and-ricotta-stuffed-shells/

Ok so the inspiration behind these beautiful stuffed shells is from one of my close friends making this very dinner and I couldn’t help but admire how scrumptious yet simple they were! This will also be my first time working with ricotta cheese so I look forward to how the cheese process actually works.

Now we will move on to lunch options:

Chicken wraps

Retrieved from  https://dinnersdishesanddesserts.com/crunchy-southwestern-chicken-wrap/

A chicken wrap is a great filling and healthy meal to have for lunchtime and brings me back to memories of high school cafeteria Thai chili wraps. To enhance this meal I would add some Thai chili sauce instead of the sour cream and I believe it would taste just like highschool!

Sweet potato quinoa salad

Retrieved from  https://www.eatyourselfskinny.com/sweet-potato-black-bean-quinoa-bake/

I have always loved having a nice hearty salad to have in my lunches as it lasts me for my long library days until finally, I get to go home for dinner. This salad combines 3 of my favourite things into one, yams, beans and quinoa! I look forward to experimenting with the spices in this recipe since I have never used these with my yam recipes (usually just use my taco seasoning). I also think that it will be interesting using vegetable broth as my liquid base for the quinoa instead of water.

Copy cat Costco sweet kale salad

Retrieved from  https://barefeetinthekitchen.com/sweet-kale-salad-recipe

This recipe is an almost identical version of everyone’s beloved Costco or Save on Foods kale salad, however, it is made with probably a lot more natural ingredients. I have never made my own salad dressing before so I am excited to see if I can re-enact the sweet tasty poppy seed one of the usual pre-mixed bags.

Black bean quesadilla

Retrieved from  https://foodrecipes.yukemari.info/roasted-sweet-potato-and-black-bean-quesadillas-recipe.html

This is a great lunch idea because I personally do not enjoy spending hours cooking my meals and let’s face it quesadillas are dead easy! I am excited about this recipe because it upgrades my usual ham and cheese quesadilla recipe to one that is much more flavourful and more filling!

Barbecue chicken pizza

Retrieved from  https://bluebowlrecipes.com/our-favorite-barbecue-chicken-pizza/

I used to love making homemade pizza all the time with my mom but let’s be honest no ones got time to legitimately make the dough… that’s why if I were to make this recipe I would simply just copy the condiments and toppings they chose and skip the complex pizza dough and just get my own pre-cooked crust!

Its breakfast time!

Breakfast burrito

Retrieved from  https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a24569400/breakfast-burrito-recipe/

Now I am gonna be very honest right now I am a very traditional breakfast type of person, I enjoy my egg, bagel, and cheese every morning (honestly I look forward to it) and on special occasions, you can see me eating crepes or bennys, but honestly that’s about it. So these recipes I have chosen might not ever see the light of day during the school year but at Christmas break or reading break, you’ll see me whipping them out. The first recipe is this yummy easy-to-go breakfast burrito

Egg muffins

Retrieved from https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/scrambled-egg-breakfast-muffins/

Ok, so these first of all are just the cutest little breakfast bites I have ever seen and are also pure genius! I make an egg every single morning and I know for a fact it takes in total for my whole meal 7 minutes to make, BUT with these fun little breaky items I literally have to maybe double my usual prep time ONCE and then every time after I can just go to the fridge and get one of these guys. What is also great about these is that it really doesn’t matter the recipe, honestly, I can just put in and add whatever I want to get the perfect scrambled egg muffin!

The good, the bad, and the ugly sweets…

Chocolate chip cookies

Retrieved from  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10813/best-chocolate-chip-cookies/

What is better than your basic chocolate chip cookies? That’s right nothing is better. This is comfort food at the next level and is honestly the only appropriate treat to indulge in because you yourself have to put the effort into making them (which makes it harder to binge). To find this recipe I just looked up THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES and this is what I got, we’ll see if the past the true test of “the best”

Photo by Jakub Kapusnak

“How can a student on a budget enjoy more diverse food in her meals while continually trying to maintain her busy lifestyle?  -Kirby Jarvis

Hi, I am a poor, trying to be healthy student who wants to spice up her food life with more unique and exotic recipes (that are easy enough for a beginner chef like myself to make). This portion of my blogging website will consist of me doing a multitude of things:
1. Finding recipes
2. Budgeting for the ingredients needed
3. Buying the ingredients
4. Making the recipes
5. Assessing taste

This reason I chose this inquiry project is that it affects me first hand and is an area of education that I have not yet explored, and it will also leave an imprint on me as in I will continue to make the recipes I find and learn the skills to cooking, budgeting, and mostly gaining more time management skills. At the end of these blogs and this year, I hope that my taste buds will experience an abundance of yummy foods and that in all my lifestyle will change from preparing the same boring 3 meals a day to an assortment of flavourful, mouthwatering cuisine.