Archive for category dorm recipe

Chicken and Potato Soup

Note: I wrote this post a few months back while I was still in the dorm.  I never posted it because I didn’t take any pictures when I made it, but I figure I may as well post it anyway.

Well, like I mentioned in my last update post, I’ve been cutting back on my spending which means I haven’t been buying a whole lot of groceries.  I pretty much eat in the school’s cafeteria during the week and I only cook on weekends.

When I first started doing this a few weeks ago, I actually had some cans of food in my dorm that I hadn’t used, so I figured I might as well make something out of what I had before I went grocery shopping.  That’s pretty much how I came up with this recipe.

Ingredients:
- One can of Tyson Premium White Chicken Breast ( $2.60)
- One can of diced potatoes ($0.60)
- One can of Cream of Chicken Soup ($0.90)
- 1 tsp of pepper
- 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp of hot sauce
- 1 tbsp of garlic powder
- 1 tbsp of garlic powder
- 1 tsp of Tony Chachores

Optional Ingredients / Substitutions
- Any type of “Cream of ___” soup could be used.
- Season it however you wish.

When I cook this, I usually eat the entire batch, but you could probably split it up into two servings.  You may even be able to stretch it to 3 servings if you cook some kind of side dish.

Step 1: Start out by opening the can of chicken and empty out the water inside.  Next, empty the can into your microwavable container.  Usually the chicken comes in pretty hefty chunks and I try to either quarter them, or at the very least split each chunk in half.

Note: The first time I made this, I actually just shredded the chicken, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the consistency of the soup, but feel free to try it if you’d like.

Step 2: Open up the can of potatoes and drain out as much of the water inside as possible.  Now just pour the potatoes into your container along with the chicken.

Step 3: Open up the Cream of Chicken soup can and dump that into the container.  Now, fill the can up with water and empty that into the container as well.

Step 4: Throw all of the seasonings into the container and stir it all up.

Step 5: Put your bowl/container into the microwave and let it cook for 5 minutes.  I would advise covering the container with a paper towel as soup can sometimes make a mess in the microwave.

Step 6: Enjoy!

I hope you all enjoy, this is probably my favorite recipe as of late.  It’s super easy to prepare and cooks very quickly.

Next time I make it I’ll make sure to take pictures and upload them.

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Cajun Stir Fry


Oh Snap! This dish was amazing, easily the best thing I’ve made so far. I went grocery shopping with my mom and sister this past weekend and I was thinking of things to cook during the week. At the time I pictured myself cooking onions and bell peppers with a nice chicken breast in the oven, but when it came time to make dinner last night I just wasn’t feeling it.

Instead I decided to use the stew meat (beef cut into chunks) instead of the chicken, and I wanted to do the whole thing on the stove top in a pan. When I started making the dish I decided to eat the beef, onion, and pepper mix over a bed of rice and peas, but as I was cooking and the smell overcame me I couldn’t allow myself to waste any of the gravy in the pan. I decided to just throw the brown rice and peas into the pan and let it absorb all of the gravy. It was a great decision! Like I said earlier, this was the best thing I’ve made yet.

The best thing is that I’m pretty sure I could make this in the dorm as well. At the end of the post I’ll tell you what to do if you want to make this without an oven.

Ingredients:
8oz of stew meat (any type of cubed beef)
1 medium green bell pepper
1 large onion
1 cup of Brown rice
1 can of no salt peas (8.5 oz)
4 tbsp of butter or margarine
1/3 cup of water
1 tbsp Tony Chacheres
1.5 tbsp of Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce
1 tbsp of worcestershire sauce
2 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp of cayenne pepper

Optional Ingredients:
Other sliced vegetables
white rice
Noodles

Ingredients

Step 1) Throw one cup of brown rice, two cups of water, and the can of peas into a dish and microwave it for 20 minutes or so, until all the water is gone.

Cooked rice and peas

Step 2) Take a pan and turn the stove top to medium-high heat. Chop up your onion and pepper into thin long strips. Throw them into the pan and put the butter on top. Stir and let cook for about 15 minutes or until the onion and pepper are a golden color and are no longer hard.

Cooked onions and peppers

Step 3) Season your meat and throw it into the pan as well. Try to move the onions and pepper aside so that the meat can be touching the bottom of the pan. Just throw the onions and pepper on top of the meat. Let cook for about 10 minutes and then add your browning sauce. Stir the pan to make sure everything is nice and mixed.

After the meat is thrown in

Step 4) By this time your rice and peas should be done. Pour the mix into the pan and add the water. Stir so that everything becomes mixed. Turn the stove down to medium, cover the pan, and let cook for about 10 minutes.

After the rice is thrown in

That’s it! Everything should be done now.

Now, if you want to make this using a microwave, here is how I would do it.

Step 1) Microwave the rice and peas same as above.

Step 2) Throw your seasoned meat into a separate, larger bowl and microwave it until it is completely cooked. Not sure how long this would take. I’m thinking about 15-20 minutes, just make sure to stir the meat every 5 minutes or so since the microwave cooks unevenly.

Step 3) Throw your onion, bell pepper, and butter into a third bowl and microwave until the onions and peppers are a golden brown color. I’m thinking at least 10 minutes, but I don’t know as I haven’t tried it yet.

Step 4) Mix all three bowls into one large bowl (hopefully one of the three was large enough to handle everything together) Throw in your browning sauce and water in as well and stir thoroughly. Stick back in the microwave for about five more minutes.

Done! I just want to say that I haven’t tried the microwave steps yet, that is what I would do in the dorm room though, feel free to make adjustments. Just make sure the meat is cooked, that is the most important step.

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Looking forward to next week . . .

Well, sorry for not posting any updates this morning. I hope everyone remembers that I am in college, and that tests are unfortunately a regular occurrence. I had a Differential Equations test this morning and I pretty much spent all of yesterday and this morning trying to learn all about Laplace transforms! How exciting.

Anyways, I’m glad the weekend is here so I can catch up on some much needed relaxation. But, I’m also excited because Friday is grocery shopping day! Some people have been requesting that I post prices for the ingredients I use in my recipes, so I remembered to keep my receipt after getting back from the store so that I could put it up on here.

I think my plan for now is to post what I purchase from the store every Friday so that you can have an idea of what I might be cooking in the upcoming week. This way maybe some of you can go shopping on the weekend and have the ingredients ready for when I post the recipes up during the week. Or at least you’ll have you’re shopping list ready after you see how amazing the recipe turns out later on in the week.

So, lets see if you can guess what I’m cooking this week. Feel free to comment if you have any ideas. If you guess right I’ll make sure to edit this and let you know!

- Cream of chicken soup (11oz can) - $0.82
- Yams (15oz can) - $0.87
- Whole leaf spinach (13.5oz can) - $0.54
- Long grain rice (32oz) - $1.24
- Low sodium chicken broth (14oz can) - $1.22
- Sliced potatoes (15oz can) - $0.58
- Loaf of double fiber wheat bread (20oz) - $3.13
- Hot pork sausage (16oz) - $4.57
- Mini marshmellows (16oz) - $1.16
- One white onion - $0.87
- Brown sugar (16oz box) - $0.86
- 4x chicken breasts - $5.00 ( I actually already had this, but I wanted to include it so you would know it would be in at least one of the recipes next week. Not included in total price below)

I also bought some measuring tools and another, larger tupperware dish.
- 8pc measuring utensils - $0.97
- 14 cup Rubbermaid tupperware - $5.74

Total price with tax came out to around $23.50 . This will probably make about 6-8 meals depending on how hearty of an eater you are. That comes out to only $3-4 per meal. You might be able to get that same price if you eat fast food, but I guarantee it won’t be anywhere near as good as what I’m making.

Well, that’s everything! I plan on making two main dishes as well as two side dishes. So there should be at least four new posts next week. Hope everyone will be looking forward to them!

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