My First Year Cooking for Myself and My Go-To Recipes

My freshman and sophomore years of college I almost exclusively ate at the DUC dining hall. My meals would consist of granola bars that I would grab on my way to class for breakfast and then fries and an assortment of random foods from the DUC's comfort food section. I rarely made use of the common kitchen area unless it was to access the vending machine or heat up some ramen. However, this year I moved off campus and had to actually start cooking meals because I no longer had access to the DUC. My saving grace this semester were the buzzfeed pages "Tasty" and "Goodful" I followed them on Facebook so delicious meal ideas would appear right on my timeline and I wouldn't have to scour the internet for recipe ideas. One of my favorite suggestions on either page was "One Pan Dinner" ideas. Meals like these were essential not only for a college student who doesn't really have time to cook, but someone who hasn't really cooked before and wants to start off with something simple but delicious. One recipe I found particularly delicious was a "One Pan Lemon Herb Salmon and Veggies" recipe. The recipe for 2 is as follows:

Ingredients:

2 pounds small red (or yellow) potatoes, quartered

4 tablespoons olive oil

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh thyme

2 teaspoons ginger

2 salmon fillets

1 bunch (roughly 1 pound) asparagus

Prep:

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F/200˚C.

2. Cover a sheet pan with foil or parchment paper. Spread out potatoes on the pan and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

3. Bake for 30 minutes.

4. Make salmon glaze. Combine salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon thyme, 2 garlic cloves, ginger, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Mix well.

5. Remove potatoes from the oven and push them to the top or side of your pan. Place your salmon fillets on the pan. Brush both sides of the salmon with the glaze.

6. Place asparagus on the pan and top with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of thyme on the asparagus and potatoes.

8. Enjoy!

The clean up for this recipe was also easy since you are using foil or parchment paper. Another go to favorite of mine that is also a great comfort food is a recipe for Pesto Alfredo Pasta. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

1 cup half-and-half

1/4 cup prepare pesto

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper 

Prep:

1. Stir half-and-half, pesto, butter, garlic powder, salt, and pepper together in a skillet over medium-low heat; cook until hot, about 8 minutes.