Vegan Comfort Stew

With cold weather approaching and the semester picking up, I like my meals to be: full of protein, filling, full of color, and most of all comforting. There is something so completely comforting about a warm bowl of goodness to fill your tummy on a chilly day. This vegan comfort stew is exactly that.

I actually looked up the definition of stew. According to dictionary.com, to stew means “to undergo cooking by simmering or slow boiling.” Well this isn’t actually a stew, per-say. But stew sounds so comfy and homey! So I don’t care. I’m going to call this my vegan comfort stew despite the fact that there is no boiling involved. (I’m also going to continue starting my sentences with conjunctions.)

Vegan Comfort Stew is not exactly photogenic. But what she lacks in looks, she makes up for in taste and nutrition! As corny as it sounds, I seriously feel rejuvenated after eating this.

Vegan Comfort Stew

serves 1

• 2 cups veggies (use whatever you have on hand. I had carrots, spinach, mushrooms, and a little broccoli in this picture. But I’ve made it several times with different veggie combos)
• 1/2 15 oz can pinto beans
• 1/4 cup pasta/marinara sauce
• garlic powder
• salt
• pepper

Saute veggies in a pan sprayed with non-stick spray over high heat. Once veggies start getting warmed through add garlic powder, salt, and pepper to your taste. Once veggies are tender (or crunchy if you like them like that) add beans and marinara sauce. Stir until everything is heated. Then enjoy!

XOXO,

Jamie

Grilled Chicken Flatbread Pizza

So after my quinoa fail a few days ago, I was more determined than ever to make a quick and delicious dinner. For people in college, it takes some effort to properly fuel our bodies. My goal is to make meals that are quick, delicious, and nutritious. Today’s dinner was definitely all of that.

Grilled Chicken Flatbread Pizza! This a variation of the pesto pizza I made before using my beloved Flatout Wraps.

Ingredients:

• 1 grilled chicken breast, shredded
• 1/2 cup tomato or pizza sauce (I used plain and then sprinkled in some garlic powder and pepper)
• 1 flatbread
• Parmesan cheese to your heart’s content

Directions:

Set oven to 375. Place flatbread in immediately (no need to preheat!). Bake flatbread for about 10 minutes, until the edges just start to turn brown. Top pizza with sauce, chicken, Parmesan, and any other topping you might desire! Place in the oven on high broil for about 4 minutes, until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts.

Seriously. This. Was. Amazing. It was super easy for me to get grilled chicken because I took a few breasts from the dining hall today For those of you who don’t have access to a dining hall, you can grill a few breasts on a Sunday (or any other not so busy day) and use them in meals throughout the week. Off the top of my head, a few great ways to use pre-cooked chicken are: chicken quesadillas, grilled chicken salad, or on top of pasta. You could also just reheat the chicken breast and enjoy it with a side of rice, potatoes, veggies, or some really crusty french bread with olive oil for dipping. Hmmm…I think some french bread is going on my grocery list. Dessert would have been a cookie dough protein bar, but I’m all out, and poor college students can’t always afford protein bars. The dress I bought instead was totally worth it. was a big juicy crunchy apple. Not really sure what kind it was because I also took that from the dining hall. (Shhh, this is our little secret).

I realize that I haven’t been blogging nearly as frequently as I did during the summer. One reason behind the decreased frequency in posting is that I’m busy with classes, work, mentorship, etc. However, I think the bigger reason I haven’t been blogging as frequently is because a HUGE part of my enjoyment in blogging was photography. Now that I’ve been taking pictures with my phone (yes, because it has better picture quality than my camera) instead of a DSLR, I don’t get to enjoy that aspect of blogging anymore. Anyways, I’m still fully committed to sharing my enjoyment and enthusiasm for food with you all, and I’m hoping we can all continue growing along the way.

XOXO,

Jamie

Quinoa Fail

An update on school: Class are going great, I meet with my professor to talk about my research position next week, and I’m waiting to hear back from the doctor I’m planning to shadow. My most difficult class is probably going to be Renaissance Literature. English is so not my forte. That’s alright though because Animal Physiology and Virology will totally make up for it this semester.

Wednesday Dinner: I am a terrible cook.  I saw on Paula Deen that adding a splash of water to your eggs before scrambling them makes them super fluffy. Apparently I took that comment a little too seriously. I added too much water and ended up with inedible egg soup.

Today I added a little too much water to my quinoa and ended up with quinoa soup.

By the way, do you notice how measly this bowl of quinoa is? I didn’t know how much the dry quinoa would fluff up when I cooked it, so I looked at the serving size on the back. The serving size was 1/4 cup of dry quinoa. I know for next time to AT LEAST double that amount. Dinner was this bowl of quinoa soup followed by a bowl of Special K protein plus cereal topped with lots of yogurt and wheat puffs.

XOXO,

Jamie

Pizza Making

Just as a warning, since I’m no longer living at home, I no longer have my sister’s DSLR at my disposal. This makes me very, very sad because the difference in photo quality is huge! So if you’re wondering why my photography is suddenly so blah, that is why.

Onto pizza making!

Darren came to visit me my first night at Oberlin! He is seriously the best! We had a really fun night which included this pizza:

Darren made the crust from a dry package mix, and the sauce is straight from the can. I didn’t realize how easy making your own pizza (with crust mix and canned sauce shortcuts) actually is. I laugh every time I look at the picture of this pizza because the crust is so…ugly! The real irony in all of this is that my dad actually owns a very successful pizza restaurant called Fort Ball Pizza Palace.

Our pizza was quite tasty. I think Darren and I are ready to take over the family business!

And of course no Italian feast is complete without wine.

And creepy picture taking…

We shared this glass of Sutter Home’s White Zinfandel. It was so yummy, and definitely my favorite wine I’ve ever had. (That’s really not saying much. I’ve had wine about 4 times. But still! Yum!)

Classes start tomorrow. Yikes! I have a lot of things to get around in the meantime.

 

XOXO,

Jamie

In case you haven’t noticed…

…there having been a few changes around CollegeGirlCooking.  There is a recipe index and another index featuring all my thoughts on eating disorders and self-love.  There are also some fun little widgets to the right of the page. I hope you find that the site is now more accessible.

Now onto more exciting and delicious things like my lunch today. Have you all heard of the Flatout flatbread wraps? They are seriously amazingly good.  I (okay, my mom) bought the Multi-Grain with flax. There are 9 grams of protein in each wrap which I love. I’ve been eating these wraps with deli turkey, laughing cow light swiss, and whatever veggies I have in my fridge. However, there is a suggestion on the packaging to use the flatbread wrap as pizza crust. I knew that pizza would have to happen.

To my dismay though, when I opened my fridge today there was no mozzarella cheese. When I opened my pantry, there was no pizza sauce. There weren’t even any canned tomatoes. Well…how am I supposed to make a pizza without mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce? Then, in a moment of shear luck, I spotted a jar of pesto in the cupboard. EUREKA! Pesto Pizza

Why hello there gorgeous. GET IN MY BELLY! This pizza was seriously good. The flatbread made a wonderfully crispy crust. This lunch took approximately 7 minutes to put together from start to finish. Can’t beat that!

I love pesto. The olive oil is so good for my hair and nails. It can be a bit pricey, but a little bit goes a long way and it’s versatility makes it worth it. You could spread some on sandwiches or wraps, use it as a pasta sauce, or use it as a dipping sauce for some crusty french bread. Yum! That is going to happen in my near future.

Hey! Who took a big bite out of my pizza!?

Oh…that was me I just couldn’t wait for the photo shoot to be over before digging in!

Quick and Easy Pesto Pizza

• 1 high protein/high fiber flatbread wrap (I used Flatout multi-grain with flax)
• 1 wedge laughing cow light Swiss
• 1 Tablespoon pesto
• enough Parmesan cheese to coat pizza as desired

Place flatbread on a pizza pan in the oven, broiler set to 350. Let the flatbread bake for 3-5 minutes, watching it closely. Remove from the oven once the flatbread is crispy. Spread on the laughing cow cheese, then pesto, and top with Parmesan. Place under broiler for another 2 minutes. Enjoy!

XOXO,

Jamie

Loaded Microwave Baked Potato

I’ll be returning to college in 10 days, and this is my first year not living in a dorm! I’m super excited to have an apartment with my friends, and also to have my own kitchen! I’m also nervous about having a kitchen though because I’m not exactly an experienced cook. I love baking, but cooking is a whole other realm.

I know I’ll be a super busy student like I always am, so I’ll need meals that come together super quick. They’ll also have to be nutritious because running around campus all day, studying, and writing papers takes a lot of energy. I’ve been scouring the web in search of simple meal ideas. I came across an idea for microwave baked potatoes loaded with cottage cheese. I like cottage cheese, but even I was a skeptic of how it might taste.

I’m happy to report, that my microwave baked potato loaded with cottage cheese was delicious! The cottage cheese tasted just like sour cream, but it’s much more nutritious thanks to the high protein content. I will definitely be using this often as a quick and easy side dish next year. I can also see myself completely loading a potato with turkey bacon and cheddar cheese to make this a small meal.

Microwave Baked Potato

Run an idaho potato under water and scrub with a vegetable brush. Using a knife, puncture holes in the potato to allow steam to escape. This step is CRUCIAL or else your potato will explode in the microwave. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Microwave on high for 7 minutes. If you are making 2 potatoes, microwave for 11 minutes. Allow potato to sit in the microwave for another 2 minutes before removing. Slice potato lengthwise and fill with desired toppings. I used about half a cup of fat free cottage cheese and pepper. Enjoy!

XOXO,

Jamie

Cooking with my boyfriend (Portabella Pizzas)

Darren and I love to cook together.  We have a lot of fun trying to cook when neither of us is very experienced.  For example, I dropped an entire portabella mushroom on the floor.  It was so sad! (Baking on the other hand, is a different story.  I get really angry at Darren when he doesn’t perfectly follow my orders.)  I visited Darren a couple days ago. Recipe in hand, we went grocery shopping to get all the necessary ingredients.  The recipe called for mozzarella cheese, which we actually didn’t need to get at the grocery store because Darren already had a 5 pound bag.  He has a very intense and strange obsession with Costco.  On our grocery shopping excursion, we stopped at a natural foods store called The Fresh Market.  It was so cute!  The inside was decorated like a winery in Napa valley (well..what I imagine a winery in Napa valley to look like), the lighting was soft, and calm music played.  Plus all the food looked amazing! Mostly everything was organic or gourmet.  I could seriously spend some serious cash in that store.

For dinner we made Portabella Pizzas which I adapted from http://www.ohsheglows.com.  The Oh She Glows version is vegan, but since neither Darren nor I are vegan, we used lots of dairy cheese.  My version is still vegetarian, but it would definitely please ANY meat eater. Even Darren loved this dinner and he’s always trying to get me to put bacon in everything.

That’s me! Of course what fancy dinner is complete without a glass of wine!? (Or two..)

Sorry for the poor picture quality.  I need a new camera desperately!

Portabella Pizzas

adapted from Oh She Glows

Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 10-12 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 8 Portabella mushrooms

• 2 cups pizza sauce

• 2 cups mozzarella cheese

• 1/3 cup of each: red, green, orange pepper, diced

• 1/3 cup sweet onion, diced

• 2-3 large basil leaves, finely diced

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on all mushrooms

Directions: Preheat oven by setting the broiler on low. Take a baking sheet and cover with a silicone non-stick baking mat or parchment paper for easy clean up.Remove stems of Portabellas and gently rub Portabellas with a wet cloth to clean. Place Portabellas ‘belly’ side up on the baking sheet. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of pizza sauce into each Portabella. Then sprinkle about 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese on each mushroom. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the mozzarella. Grab a cutting board and knife and chop the onion and pepper and then sprinkle onto Portabellas. Finally, shake on some red pepper flakes and sprinkle finely diced basil on top. Broil in the oven on the lowest temperature setting on the middle rack for about 10-12 minutes, watching closely as broiler temperatures vary. Serve immediately and enjoy! Serves 3-4.

XOXO,

Jamie

Food coma from a big bowl of whole wheat penne

Food coma is a real thing everyone! I just read about it in the digestion chapter of my MCAT book, and I was amazed.

This quote is from wiki: “Post-prandial somnolence is a normal state of drowsiness or lassitude following a meal. Post-prandial somnolence has two components – a general state of low energy related to activation of the parasympathetic nervous system in response to nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract, and a specific state of sleepiness caused by hormonal and neurochemical changes related to the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream and its downstream effects on amino acid transport in the central nervous system.”

So basically, your digestion turns on and the rest of your body turns off to compensate.  Pretty cool and annoying at the same time! The reason I bring this up (besides the fact that it’s super cool and relevant to my studying) is because I experienced a major food coma today after dinner. All of a sudden, I felt like drifting into la-la land. So I took a nice long 1.5 hour nap.  This nap was pretty surprising because I hardly ever nap.  My brain is too busy for napping most of the time.  It really needed a break I guess!

What delicious entree put me into said food coma? A bowl of whole wheat penne with sauteed red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers, and onions. Topped with lots of Parmesan cheese of course. I love simple pasta dishes like this that can be thrown together in 10 minutes. The whole wheat pasta seriously boosts the nutrition (especially protein and fiber) factor which I love.  I prefer the nutty taste of whole wheat pasta, but I know that not everyone is such a fan.

Isn’t this just gorgeous?

Quick Whole Wheat Penne Pasta

(sorry for my lack of measurements in this “recipe.” I always just cook how much I want to eat!)

whote wheat penne

frozen vegetable blend (I used three pepper and onion blend, but you can use whatever you prefer or have on hand)

Parmesan cheese

nonstick spray

salt

garlic powder

pepper

Cook pasta in boiling water as directed on the package, and salt the water.  Saute your vegetables in a pan over high heat using nonstick spray. Sprinkle vegetables with garlic powder and pepper. Cook until vegetables reach desired texture. When everything is done cooking, add your pasta and vegetables to a bowl. Then, sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese.
XOXO,

Jamie

What’s a girl to do with a summer full of free time?

Fill it up of course! So what am I up to this summer?

Well first of all, THIS BLOG. I’m falling in love with food blogging.  I love cooking food for myself.  I love making baked goods to give to others (after eating a few for myself, of course!) I love dabbling with photography.  I love the challenge of trying to get onto foodgawker, and the excitement when my submission is accepted.  I’ve even come to appreciate the rejections because they force me to improve for the next time around. Finally, I love being able to talk freely about my eating disorder after feeling so ashamed about it.  Sure, I was only really sick for about 2 years, but that’s 1/10th of my short 20 year life!  Also, those were 2 very significant years.  I struggled, I hated myself, and I pushed away everyone around me.  I grew so much throughout my eating disorder, and as weird as it sounds, I’m a better person because of my illness experience.

The other big project I have this summer is volunteering at a free clinic.  I work in the syringe exchange program and also the pharmacy.  I want to go into medicine, but I also have a passion for public health, so I love working with the people at the free clinic.  Since my hometown is about a 2.5 hour drive from the free clinic, I’m staying with my brother (whom lives a lot closer) for the half of the week while I volunteer.  I’m so grateful to my brother and his girlfriend for letting me stay at their place RENT FREE so I can have a great experience this summer. I made them dinner to express my gratitude.

This picture will obviously not be a foodgawker submission.  When I’m at home, I get to use my sister’s fancy Nikon D7000 for my photography (shoutout to my sister: love you and thanks a million for letting me borrow your camera!). However, here at my brother’s I have to use my old compact digital camera.  As you can see, the image is NOT clear.  Oh well…

 

I got this recipe from the blog Oh She Glows (www.ohsheglows.com).  It’s called 15 minuted creamy avocado pasta.  I’m honestly not that huge of a fan of avocados, but Oh She Glows made it look so delicious.  Also, she raved about how delicious it is.  I wasn’t completely thrilled about the pasta.  It was edible, but I won’t be making it again.  If you love avocados, this dish might be perfect for you though!

 

15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta

via Oh She Glows who was inspired by myrecipe.org

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted
• 1/2 lemon, juiced + lemon zest to garnish
• 2-3 garlic cloves, to taste
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• ~1/4 cup Fresh Basil,
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta (I used whole wheat penne)
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

 

Directions:

1. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook as per directed.

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor. Process until smooth. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.

3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper. Serve immediately. Makes 2 servings.

Please note: This dish does not reheat well due to the avocado in the sauce. Please serve immediately.

 

XOXO,

Jamie

Summertime means….

Summertime means a lot of things: warm weather, swimsuits, cute sundresses, sunglasses, (sunburns), and family time.  Summer is also a time when lots of my favorite foods are in season like berries, corn on the cob, and ice cream.  Ice cream is always in season for me, but it just seems right in the summer. Summertime food also includes grilling!  I’m not a huge meat fan, but I do love a good cheeseburger, or in this case turkey burger…

 

These turkey burgers were super yummy, and really easy to put together.  My whole family liked them which is saying a lot because they’re a bunch of beef lovers.

 

Turkey Burgers (Makes 5 burgers)

adapted from Annie’s Eats

1.3 lbs ground turkey

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/3 cup onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tbsp. dried parsley

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat.  Add the chopped onion and saute about 3 mintues.  Add the garlic to the skillet and cook about 2 minutes longer, until the onion is tender.

 

Add the onion mixture to a mixing bowl.  Add ground turkey, salt, pepper, and herbs to this bowl.  Mix well to blend all ingredients.  Form this mixture into 5 evenly sized patties.  Cook on grill about 4-6 minutes per side, until burgers are cooked through.

XOXO,

Jamie