Cheesy Tuna Casserole

My lovely boyfriend introduced this recipe to me, and I can't help but devour half of it every time it's made!! It's super easy, and takes pretty much no cooking talent, so anyone can make it!

-1 large head of broccoli, cut into bite-size florets

-1.5 cups minute rice

-1 can tuna, drained

-1 can condensed creme of mushroom soup

-Milk

-White canadian cheddar, or any other sharp white cheddar, shredded. At least 1 cup.

1. Dump the rice, tuna, broccoli, and condensed soup into a large glass or ceramic bowl or casserole dish. Fill the empty soup can with milk, that's the amount you need, and pour it into the bowl/casserole dish. Mix it all up, obviously making sure the tuna isn't one can-shaped chunk and that all the rice is covered with milk and soup.
2. Layer about half the cheese on top of the mix. Don't mix it in yet.
3. Microwave for 10 minutes

4. Remove from microwave, mix it all up again, getting the cheese in there.
5. Layer the rest of the cheese on top
6. Microwave for 10 minutes

Serve and enjoy!! Careful, it's freakin' hot!!!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

So it snowed (a worthwhile amount) for the first time today. Yay Canada!! It's so beautiful, I couldn't possibly deny myself a warm winter-friendly breakfast to get my day started. Thankfully, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. You can easily pack this up and run to class, too. Breakfast on the go!

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup oats
-2/3 cup milk - and a little extra for at the end
-1 sweet apple (mcintosh, gala,red delicious, empire, pink lady, whatever you'd like. I guess you could even do granny smith if that's what you like)
-2-3 tsp brown sugar
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-pinch of salt

1. Pour your milk and oats into a bowl. Let those sit while you cut up your apple into slices. Depending how much you like, I used two slices and cut them up to tiny bits, but you can use as much as you'd like I guess. I just ate the rest while it cooked, no use in wasting fruit.
2. Mix your small chunks of apple into the oats and milk
3. Microwave for 2 minutes, 15 seconds
4. Mix in a dash of milk, the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

Be careful not to burn yourself taking it out of the microwave, it can be pretty hot!

Grilled cheese with no stove

I'm not kidding, this is the easiest thing in the world. Turn on your broiler in your cute little toaster oven. Make up your sandwich like you would if you were about to use a frying pan... but instead just put it on a baking sheet and pop it into your oven. Wait until that side turns golden, then flip it. When that side's golden, you're good!!

Ingredients:
Butter
Bread
Cheese

Baked potato - no baking required!

Honestly, this is the easiest thing to cook in your microwave. Yes, a baked potato, in the microwave. It's filling, familiar, warm, and I'm pretty sure everyone gets tired of minute rice as carbs on their plate pretty damn fast. I actually have to give credit to my mom, she showed me this first.

Ingredients:
-1 russet potato (whatever size you want)
-1 tbsp (maybe a bit more if you got a big potato) of canola, sunflower or vegetable oil
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp black pepper - coarse ground is best

1. Oil up the potato. Sprinkle the salt and pepper on it, rub it all over.
2. Prick it 5-10 times with a fork
3. Microwave for 5 minutes. When it's done, poke it with a fork. If it goes through nicely, it's ready. If not,
4. Microwave for 3-5 minutes more until the fork goes through. Keep doing those 3-5 minutes if the first try didn't work, until it does.

Put this on a plate with some baked chicken, done in your toaster oven, and frozen peas defrosted and cooked with boiling water from your kettle, and you're good to go! Honestly, you don't even need butter or sour cream. It's flavoured enough from the salt and pepper!

Ramen noodle upgrade: Pad thai

Alright! I'm happily settled into residence, my roommate is cool, my whole kitchenette and bedroom is well stocked, and I've started to eat dorm-style. Today, I was starving my face off after orientation so I made myself a lunch.

-1 package mr.noodle or store brand ramen

-1 tbsp all natural peanut butter (of course, you can use kraft or skippy, but I really don't like the flavour of those)

-1 tbsp soy sauce (use a little less if you're not using the 100% natural PB)

-1/2 tbsp lime juice, if you have it

-1 egg if you're in need of a little extra protein, and a splash of milk, cream, or butter

1. Boil your kettle (take this time to stir your natural peanut butter if you're opening it for the first time or if the oils have resurfaced)

2. Pour boiling water over noodles and the flavour powder in a bowl, leave it to soften up.

3. Take this time, if you're adding an egg, to mix it (and the milk/cream/butter) up in a mug and microwave for thirty second intervals, stirring after each time.

4. Once the noodles are soft, strain the liquid (leaving about 1/2 a tbsp of the liquid), add the peanut butter, soy sauce, and lime juice.

5. Chop up the eggs in the mug with a fork, stir the chunks of egg into the noodles. Add green onions if you have them

Eat it by itself, or serve it on a plate with some kind of veggie to pretend you're being healthy!

Good luck, and enjoy!

Breakfast cups

Some days I wake up and I think I might die if I don't eat something. Eggs are definitely my favourite breakfast food, however I get pretty darn tired of frying them and eating them plain. I got creative, thinking of other recipes I've seen, and I made some breakfast cups! :)

Ingredients:
- 2 eggs

- 1/4 tomato
- 2 slices of cheddar cheese

- 2 leaves of spinach

- 2 slices of deli meat (ham, turkey, chicken, etc..)

1. Dice the quarter of the tomato, chop up the spinach, slice the cheese horizontally to make short + thin pieces
2. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl or cup
3. Try to line the ramekins or mug with the deli meat.
4. Add spinach and tomato to the bottom
5. Pour egg either half and half into the two ramekins or all into the one mug
6. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Add salt and pepper if you want.
7. Microwave for aprox. 2 minutes for the two ramekins, or 1:30 for the mug

If it seems wet, keep putting it back in for 10 seconds until it's fully cooked.

Enjoy!

Drumstick dinner in 20 minutes... or 7 hours.

So, first thing first, I love this recipe for the timing involved. The prep is super fast, but the cooking takes a while and that is so perfect, because some times I have long shifts and I don't want to cook when I come home. The issue with that, usually, is that many slow cooker recipes are anywhere fom 2-5 hours... what about my 7.5 hour shifts?! That's why I love this recipe. It works for any time between 6.5-8 hours, and I don't even have to make a side salad or quickly zap frozen peas. Also, it totally looks and tastes like you spent hours in the kitchen making it and putting loads of effort in. Yay for tricking that cutie down the hall that you invited over for dinner!

You'll need:
-Chicken drum sticks, anywhere between 4 and 10
-Onion
-Potatoes (I prefer the tiny "new potatoes")
-Veggie (I usually use carrots, but just about anything will do)
-Spices (I use nutmeg, paprika, salt, pepper, basil, garlic powder, and a little itty bitty bit of curry powder)
-Tin foil

1. Cut up your veggies (bottoms off brussel sprouts, floret you broccoli, tip and tail beans, etc..)
2. Cut your potatoes to about inch-wide pieces
3. Cut onions into thick slices
4. Peel skins off (optional) and rub spices on drum sticks.
5. Loosely crumple a loonngggg piece of tin foil and cover the bottom of your slow cooker. I coil mine, because I have a small cooker. It's ok to use multiple pieces. If you're using more leavy veggies (brussel sprouts, broccoli, bok choi, etc...) pour a half inch of water at the bottom, under the tinfoil.
6. Lay down the veggies, potatoes and onion on the tin foil
7. Layer chicken on top
8. Put the lid on, set it to low, and leave it for 6.5 to 8 hours!


Another idea - Fresh rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon slices!