My daughter went to college and lost 10 pounds eating the dorm food, instead of gaining the traditional freshman 15. Now that she has her own place with a beautiful kitchen, we outfitted it for real cooking. She knows how to cook from watching me nearly everyday and she’s having a lot of fun cooking and entertaining her friends. Here are some of the simple recipes that I shared with her, but she is doing Friendsgiving, cheese courses, charcuterie and bar snacks, and more elaborate dishes than these simple ones, which is to be expected given her upbringing.
Ramen
Grilled Cheese
To test the butter method, I first needed to soften some butter to spread onto the bread. I used my favorite salted butter, about a pat on the the outside of each of the two pieces.
We’ve said it before, and I’ll reiterate it here: You simply cannot beat the flavor of butter. As the sandwich cooked, the butter crisped the bread and grew nuttier as it browned. Butter’s notorious lower smoke point and tendency to burn are negated when you cook your grilled cheese properly over medium-low heat. Here, my sandwich was fantastically crisp, beautifully golden, and developed that nutty-toasty browned butter flavor that makes for an iconic grilled cheese — the kind of sandwich you dream about and crave. You get the sweet cream richness of salted butter and toasty-toffee notes in every bite. The crust is beautifully crispy as well.
Turns out, the grilled cheese method you probably grew up with is the best. Good ol’ butter provides outstanding nutty, rich flavor and, when cooked over medium-low heat, with hand-grated mild to medium sharp cheddar, yields a crispy texture that’s just perfect. We like King Sooper’s Private Selection 100% Whole Wheat Bread Wide Pan.
Ham and Cheese Panini
Law School Pasta
One Instant Pot Recipes
When my daughter first moved out and started living on her own, one of the very first things I treated her to was the 11-in-1 Duo Crisp Instant Pot Air Fryer. That thing could do everything.
Even though it has 11 different functions — like pressure cooking, dehydrating, slow cooking, you name it — I image that she will pretty much only ever use it to air fry. You can make crispy tofu, salmon, chickpeas, veggies… basically anything. Perhaps most importantly, for a college student, you can use it to reheat leftovers instead of using a microwave.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/packages/comfort-foods/easy-one-pot-meals/our-best-one-pot-meals
