Five Easy Recipes That Every 20-Something Should Be Able to Make

There comes a time in every person’s life when he or she has to put down the delivery menu and learn to cook. And honestly, it’s not that difficult. By the time most of us graduate from college, we’re well-versed in the art of boxed meal-preparation. Anyone with a pair of eyes can whip up a box of pasta or mac and cheese, or boil a bag of rice. Unfortunately, a lot of us aren’t quite as good at throwing together fresh eats. SO, I’d like to help a brotha (or sista) out by sharing with you, five recipes that you can (and should) add to your cooking arsenal.

-Roasted Vegetables-

Ingredients:

–Vegetables of your choice (sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, peppers, brussel sprouts, etc)

-Olive oil

Directions:

–Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

-Cut vegetables into equal, bite size pieces. Mix with a small amount of olive oil.

-Distribute evenly in an oiled baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.

Easy AND healthy…double victory!

-Boneless Chicken Breast-

Ingredients:

– 4 (or less) chicken breasts

– Salt and pepper

– ¼ cup flour

– Olive oil

– ½ tbsp. butter

– Seasoning of your choice (optional)

Directions:

– Trim large pieces of fat and pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness using a mallet (or the handle of a knife. Or a rolling pin. Or a textbook…).

– Lightly salt and pepper the chicken breasts, adding additional seasoning if you’re feeling fancy.

– In a shallow dish, mix flour with ½ tsp salt and quickly dredge the chicken breasts in flour so that they’re lightly coated. FYI “dredging” is just a fancy term for pulling the chicken through the flour.

– Heat a sauté pan over medium heat, adding olive oil and butter.

– Once butter is melted, swirl the pan to coat it evenly and turn the heat to medium. Add chicken breasts, cooking for 1 minute on each side.

– Turn the heat to low, put a lid on the pan, set a timer for 10 minutes and walk away. Just set it and forget it, guys. Don’t even thinking about lifting that lid.

– After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and reset the timer for 10 minutes, leaving the chicken breasts in the pan. Seriously guys, LEAVE THE LID ON!

– Once the timer goes off, you have permission to remove the lid and eat the chicken. Omnomnom.

Eat moar chikin.

-Steak-

Ingredients:

– 1 ¼- 1 ½-inch thick rib-eye or New York strip steaks
– Salt and pepper

– Olive oil

Directions:

– Heat grill to high. Brush both side of steaks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

– Place steaks on grill and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until brown and slightly charred.

– Turn the steaks over and cook for another 3-5 minutes for medium-rare, 5-7 minutes for medium, or 8-10 minutes for medium-well. If you want an easy gauge of the steak’s doneness, use the Finger Test.

– Transfer steak to a plate of cutting board and tent with foil for 5 minutes before slicing.

Mmmmm.

-Hard-Boiled Eggs (the easiest snack)-

Ingredients:
-Eggs (go figure)

Directions:

-Put eggs into a single layer in a saucepan, covered by at least an inch or two of cold water.

-Gently bring the water to a boil. As soon as the water starts to boil steadily, reduce heat to low and let the water simmer for an additional minute.

-Remove the saucepan from the heat, cover, and let sit for 12 minutes.

-Remove the eggs using a slotted spoon, and place into a bowl of cold water to cool.

-Once cool, place eggs into a covered container so that your fridge doesn’t smell like farts.

Even YOU can’t mess these up.

-Stir Fry-

Ingredients:

– 1 lb chicken breast
– Mixed vegetables of your choice

– Olive oil

-Cornstarch

-Stir fry sauce (see recipes below)

Directions:

-Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large skillet. Add 2 tbsp cornstarch and 1 lb sliced chicken breast to large ziplock bag and shake to coat.

-Add chicken to skillet; stir-fry over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes until cooked through. Remove to plate.

-Add 2 tsp olive oil to skillet; heat. Add 4 cups of chopped veggies; stir-fry 3-5 minutes, until veggies are crisp-tender.

-Add sauce to skillet; bring to simmer. Add chicken; simmer 1-2 minutes and serve.

Dericious.

-BONUS(!) Stir Fry Sauces-

Thai-coconut sauce:

14-oz can light coconut milk, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp green curry paste, ¼ cup chopped cilantro, ¼ tsp. salt

Sweet & Sour sauce:

½ cup apricot preserves, ¼ cup ketchup, 2 tbsp cider vinegar, 1 tsp minced garlic.

Peanut:

1 cup water, 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter, 2 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce, 2 tsp minced garlic and ¼ tsp crushed red pepper.

 Ginger-soy:

½ cup orange juice, ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce, 2 Tbsp honey, 2 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp grated ginger, 1 Tbsp minced scallion, 2 tsp cornstarch and 1 tsp sesame oil.

Now get these down, and start eating like an adult!

Tags : advice, Bake, Chef, Chicken, Cook, Cooking, Domestic, Easy, Eating, featured, Food, Health, Home, kitchen, Life Skills, lifestyle, Olive oil, Recipes, Sauté, Self-Sufficiency, Stir Fry, young adult