Brr! I know just about everyone is with me when I say it’s freaking cold.

After shoveling out our cars, going sledding on stolen cafeteria trays, and launching snowball wars, the only foods that can possibly satisfy our mad hunger must fulfill the following three adjectives: tasty, fatty, and hot! Today, pull out the stops pots and enjoy my favorite winter recipe.

Cheesy Potato Soup

Recipe (serves 4):

2 cups mozzarella cheese

1 cup instant mashed potato flakes

1 cup half-and-half

2 cans prepared chicken broth

4-6 pieces of cooked bacon (optional)

2 sliced roasted red potatoes (optional)

Instructions:

1.     Put all of your ingredients (except ½ cup of the cheese) in a soup pot and mix them together. Bring the pot to a boil over medium heat and cook for about three minutes or until it thickens up — keep stirring while you cook!

2.     Top your soup with the extra cheese, and the bacon and sliced potatoes if desired.

Dying to learn how to make gazpacho? Want to see vegan, gluten-free, or diabetic recipes? Drop your suggestions in the comment box and I’ll see what I can cook up!

Need more recipes? Get more awesome and yummy Intro to Cooking right here!

So it’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and somehow you’re still noshing on leftovers (straight out of the fridge…late at night). The only question more prevalent right now than “what do you want for Christmas?” is “what am I gonna do with all this damn turkey?” Fortunately, CollegeCandy has your answer (don’t we always?) And that answer is: turkey soup!

The ingredient: Chicken Stock

There are two benefits to this soup, the first being that (more than likely), soup wasn’t one of the four billion side dishes you consumed last week, so it’ll be a change of pace for your taste buds. The second benefit is that the chicken stock used for the recipe is an immune booster that aids digestion and improves mineral absorption, all of which will be key to staying healthy for the end of the semester and that dreaded finals crunch.

The Recipe: modified from the Whatchagot Soup courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens (now college-student approved!)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 ounces turkey leftovers
3 cups cut-up vegetables (such as chopped zucchini, small broccoli or cauliflower florets, chopped celery, chopped onion, chopped carrots, chopped potatoes, corn, peas, and/or chopped, seeded tomatoes. Basically, what you got lying around/like)
1 32-ounce carton chicken broth
1/2 of a 6-ounce can (1/3 cup) tomato paste
1 1-ounce envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 teaspoon dried herbs (such as Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, or rosemary), crushed; or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper or dried thyme, crushed
1 cup cooked rice
Salt
Ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. In a 4- or 5-quart pot heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add meat; cook and stir until meat is browned and cooked through. If necessary, drain off and discard fat. Remove meat from saucepan; set aside.

2. In the same pot, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add vegetables; cook and stir for 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Return meat to pot.

3. Stir broth, tomato paste, onion soup mix, and herb into mixture in pot. Bring to boiling over high heat; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper. Makes 4 (1-1/2 cup) servings.

If you find yourself without the time to cook 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, these dishes are perfect for you. Get in the kitchen once and eat for days.

Door Number 1: Soup

Soup is a classic for good reason. It’s quick to make, it stays well in the fridge or the freezer, and it’s extremely simple to cook up a giant batch and use it for meal after meal. Soup is also incredibly versatile—in almost any soup recipe, you can add or subtract basically whatever you want (don’t like celery? Try some zucchini!) and it will still turn out tasting great. Plus, you don’t even know how much better it is than soup in the can until you’ve made it yourself and experienced the difference. A good starting point is this potato soup, which is All Recipes’s highest-rated soup recipe.

Door Number 2: Rice

My personal favorite thing to do with rice is to cook a huge pan of fried rice with tons of vegetables and bits of chicken or tofu, and then keep the leftovers for my lunches all week. Following this recipe will give you great Chinese fried rice. If you prefer a more Indian flava, leave out the soy sauce, sub the sesame oil with another type of oil (canola or mustard is good), and add turmeric, cumin, chili powder, and pepper.

Making a really big pot of rice and then keeping the plain leftovers can also give you a quick base for almost any meal down the road. To get the most out of your rice, try soaking it in clean cold water for 20-30 minutes before you boil it.

Door Number 3: Casserole

In Minnesota we call this “hot dish,” but whatever you call it, it’s the same thing: the ultimate American comfort food. The definition is so nebulous that it can cover practically anything—chicken and rice, macaroni and cheese, lasagna, etc. Whichever you choose, they are easy to make and big enough to last you through the week. I’m not a fan of tuna, but this tuna casserole was developed by a college student, so it already passes the “quick, easy, and edible” test. And it does look really good…. Mmmm.

So there you have it, ladies. No more wasting money on carry-out, or eating a bag of Doritos for dinner; now you can cook one time and be set for the week ahead. Just heat up those leftovers, and dig in!

[Image courtesy of anthearowe.com.]

But Psych 350 and English 125 aren’t the only things we’ve learned this week (mostly because we still haven’t gotten through a quarter of the material yet):

We learned that you can be friends after sex, that you can be warm and chic, and that French men are the ones to go for.

We learned that jumping rope is the best calorie burner, that there is a big difference between dating undergrads and grad students, and that guys think hot girl models are intimidating, too.

We learned that the Big 3 automakers are totally screwed, that the best way to pay for school is by getting a sugar daddy, and that a guy’s condom preference says a lot about his character.

We also learned that 4th graders know more about dating than college boys, that we can put abortions on our wish lists this year and that lots of guys fear commitment.

We even learned how to make soup!

Whew. No wonder there is no room left in our brains for all that boring Psych shiz.

[I used to think I knew everything…until I found myself stranded in the middle of adulthood with no map and no one to guide me when I got lost. I have learned a lot since then - from how to balance a checkbook to how to sew on a button - and will share my wisdom with you.

Every Monday I will be back to teach you how to do something useful, even if it also happens to be completely random. Because, hey, you never know when you just might need to know how to change a tire…or mix a perfect martini.]

It’s that time of year again—a chill is in the air, you’ll freeze without your scarf, and a salad just isn’t going to cut it for dinner anymore. You need heartiness, and what better way to get it than from soup?

But hold the phone. I’m not talking about Chicken and Stars here. Ohhhh, no. I’m talking about real soup; soup that you make with fresh vegetables and your hands (although please refrain from putting your actual hands in the soup).

Homemade soup is not just something your grandmother makes. It’s a very simple equation: ingredients + broth + flavor = soup. Each of these components can be mixed and matched to create tons of awesome soups, so here are some basics to get you started.

Ingredients

My favorite kind of soup to make is a variety that I affectionately deem “hobo soup”—it involves chopping up whatever I have in the fridge and tossing it in a big pot with some broth. If you are slightly more refined (which you probably are), you may want to decide on a kind of soup before you start making it. Get together the things you need—broccoli and cheese for cream of broccoli soup, pasta and carrots and celery and chicken for chicken noodle, flour for dumpling soup, etc. Basic soup recipes are available online, so when in doubt, Google. Get all your ingredients together and prepare them by chopping, sifting, and sorting. If you want more flavor to your soup, you can sauté certain ingredients (such as onions or celery) before adding broth.

Broth

The broth is the important base of your soup. You could also call it the stock. If you have leftover turkey stock from Thanksgiving, don’t throw it away—use it to make soup. If you don’t have any stock, don’t worry—you can use canned vegetable broth or chicken/beef/whatever broth. If you’re making a creamy soup, use milk as your broth. And in a real pinch, you can use water. Figure that you need between 1 and 1 ½ cups of broth for each serving of soup. When all of your ingredients are prepared, pour broth in your pot and add the ingredients. Simmer covered or uncovered for at least 20 minutes or until all of the ingredients are fully cooked and at the consistency you want. If you’d like a thick broth, whisk together 2 tablespoons of broth with 1 tablespoon of flour, and add that mixture to your broth.

Flavor

Much of your soup’s flavor will come from the broth, but it’s nice to add a little something extra. Italian Wedding soup will include basil, for example, and you may want to add cheese to a cream soup or a little bit of cumin to kick up a pumpkin soup. Stick with standbys for the first few times you make your own soup, but after that, you should have a good idea of how you can branch out and still end up with a delicious flavor every time.

All right. After writing that, I’m going to go dig into my leftover corn chowder (homemade soup keeps really well, by the way). I’ll share my recipe if you guys will share yours. What’s your favorite kind of homemade soup?

[Image courtesy of whatwereeating.com.]

So make this easy, delicious (vegetarian) recipe and cuddle up on your couch for a cozy evening in. Stay warm! Happy Autumn!

You’ll’s Be Needing:

6 cups of potaters (diced)

3 cans of vegetable broth

4 cups of whole milk

1/2 tsp of black pepper (ground)

1 cup of onion (chopped)

6 tbsp of butter (melted)

3 stalks of celery (diced)

4 cubes of vegetable bouillon

Here’s How’s Ya Does Its:

(1) Boil the potatoes, onion, and celery in two of the cups of vegetable broth. Cook for fifteen minutes.

(2) Drain the stuff but keep the liquid.

(3) Mix said liquid with the milk and put over medium heat. Stir until it’s thick.

(4) Separately, mix the flour and butter.

(5) Stir every single thing into the broth-and-milk mixture.

(6) Voila! Potato soupski!!

[Image courtesy of www.bbcgoodfood.com]

There is not going to be anyone there to feed you soup when you have a cold or hand you band-aids when you’ve had too much to drink, fall, and cut yourself on glass. There is only the student health center and they don’t want to hear about your minor ailments; they’ve got a whole campus worth of people with real problems. Like broken limbs… and broken condoms.

Because of this you have to be prepared to take care of yourself when it comes to the minor things: the tummy aches, the colds, the bumps and bruises. And you have to be prepared.

Below is a handy dandy list of things you’ll need to build your very own medicine cabinet. No more unnecessary trips to the Health Center (where they probably can’t help you anyway), or crying to your mom on the phone. Well, you can still cry on the phone, but at least you won’t have to leave the house to get some Pepto.

1) A container

First things first – you’re going to need a place to store your medical supplies. This can be an under-the-bed plastic tub or a cool toolbox you decorate with stickers. Anything you want really, as long as it’s storable. And make sure that whatever you pick can hold a few 20 oz and cans.

2) Band-Aids and Bandages

This is the most basic part of your kit; the thing that you will probably be using most of all. You should stock up on band-aids of all sizes. You never know what you might need one for: blisters, shaving nicks, paper cuts, drunken falls. Also keep a few ace bandages handy. Thanks to the combination of stilettos and alcohol, sprained ankles and wrists are inevitable.

3) Neosporin, Peroxide, etc.

Or pretty much anything you put on cuts to disinfect and keep them from getting infected. Because infection is nasty and can KILL YOU. Seriously – clean your wounds!

4) Medicine

And not just pain meds either. I’m talking about cold and flu stuff as well. I don’t know how many times I had to walk to the damn Rite Aide with snot dripping from my nose because I needed some Nyquil. Not a great feeling. Keep it on hand – both nighttime and daytime because you will get sick and you will have a teacher that doesn’t let you off for it. Also, keep some stuff for upset stomachs as well; that dining hall food can be killer.

5) Ice Pack

Once again, people are constantly spraining stuff and, chances are, you don’t have a frozen pack of veggies in the fridge to use. An instant ice pack comes in handy in these situations, especially if you don’t have a fridge. Bonus: also good for hot days in a dorm with no AC.

6) Food stuffs.

Ok, this consists of the foods that you need when you’re sick: saltine crackers, soup, ginger ale, water. That’s it. Nothing special and elaborate. Just some things to get you through the worst of whatever is plaguing you so you don’t have to go down to the cafeteria and ruin everyone else’s meal with all your hacking and wheezing.

7) A flashlight and extra batteries

Ok this technically has nothing to do with meds, but you need these things and where else are you going to keep ‘em? The electricity goes off all the time in dorms. All. The. Time. And you need batteries for all your stuff (yes, even that); nothing is worse then being sick and realizing you have to actually get up and change the channel. Stock up!

So there you have it; an easy-as-pie supply list to keep you going semester in and semester out. Good luck and stay healthy!

My mother told me she used to bring tuna sandwiches on matzoh every year every day for all of Passover. I can’t imagine how she did this. Tuna on matzoh is basically disgusting.

But I digress. This morning my Chinese-American-Non-Jew boyfriend walked into our living room, took one look at me eating buttered matzoh, and said, “Hey, Matzoh Girl.”

That was it for me, folks. I am going to document the 8 days of my Passover Diet here on College Candy.

Side Note: I am calling it a diet only in the sense that it is a way of eating. Unfortunately, it is not a losing weight diet. Every year I think it might be. I mean, the Atkins Diet is, right? Unfortunately, every year I also end up eating a lot of cheese and junk food to fill up when bread is not possible, and so it ends up…let’s say evening out. Yeah. Evening out.

So, okay, last night through this morning:

Right before the sun went down, I had my last bread meal before Passover: a chicken gyro. Mmmm. So long, dear pita, I knew you well.

My boyfriend is sympathetic, but doesn’t understand how hard it is to not eat grains. I tell him he’s retarded. We continue on our merry way.

I don’t go to a Seder for the first night because I’m having one with my parents the second night. Instead, the boyfriend and I watch The Thomas Crowne Affair, which totally sucks and is maybe a bad omen of non-bread to come.

This morning, I reach for the Cheerios and then remember it’s Passover and have matzoh with butter instead (cue boyfriend’s “Matzoh Girl” comment). Then I head off to my workstudy job.

On the way, I pick up soup to eat for lunch. The guy behind the counter says, “What kind of bread?” I say, “Oh, no bread.” He says, “It comes with bread.” I says, “That’s okay, thanks.” He says, “Are you sure? No bread?” I finally say, “I can’t, it’s Passover…” And he says, “Okay, okay” like I just told him I have my period or something.

Anyway, the soup sucks and I wish I had bread.

Seder tonight at my parents’. I am desperately hoping for my father’s matzoh ball soup.

I don’t know about the weather where all of you are, but where I live, it’s still pretty freaking cold. While I would love nothing more than for spring to come, in the meantime I’m going to make the best of the ugly weather by having nice, hot meals!

Corn chowder is one of my favorite soup/stew hybrids, and I made a delicious two-person batch last week from a really simple recipe I modified. I guarantee it’s delicious, so give it a try!

Here’s what you need: about a tablespoon of butter, 1-2 slices of uncooked bacon, one small onion, one carrot, half a red bell pepper, about one cup of frozen (or canned, or fresh) corn, two cups of milk, chicken or vegetable broth (optional, and 1-2 cups if you use it), a bay leaf, one potato, a dash of salt, about ¼ teaspoon pepper, and about ¼ teaspoon thyme.

First, cook the bacon in a pan until it’s crisp.

While it’s cooking, chop up your onion, potato, carrot, and red bell pepper.

Set the crisp bacon on a paper towel to drain, and keep the grease in the pan. Add the chopped vegetables to the greasy pan.

Let them cook for 5-10 minutes, until they’re soft and beginning to brown. Then add the milk and the bay leaf.

At this point, you can also add vegetable or chicken broth if you want, but just milk is fine, too. I usually use about as much chicken broth as I do milk.

Let the soup come to a boil, then turn the heat down to low, cover the pan, and keep it simmering for 30 minutes. You may want to check it every so often to make sure all the liquid isn’t evaporating. If it is, just add more (milk, broth, or even water is fine).

After the 30 minutes have passed, add the salt, pepper, and thyme to the soup. Cover the pan again and simmer for 10-15 minutes. When it’s finished, it should look something like this:

And that’s it! Corn chowder for two in less than an hour, ready for you to share with a hot and low-maintenance man (or woman!) in your life.

For those of you who have moved onto bigger and better things – mainly, an apartment or house on campus – a can of Spaghetti-O’s also makes quite a handy dinner. But, let’s be honest, there are only so many nights that you can handle the sound of the noodle/sauce combo loosening its grip on the inside of a Chef Boyardee can and plopping (still shaped like said can, mind you) into your microwave-safe bowl.

Not to mention the awful nutritional information.

Being that you are finally grown up enough to live in the college equivalent to a big girl bed (a house/apartment on your own!) it is time to step away from the microwavable meals of your past and move onto something far superior…without much extra work.

Below is a list of some super easy, super tasty and even super healthy alternatives to the microwavable meal. Step away from the Easy Mac, ladies; it is time to fire up the stove for a dinner your mother would be proud of, without cutting into your bar….er….study time. Just mix and match some of these tasty ideas and you have yourself a real dinner.

Steak – A nice juicy steak seems far more daunting then it really is. Just buy your favorite cut, marinate it in some teriyaki sauce for 30 minutes and throw it in a pan sprayed with cooking spray or with a bit of olive oil. Cook it on the stove on medium to high heat until it is ready for your liking. And don’t be afraid to cut it open to check; you aren’t Mario Batali, after all.

Italian Chicken: Put a chicken breast in a Ziploc baggie with some Italian dressing (I prefer the light kind) and let it marinate for 30 minutes. Then, put it on a baking sheet sprayed with some cooking spray and bake it at 375 for 12 minutes. Check it and if its not ready (or its still pink/gooey inside), put it back in for a few more minutes. Note: You can do this with any sauce or dressing.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes: Cut up a potato and put it in a pot of water on the stove. Cook until tender to touch, or about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, take half a cup of milk and boil it on the stove with a tablespoon (or more, if you like stuff garlic-y) of minced Garlic. Once the milk starts smelling like garlic, remove it from the heat and strain out the bits of garlic. Strain the potatoes, mash em with a fork, pour in the strained garlic milk and you have yourself some creamy garlic mash.

Grilled Vegetables: Cut up your favorite veggies and grill em on your trust George Forman. Don’t have a GF? Just put em on a baking sheet (again, sprayed with some cooking spray), throw a little salt on there and roast them in the oven at 400 degrees.

Stir Fry: Grab your favorite vegetables and protein (chicken, shrimp, tofu), cut them up and throw them in a pan with some olive oil. Once they are looking nice and done, throw a little soy/teriyaki sauce over top and let it heat up a little longer. You can even make some minute rice (instructions on the box) and throw it in the pan towards the end for a delicious and healthy version of your late-night takeout favorite.

Easy Chili: Get two cans of beans, two cans of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato juice, a chopped onion and a packet of taco seasoning. Dump it all in a pot. Add some beef crumbles (or the fake stuff if you are a vegetarian) and let it cook on the stove for 20 – 30 minutes. This will last you all week and is the perfect meal to get you through the winter.

Oven Baked Fries: Take a potato and cut it into thin slices. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, lay the potato slices on there, spray the tops with cooking spray and dust with your favorite seasonings. Bake em for 10 minutes on 400 (or until crisp). The perfect side-dish for a nice steak.

Got any other easy recipes? Let us know!