Welcome to lesson two! We're going to cover some recipes for lunch and dinner that you could base your meal around. They each have several variations, some of which I'll talk about and some of which you can invent on your own! Once you become comfortable with the basics of how to prepare these dishes, you won't even need a recipe anymore and you'll be able to prepare them exactly how you like them.
We're going to start off with Rainbow Pasta Salad. This is one of the very first recipes I learned when I started cooking, and I love it because it's a great starting point as you can build on it and vary it to come up with a variety of dishes.
Ingredients:
Elbow macaroni
Tri-color rotini
Cucumber
Tomatos
Peppers - as many different colors as possible
Olive oil
Rosemary
Basil
Instructions
1. Set a pot of water to boil. You'll want a pot big enough to hold 2-3 cups of pasta. I usually fill it about halfway with water, and set the stove on the highest temperature setting.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, you'll want to chop your vegetables! Use a cutting board, and make sure your fingers are out of the path of motion of the knife - we don't want any injuries.
3. Once the water is boiling, add the elbow macaroni and the rotini. Set a time for about ten minutes, and stir occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom.
4. In the meantime, you can prepare a dressing. One formula is 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup olive oil, though I sometimes skip the vinegar. Add in your rosemary and basil and stir. It won't combine very well - you'll have to mix it again just before you add it to the pasta.
5. Once the pasta is done cooking, take it off the stove, and use a strainer to dump all of the water from the pot. Now you can add your vegetables and the dressing, and mix everything to produce your final product! This can be served hot or cold - it's up to you!
I mentioned this is a good recipe to vary and build on. Instead of pasta, you can substitute rice or quinoa. You could add in any other veggies you like. I also often add black beans and chickpeas!
Ingredients:
Elbow macaroni
Tri-color rotini
Cucumber
Tomatos
Peppers - as many different colors as possible
Olive oil
Rosemary
Basil
Instructions
1. Set a pot of water to boil. You'll want a pot big enough to hold 2-3 cups of pasta. I usually fill it about halfway with water, and set the stove on the highest temperature setting.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, you'll want to chop your vegetables! Use a cutting board, and make sure your fingers are out of the path of motion of the knife - we don't want any injuries.
3. Once the water is boiling, add the elbow macaroni and the rotini. Set a time for about ten minutes, and stir occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom.
4. In the meantime, you can prepare a dressing. One formula is 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup olive oil, though I sometimes skip the vinegar. Add in your rosemary and basil and stir. It won't combine very well - you'll have to mix it again just before you add it to the pasta.
5. Once the pasta is done cooking, take it off the stove, and use a strainer to dump all of the water from the pot. Now you can add your vegetables and the dressing, and mix everything to produce your final product! This can be served hot or cold - it's up to you!
I mentioned this is a good recipe to vary and build on. Instead of pasta, you can substitute rice or quinoa. You could add in any other veggies you like. I also often add black beans and chickpeas!
Another recipe I love is Mini Pizzas. If you don't have pizza crust or want to get held up making that, you can use sandwich thins, or even bagels!
Ingredients:
-pizza crust: sandwich thins, bagels, or regular bread!
-tomato sauce
-cheese
-vegetables of your choosing. My favorites are tomatoes, peppers, and spinach.
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place sandwich thins (or whatever you are using for your crust!) on the baking sheet.
3. Put a scoop of tomato sauce on each "crust"; then add your cheese and chopped vegetables.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes
5. Let cool before serving!
This is another very easily adaptable recipe - you can experiment with different bases for the crust, different vegetable combinations, and even different cheese.
Ingredients:
-pizza crust: sandwich thins, bagels, or regular bread!
-tomato sauce
-cheese
-vegetables of your choosing. My favorites are tomatoes, peppers, and spinach.
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place sandwich thins (or whatever you are using for your crust!) on the baking sheet.
3. Put a scoop of tomato sauce on each "crust"; then add your cheese and chopped vegetables.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes
5. Let cool before serving!
This is another very easily adaptable recipe - you can experiment with different bases for the crust, different vegetable combinations, and even different cheese.
Larger pizzas are always an option, too! You can just as easily make a larger pizza if you buy a pre-made dough.
If you want to try making your own dough, here's a recipe:
Ingredients:
Instructions:
If you want to try making your own dough, here's a recipe:
Ingredients:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 1/2 ounces fast rising yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet or pizza pan.
- Combine flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl.
- Add warm water and olive oil and knead until mixture is well combined (about 5 minutes). Form it into a ball and let it sit for 10 minutes at room temperature.
- Roll out the dough and place it on the baking tray (whether that's a cookie sheet, pizza pan, or something similar. Place in the oven.
- Bake for approximately 10 minutes. Let cool before adding the pizza toppings!