Snow Day Cooking

This past week, as I was on the verge of a stress breakdown over my senior thesis, the college administration gifted us with a snow day.  This was a double blessing for me. First, as you may know, snow days are an excellent excuse to temporarily ignore your responsibilities and catch up on some solid laying in bed and watching television. Second, it meant I had no motivation to leave the house in the cold to go to the dining hall, but had the time and energy to actually cook for myself for once.

For lunch, I decided to do a quick pasta sauce experiment with the Pesto Gouda cheese I'd recently picked up from Trader Joe's. I love creamy sauces, but I've had trouble in the past producing a creamy pesto I was happy with. Fortunately, my impulse was correct, and this came out just the way I hoped it would.

Pesto Gouda Pasta Sauce:

I started with a basic white sauce recipe: two tablespoons butter mixed with two tablespoons flour to form a roux, then a cup of milk (I used whole because it's what I had on hand, but at least for me it's not terribly important what kind you use) whisked in until thickened. I grated the pesto Gouda (very fine, as Gouda has a tendency to melt unevenly) and essentially continued to add it to the sauce until it was the proper taste (I would guess I put in about a cup). After taste testing, I finished it off with a little bit of pepper and some Parmesan. A healthier person who wasn't cooking based on whatever happened to be in their college mini fridge would probably add some vegetables at this point, maybe some sauteed eggplant, onions, mushrooms, and red pepper, but I just put it straight on the pasta.

Time: ~10 minutes

Serves 2 very hungry college students.

No pictures because it was eaten too quickly.

In the evening, I decided to go with something a little heavier in the protein and vegetable department, falling back on another simple recipe that I often make at home: a meal my friend Michael likes to call "Dinner Nachos." Growing up in Southern California, where there's a Mexican restaurant on every corner, this is familiar cuisine for most people, but a standard plate of nachos usually consists of chips with melted cheese and jalapenos, not terribly different in nutritional value from the nachos with cheese sauce which can be obtained at sports games across the country. In my family, we make sure to make a more complicated version so they can actually count as a meal.

"Dinner" Nachos:

First, preheat your oven to 350. It's especially important to do this if your oven is really old and takes forever to heat up and you want to get dinner on the table quickly, because the prep work on this doesn't take long. Then, pick your chips to use as a base. Normally I'd use regular corn tortilla chips, but I happened to have some Black Bean Quinoa Tortilla Chips, so I spread a layer of those on the bottom of my glass pan (select your pan size based on how many people you're trying to feed- I used a 13 x 9 for about 4 people). On top of that went half a can of drained and rinsed black beans, and a few handfuls of Mexican blend shredded cheese. Normally at this point I would also add some black olives, but as one of my friends is incredibly averse to them, those were saved for adding at the end. Repeat this process to create a second layer of chips, cheese, and beans. Then, it's time to bake, for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted to your liking. While your nachos are baking, cut up some cherry tomatoes (about a cup) and avocado (two), which can then be put on top of your nachos when they come out of the oven. After you've divided your nachos up into individual portions, you can add the much feared black olives, as well as some salsa.

Time: ~20 minutes

Serves 4, and best consumed on a picnic blanket in your hallway in the middle of a snow storm

Serving suggestions include Thin Mints and Capri Suns (not pictured)