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WITH THE RECENT Leaving Cert results, many of our readers (or their children), will be thinking of going to college and possibly leaving the nest.
Moving out for the first time is quite the adventure – and can be quite daunting. You’ll be looking after yourself, making your own meals, doing your own washing – or collecting it in a bin bag to bring home to Mammy at the weekend, same same.
But whatever you end up doing laundry-wise, you’re going to have to feed yourself. So, in order to make the transition somewhat easier we thought we’d round up some of the easier dishes to master by yourself, so you don’t end up at the chipper every night.
And if you’re not moving out of home for the first time but you still can’t cook – pull up a pew, we’ve got some tasty recipes coming up.
(Here’s where you can check our a recent article on some skills to master.)
Scrambled eggs or an omelette are essentially the same thing – when you’re cooking them you either move them around a little with a wooden spoon till they’re cooked (scrambled) or leave them to set as a whole (omelette).
Here’s a quick how-to on how to scramble eggs, and remember once you’ve nailed that you can add loads of ingredients to make your scramble or omelette more interesting – cheese, ham, onion, peppers, potatoes – whatever you have around. Possibly the quickest way to get a delicious hot home-made meal.
And if you master that, and are feeling adventurous, here’s how to poach an egg, so you can ramp up those fanciness stakes. Eggs Benedict you say?
Now, soups are soup-er (not sorry) easy to make, and once you’ve mastered the basics you can just go wild.
At the very (very) minimum it involves chopping some veg up (try carrots, potatoes, celery, onions), covering in water or stock (you can saute – lightly fry – the onions first if you like), bringing to the boil and cooking until the veg are tender. Then you can eat it like that or blitz to your heart’s content for a smoother version.
Now this version of a ‘Many-veggie vegetable soup’ (pictured above) is a little more fancy than that just described, but the idea is the same. The best thing about soup is you can totally adjust it to suit your tastes. So add as much veg as you like, or take something out. It’s completely up to you.
You can make soup as a light dish that you can pair with a sandwich for lunch or you can make something more hearty such as minestrone or this chicken and vegetable rice noodle soup which could do for dinner. This combines your protein, carb and veg into one bowl and you can always make a big batch and freeze it for meals during the week or month.
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pot noodle + boiling water…..done!
Bye, bye hunger!
Hello scabies!!
Perfect Pasta in 3 easy steps
1. Open a bottle of wine
2. Pour yourself a healthy glass
3. Make some pasta
Spaghetti Carbonara:
1 serving:
fry some pancetta (or sliced up rashers) 30g or so until crispy
finely grate 25g parmesan and add to a bowl with 1 egg and a bit of pepper and whisk together
cook some spaghetti (120g or thereabouuts), when cooked drain, add to pan with pancetta and allow to cool slightly.
when slightly cooled add the egg+cheese mix and toss until coated.
simple and tasty
I’m sorry I don’t do it the proper authentic Italian way, has to be made with cream. Tasty dish though
Add a bit of cream into the egg and cheese makes it even nicer!
Any chance of getting a grass fed label for irish meats in supervalu? I’d love to buy some grass fed but can be difficult to distinguish on the packaging
im sory if u cant cook eggs by 17 years of age, u are just a dope. wen i was 14 i won a local cocking contest where i made hot milk cake w/ homemad ice-creme & juice. v easy to cook wen u use ur head.
Yet basic spelling escapes your abilities
Good for you!
I didn’t become a champion cocker till my 20s
Where is this local cocking contest? What does it entail?
Freudian slip indeed!
Sounds more like a porn competition. Involving food fetishes.
My wife loves my cocking, always laps it up.
Cocking contest !!!! Ha ha ha ha ya spoon ya.
I’ll pass on your bangers n mash, sir.
Just out of interest was there any other well known cocks in the competition and how did they stand against you ?
you neeed tooo learn too spelll.
Upstanding comment there !
Brings a whole new meaning to cock hungry.
Sounds yummy, Ripper.
An oul non stick pan is essential
It’s also very easy to spell correctly when you use your head ripper murphy
Everyone commenting on his spelling ability..Sad world.
But he said ‘cocking’!! And it’s Friday!!
Crubeens now there’s a meal 4 ya no sharp instruments required ha
Cheap chicken and ham casserole: microwave a couple of potatoes and add to a pot containing a small can of condensed chicken soup (without water) as sauce, a couple of slices of packet ham chopped up, and whatever tinned veg you fancy. Stir together till nicely heated and it’s ready.
Food porn?
she likes everybodys lil jim
student pizza
Sliced pan
Small bit of tomato puree spread on the slice of bread
grated cheese
sliced pepperoni or whatever your having yourself
Whack it under the grill
Few cans of dutch to wash it down
try using a tortilla wrap instead of a slice of bread and its so like a real pizza
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