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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2000)
Food continued from page 1A students who want to make eating and cooking at home more con venient. “Planning goes a really long way in the kitchen, she said. Planning two menus for the week and cooking extra each time leaves you with leftovers that can become other lunches and din ners. “You can make a chicken breast with rice and vegetables one day, eat it with pasta another day of the week, make it into a sandwich for lunch another day. I call it re cycling a meal,” she said. This can save time because stu dents will need fewer trips to the grocery store. Investing a few hours on one day can save a lot of time over the course of the week. Cleaning and chopping fruits and vegetables the day you bring them home from the store and putting them in the refrigerator makes them available for quick use. “If I had to chop vegetables every night, I probably wouldn’t eat enough of them,” Olmos said. If you have more money than time, buying pre-chopped, pack aged vegetables is a good option. There may be some loss of taste, but the nutritional value is almost the same as fresh vegetables, she said. Dinners at home can be a chal lenge for students who lack the time or the know-how to cook a healthy meal. “It’s hard to cook something for the first time and make it quick and easy,” said Tove Holmes, a senior German major and peer health educator. “Once you do it a couple of times it becomes kind of old hat and takes less time and energy. ” For many students, learning to cook is a matter of experimenta tion. Adam Mougey, a senior biology major, got a wok as a gift last year. He started experimenting with stir-fry sauces bought at the store. “I found that if I kept a bag frozen vegetables around my house and some stir-fry sauce, I could make a relatively healthy dinner in about the same time it takes to make mac and cheese,” he said. There are a variety of re sources available for students who want to learn how to cook and eat healthier. A dozen cookbooks are avail able at the Peer Health Ed ucation Office in the health center that students can check out. : For those who want a more hands-on approach, a Vegetarian Cooking Workshop is being held tonight from 4:30 to 5 p.m. and every Thursday evening through Feb. 27. The class, held in the health center cafeteria, will cook a new, vegetarian menu each session, focusing on cooking techniques, shop ping for the right ingredients and different nutrition topics each week, said Holmes, who came up with the idea for the workshop. “The Peer Health Education program has offered cooking workshops before and focused on ethnic cooking,” she said. This workshop will try to pro vide students with some options for cooking a variety of healthy meals. To register for the workshop call 346-4456 or sign-up on-line at www.healthed.uoregon.edu. Cook’s Pots and Tabletops, a South Eugene area business, of fers a Cooking 101 class focusing on the basics of sauce-making that would serve students, said store owner Kathy Campbell. Her goal is to establish a basic cooking class geared towards stu dents by next fall. The reason there isn’t such a class now is the lack of qualified instructors in the area, she said. For more information on the classes call 338-4339. Some cooking tips: For an easy meal, throw fresh chopped vegetables into a pot of steamed rice when the rice is about halfway cooked. Add a curry paste to season it. Add a scrambled egg and frozen veg etables to ramen noodles to add pro tein and nutrients. Season foods to bring out flavor with out adding extra sugar or fat: Flavor meats, stews, pastas or casseroles with basil, garlic, oregano or rosemary. Enhance naturally sweet foods with cinnamon, ginger or nutmeg. Add spice to any dish with black, red or cayenne pepper. Poppyseeds or sesame seeds im prove texture and crunch. SOURCE: Peer Health Education, American Di etetic Association Pasta with greens and ricotta Cooking time: 20 minutes 4 to 6 servings 1 bunch watercress (1 cup chopped) 1 bunch Swiss chard (4 cups chopped) 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon olive oil salt and pepper 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 3/4 cup ricotta cheese 1 pound pasta grated Pa rmesa n cheese chopped fresh tomatoes toasted walnuts or pine nuts Bring a large, covered pot of water to a boil. While the water heats, rinse the watercress and chard well; chop coarsely. Saute the garlic in the oil for a minute, until soft and golden but not scorched. Add the greens and saute, stirring often, until they are wilted but still bright green. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and nutmeg and remove from heat. In a blender, puree the cooked greens with the ricotta until smooth and evenly colored. Add more salt and pepper to taste. When the water is boiled, add pasta, stir and replace cover. Cook until the pasta is at dente. Drain the pasta and immedi ately toss4t with the sauce. Top with Parmesan, tomatoes and toasted nuts. SOURCE: Health Education Program Vegetarian Cooking Workshop, Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook Spicy chicken stir-fry Cooking time: 20 minutes 5 to 6 servings 1 bag frozen oriental vegetables 3 chicken breasts (or substitute pork chops) 1/2 bottle stir-fry sauce 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 clove garlic, chopped (optional) Slice chicken into 1/4 inch strips diagonally across the grain. Heat oil in a medium frying pan or wok, then add chicken. Add soy sauce, cayenne pepper and chopped garlic. Cook un til chicken is nearly done. Add frozen vegetables and stir-fry sauce and continue to cook until vegetables are hot. Serve with rice. For a spicier Spicy Chicken Stir-fry, add ginger when heating the oil. SOURCE: Adam Mougey, peer health educator North African couscous paella Cooking time: 20 minutes 2 servings 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 /2 cup chopped red bell pepper 4 scallions, chopped (1/2 cup) 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1/2 teaspoon turmeric pinch of cayenne 2 cups hot vegetable stock or hot water 3/4 pound tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, or 1/2 pound shelled shrimp 1 cup fresh or frozen green peas 1 cup quick-cooking couscous 1 tablespoon margarine or butter salt and pepper coarsely chopped toasted almonds chopped fresh parsley lemon wedges Heat the oil in a 2-quart saucepan. Add the peppers, scallions, garlic, coriander, turmeric and cayenne and saute in medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the stock or water. Add the tofu or shrimp and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the tofu is hot or the shrimp are pink. Stir in the peas and cook for another minute Mix in the couscous and the margarine or butter. Cover, remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Uncover the pan and using a fork, stir thoroughly to fluff up the couscous and break up any lumps. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve on a platter, topped with toasted almonds, pars ley and lemon wedges. SOURCE: Health education Program Vegetarian Cooking Workshop, Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook
