Alina Federico & Brandon Kennard

A College Kid’s Guide to Food Preparation

October 1st, 2018

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 Table of Contents
1. Introduction (pg 3)

2. Measuring Ingredients Video (pg 4)

3. How to Cook a Burger (pg 5-8)

4. How to Make Polvorones (pg 9-11)

5. How to Make a Virgin Mojito Video (pg 12)

6. About the Authors (pg 13)

7. Appendix (pg 14)

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 Introduction
Remember the days when mom and dad used to cook for you? When you got home from

school and a meal was already in the making? And now, when you get home the only thing

waiting for you is an unchecked grocery list and lots of empty dishes. Cooking for yourself,

especially for the first time, sucks. Making the transition from living at home with

parents/guardians that look after you to suddenly being on your own and having to take care of

yourself is hard, and many agree that the worst part about it is learning to cook for yourself.

Of course, there are ways to feed oneself without any legitimate effort. Easy-make meals

are available in a wide variety and in cheap prices. But, even though microwaveable noodles and

canned soup are convenient and tasty, eventually your body will want something with a little

more substance (and a less exaggerated sodium content). If you only consume five-minute ramen

and TV dinners, you’ll feel like crap all the time. It is far healthier to cook for yourself than it is

to eat packaged meals that are heavily processed and preserved.

Cooking a meal might be the last thing that you want to do when you get home; it’s easy

to view it as a time-consuming, tiring, and potentially dangerous nightmare. But say goodbye to

these negative notions about cooking- with this guide you can make yourself a nice meal (dessert

and all) quickly, easily, and safely. With any luck, this short set of instructions will not only help

you prepare your own meals, but also make cooking seem less awful and scary. Preparing your

own food can make you feel good about yourself or like you have your life together, and let’s be

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honest- that feeling is rare in college. So start cooking some delicious and simple meals and get

your life together! Enjoy!

How to Properly Measure out Dry/Wet Ingredients

The following video contains some easy instructions on how to properly measure our wet

and dry ingredients for the following cookie recipe. Measuring too much or even too little of an

ingredient could result in giving you a really dry cookie or a not good tasting one. Hopefully this

clarifies a bit how to measure out ingredients.

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How to Cook A Hamburger

Level: Very Easy

Yield: 1 Burger or 1 Servings

Total time: 15 minutes

Burgers- The Virtues of Keeping It Simple

Almost everyone knows what a burger is. The burger is one of
the most versatile sandwiches in the world; you can change it up
however you want. The patty can be made of almost anything,
from classic beef, to just plain veggies. The buns can be sesame
seed buns or, just for the hell of it, two halves of a bagel! A
burger is the perfect way to keep it simple while also varying what you eat.

CAUTIONS
1. If you are using turkey (or any other kind of poultry) for the patty of your
burger, make sure it is cooked all the way! You can get very sick from eating raw
poultry.

2. Careful not to burn yourself while making this meal- be aware of hot surfaces!

Tools Needed
 A Pan- Basically any pan that will fit your patty will work. You can also use a

griddle or you can use a grill. The cheapest pans and griddles I’ve found are at

Walmart.

 Spatula

Ingredients
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 1. Hamburger Patty or Ground Beef (see patty forming instructions if you have the latter

and not the former. You can buy frozen patties at almost any grocery store but the best

bang for your buck comes from Costco.

If beef is not your thing, there are also veggie burgers and turkey burgers

that you can cook using these same instructions.

2. Salt- the only seasoning that I refuse to say is not essential.

3. Buns (either sesame seed or not).

Optional items to amp up your burger game:

 Red Onions (one onion is usually enough for several burgers)

 Tomatoes (again, one medium sized tomato is usually enough for a few servings)

 Lettuce- get your vegetables in there right?

 Ketchup

 Cheese

 Mustard

 Mayonnaise (In my opinion, mayonnaise is nasty. However, its good on burgers if you

like it).

Seasonings

 Garlic Powder

 Onion Powder

 Pepper

 Whatever else you might want to add!

Instructions

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· How to form a patty (only if you chose ground beef that isn’t already made into

patties):

1. Figure out what size of burger you want- this is totally up to you. You want a 1lb

burger? Knock yourself out. Just make sure that you can fit the patty in to you pan,

griddle, or grill.

2. After you figured out how much meat you want, form it in to the shape of a patty

(just in case, a patty is usually circular). Mine are usually about ¾ in. thick. You can

make your patty thicker, but you will have to cook it longer.

3. Apply pressure- squish your patty together while trying to keep its shape. You are

done when your patty can hold its shape for the most part (do not try to make your patty

hold its shape so well that when you pick it up from one side it doesn’t break apart- it will

always do that. It just needs to stick together so that when you put it down it doesn’t turn

to mush).

How to cook your patty:

1. If you bought frozen patties, you have to thaw them first. (skip this step if your

meat/veggie burger is already thawed).

a. Put your patty on a microwave-safe plate and microwave on medium for 30

seconds.

b. If the patty still has some ice on it, that’s okay. It just needs to be mostly

thawed.

2. Put your pan or griddle on the stove and set the heat to just above medium. Give it

4-6 minutes to warm up. If your using a grill, preheat it to 450°F.

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3. While the grill, pan, or griddle is warming up you can season your patty. Sprinkle

some salt over both sides of the patty. Then, if you like, you can add onion powder, garlic

powder, and/or pepper to taste.

4. Put your patty on the cooking utensil and let it cook 5 minutes and that side. Then

flip the patty and let the other side cook for 5 minutes. If you prefer your burger well

done, then leave it on for a 1-2 more minutes per side but be careful not to burn it. If you

prefer your burger on the rare side, cook each side for only 4 minutes. NOTE: IF YOU

ARE COOKING A TURKEY BURGER, MAKE SURE THE BURGER IS FULLY

COOKED- DON’T GO FOR A RARE TURKEY BURGER.

5. Take your burger off the pan and serve on to a patty. (Optional: if you like you can

toast your patty- either put on the pan, grill, or griddle for 2 minutes or use a toaster).

6. Now the fun part- dress up your burger the way you want it. Add onions, tomatoes,

mustard, ketchup or whatever else you might want on it. Allow yourself to experiment-

very few normal food items taste bad on a burger.

7. Enjoy!

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How to Make Polvorones
Level: Easy
Yield: 24 cookies

Total time: 45 minutes

What is it?

Polvorones, often referred to as Mexican Wedding Cookies,

are cookies shaped in a ball with a pecan or walnut filling.

That are coated in powdered sugar for the perfect bite-size

cookie. They’re so delicious you’ll end up wanting to eat the

whole batch (not that I would know).

CAUTIONS

1. This recipe does contain nuts, if allergic please substitute or completely omit.

(Personally, it tastes better with nuts, but you know don’t risk not being able to breath if allergic.

Breathing is nice)

2. If assistance is needed, please ask a parent/guardian for help with any steps from this recipe.

You shouldn’t really need much help with it, unless you’re like 5 years old and using an oven.

Then highly recommend you get help.

Tools Needed

 Baking sheet

 Mixing bowl

 Mixing spoon

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  Measuring Cups

 Measuring Spoons

 Oven

 Knife

Ingredients

1. 1 stick of softened butter (1 stick of butter= ½ cup of butter)

2. ¼ cup of powdered sugar + another ½ cup for rolling cookies in

3. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

4. ½ cup of chopped of walnuts or pecans*.

5. 1 cup of flour

6. A non-stick spray for the baking sheet

· *If allergic to nuts one can take away the nut portion of this and replace with ½ cup of

sprinkles or chopped up raisins or completely omit. (Nuts are still better, but here are some other

delicious substitutions. Again, oxygen is great.)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F degrees

2. Stir butter and ¼ cup of powdered sugar together into a bowl.

3. Add vanilla. Stir.

4. Add nuts* and flour. Mix all together. Dough should come together easily.

5. Grease a baking sheet

6. Roll dough into small balls, about a tablespoon size, and place onto baking sheet. Spread

them about an inch apart.

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7. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Until the bottoms of the cookies are a brown. Top of cookie will

be slightly pale.

8. Remove and let cool for about 10-15 minutes.

9. Roll into ½ cup of powdered sugar. Enjoy!

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How to Make a Virgin Mojito

Level: Very Easy

Yield: 1 10 oz serving

Total Time: 3-5 minutes

What’s a Mojito, and Why is it Still A Virgin?

A mojito is a mint-lime cocktail traditionally made with rum. A virgin mojito is a just a mojito

made without the alcohol. These refreshing cool drinks are great to enjoy by the pool, or after a

nice summer meal. The video below will show you how to make your own virgin mojito and for

those 21+ years-old, it will tell you how “deflower” your beverage (of course, a metaphor).

Enjoy!

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 Biographies

Alina Federico

Ever since I could remember, I have loved being in the kitchen. Being a Hispanic woman,

I was taught how to cook at a very young age. I learned that an actual meal involved more than a

microwave or anything containing the word “instant” on the packaging. While I do know how to

cook for myself, I am not very fond of cooking in the sense of actual meals. I am more of a

baking person, not only because I love sweets. But because I find it super satisfying. Measuring

out flour, sugar, seeing the batters come together, and seeing the result is what I love. Then

eating it is pretty fun too. It took a while before I became good at baking. I remember I would

find a way to burn everything I baked even if I followed the instructions to the “T”. This is why I

love the cookie recipe above, because it is super easy to follow, minimal ingredients, and super

delicious.

Brandon Kennard

I first started cooking out of necessity- not necessarily out of love for the craft. My

parents were busy people when I was younger, so my siblings and I took turns cooking easy

one/two step dinners for each other. When my brother and I were 15 and my sister was 19, we

became financially responsible for these dinners, so it became a necessity to cook cheaply while

not chincing out on necessary nutrition. The result: I became an expert in affordable tasty meals

that can be made in less than an hour. Currently I live in a townhouse with some good friends

and still, following my big sis’s example, we take turns trying to make creative dinners out of

affordable materials and we have a blast.

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 Appendix

1. College Kitchens

 Dorm kitchens aren’t exactly Food Network kitchens or may look like your parent’s

kitchens. That is a good thing. A college kid does not need everything that was in your

parent’s kitchen. Chances are you probably won’t need herb scissors or a panini maker.

Get essentials like silverware, few pots/pans, blender, knives, and plates/bowls. All of

these will prove to be super useful.

2. Stocking college kitchens

 As college students whipping up meals can be a struggle because of schedules or just not

knowing how to prep meals. You don’t need to break the bank to have delicious meals or

buy ingredients that are just going to end up rotting in the fridge. Buy nonperishables,

frozen vegetables/fruits, and foods you know you’ll eat/ know to cook. This can include

canned beans, rice, pasta, frozen corn, frozen strawberries, peanut butter, or cans of tuna.

3. Freshman/Sophomore/Junior/Senior 15

 Being in college it seems so easy to buy fast food every day because usually it’s cheap or

on the go. Eating that muffin or bag of chips every day before class seems so harmless,

until it starts adding up. It can be hard to eat nutritiously while in college because life gets

in the way, but that doesn’t mean an effort shouldn’t be made. Eat protein filled

breakfasts, instead of the sugary cereal. Or eat nuts/seeds instead of the chips. Make sure

to drink water and stay hydrated instead of the morning coffee or energy drink that’ll just

make you feel worn out later.

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