Quick fixes to satisfy those food cravings

You can’t say you are or ever have been a student if you haven’t felt stressed, exhausted, hungry, scared or lonely at some point in your life while being at university. I know, my cynicality is painting a really horrible picture of student life, but we have to face the facts, people. Being a student is HARD. Luckily, I know of a major, indulgent coping mechanism that gets me through the tough times. Food. Beautiful, beautiful food. Designed to tame the roar of my stomach when I’ve spent too many hours on a tedious research assignment. Not only does it satisfy hunger, food also brings people together. Notice how people are way more likely to come to an event if there’s free food? Yeah. The stuff is magic.

The one thing students struggle with, is time. Well, more like balancing time. With assignment deadlines, studying for tests, attending lectures, sleeping, family time and socialising amongst other things we do during the day, it can get pretty difficult to maintain a healthy diet while being a student. Sometimes, it’s just so much easier to go to the McDonald’s drive through and order a Spicy Cajun instead of first missioning to the local Pick ‘n Pay to buy groceries, getting home and actually cooking the meal, eating it and then still cleaning up after. That’s what I tell myself but every time my teeth sink into that fat-filled burger, I can feel my body’s disappointment in me.

I’ve devised a plan to eat healthier and reduce my trips to McDonald’s to once every three weeks. I thought I’d share some healthy (as well as some not so healthy) recipes that are quick and easy for a student to make.

Couscous Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup couscous

• 1 cup boiling water

• 1 packet of chopped butternut (size varies on how much butternut you like)

• 1 tub feta cheese (chopped)

• 4 baby marrows

• 1 tin of whole kernel corn

• 1 punnet of mushrooms

• 1 ½ cups of peas

• Olive oil

• Garlic paste

• Green chutney

• Amina’s tikka chicken marinade

• Ground black pepper

• Salt

• Mixed spice

• Butter

• Sugar

• Mixed herbs spice

Method:

1. Mix the raw couscous with some salt and mixed herbs and then put it in a pot. Add the boiling water to the pot, turn the stove plate to a medium heat and stir the pot once.

2. Let the couscous cook for about 5-10 minutes. Once completed, fluff with a little butter and set aside.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Warm the butternut in the microwave as per instruction (I usually warm it for about 6 minutes so that it’s not completely soft).

4. Place the heated butternut in an oven tray and pour a little bit of olive oil over the butternut. Add butter here and there to the butternut. Add salt, ground black pepper and mixed spice.

5. Place the butternut in the oven and keep it in for about 40 minutes. Check the butternut at 25 minutes and turn them over so that all parts get roasted in the oven.

6. Boil the baby marrow in a pot of hot water and then let it dry out in a colander. Do the same for the peas. Mixed the two together then add some salt, about 2-3 tablespoons of sugar and some mixed spice.

7. Chop the mushrooms and then cook them in olive oil. Add some salt, ground black pepper, ¼ teaspoon green chutney, ½ teaspoon garlic paste and 3 teaspoons of Amina’s tikka chicken marinade to the mushrooms.

8. Once the mushrooms are almost done, add the whole kernel corn to the mushrooms and let it cook with the mushrooms for about 3 minutes.

9. Chop the feta cheese (I normally use two of the round-shaped feta cheeses and cut them up into cubes).

10. Start by adding half of all the contents above to a salad bowl and mix them together. Once this is done, add the remaining contents and mix well. It is then ready to eat.

If you’re having some friends over and you want to indulge in a cheesy, unhealthy snack, say no more. This snack is quick to make and delicious!

Shake Shack Cheesy Fries

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of McCain curly fries

• ½ a block of cheese

• 2½ tablespoons flour

• 125g butter

• 2 – 3 cups milk (depending on whether you like your sauce to be thick or thin)

• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

• ¼ teaspoon paprika

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Make sure the oven tray is sprayed with Spray and Cook so that the chips won’t stick to the tray.

2. Bake the chips (see, we’re being healthy. Baking is much better than frying!) for about 40 minutes.

3. Prepare the cheese sauce by melting the butter and then stirring the flour into the butter.

4. Add all the spices and salt into the mixture and stir well.

5. Add the milk and stir until the mixture has thickened.

6. Finally, add the cheese to the mixture and you will see that it will thicken significantly.

7. Pour the mixture all over the chips and feast on your delicious, gooey, cheesy treat.

Sometimes (well, actually all the time for me), I crave sweet things to the extent where I open a can of condensed milk and eat it with a spoon. It’s that bad. So this one is for me, and all you people out there with crazy sweet tooths. Sweet teeth? I think sweet tooths sounds better.

Easy Banana Split:

Ingredients:

• 1 large banana

• 2 scoops of ice cream

• Chopped almonds

• Chocolate sauce (optional)

• Nutella (optional)

• Golden syrup (optional)

Method:

1. Peel the banana and place it in a narrow bowl

2. Place one scoop of ice cream on either side of the banana

3. Sprinkle the chopped almonds on top of the banana and the ice cream

4. I usually prefer chocolate sauce over my banana split, but the options are endless. Besides the three that I’ve listed, there’s strawberry sauce, melted caramel, hazelnut sauce, butterscotch sauce etc. So don’t limit yourself to those three if you’re feeling adventurous.

I know, I said some of these recipes would be healthy. Here’s a quick fruity snack idea that’s also quite aesthetically pleasing when the fruit is arranged according to colour. Instagram users, I got you.

Fruit Skewers

Ingredients:

• Red and green grapes

• Kiwis  

• Sweet melon

• Pineapple

• Mangos

• Strawberries

• Skewers

• Melted chocolate (optional)

Method:

1. Cut up the fruit into small cubes (except the grapes)

2. Assemble them onto the skewer and they are ready to eat

3. If you just can’t deal without your chocolate, like me, then drizzle some melted chocolate onto your fruit for a delicious, chocolatey fruit mix.

Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 2 chopped bananas

• 2 cups milk

• 3 tablespoons honey

• ½ cup peanut butter

• Nutella (optional)

• Ice cream (optional)

Method:

1. Place all the ingredients in a blending machine and blend until the mixture is completely smooth.

2. If you want, you can drizzle some Nutella on top.

3. Adding ice cream to the mixture will make it creamier, but also quite unhealthy so maybe save that for an emotional day or a cheat day.

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