As finals are slowly approaching, there are few things I love to do when taking a much-neededI break. Cooking is one of those things. Because I’ve started to really enjoy cooking over the past year, I began looking up different chefs and cooking channels that I found interesting. My favorite thing to do is take basic elements from each food group and then throw them together in a creative– and somewhat healthy way.
I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from one particular chef–Josh Elkin– and several other chefs I’ve seen across social media, and have recently become obsessed with kale and avocados, so I use those together a lot, especially for breakfast. Cooking is something everyone in my family does, and so as I’ve grown into my own eating preferences and habits, I wanted to compile a list of foods I enjoy cooking– kind of like my own personal cookbook!
To start off, one of my favorite meals to cook is chicken sausage with kale and potatoes, and a lemon crème sauce over it. I usually sautée and cut up chicken sausage links, and then peel and cut some potatoes and onions– and sautée them as well, with some kale. I usually season everything with salt, garlic pepper, paprika and a little bit of blackened seasoning. For the lemon crème sauce, I love to squeeze some fresh lemons and mix the juice with softened salted butter, heavy whipping cream, a little bit of parmesan cheese and parsley.
I also like to make breakfast and lunch sandwiches. For breakfast, I’ll usually take some chicken sausage patties and sauté them. Then I make an omelet with kale, onions, mushrooms and a little bit of bell pepper. After that, I’ll take two slices of bread and toast them on the stove. Once all of that is completely cooked, I’ll cut the omelet in half and place it on the bread with the chicken sausage.
Another easy breakfast I’ve found myself making while in quarantine is a classic avocado sandwich. I like to take half of an avocado, and throw it on the omelet sandwich, as well.
Inspired by the restaurant Fresh To Order, I’ve also been dipping my toes into trying salad recipes. Typically, I’ll sautée and blacken some chicken and shrimp with mushrooms and onions in a cast-iron skillet. Then, I’ll take a bowl, cut up some romaine lettuce and kale and put them in the bowl. I take my sautéed ingredients and toss them on top of the greens. To finish it off, I’ll usually add some avocado slices, croutons, parmesan cheese and Caesar dressing.
I love eating salads because they fill me up and it’s nothing too heavy so I don’t lose any energy and crash after an hour. Most days, though, I’ll still want something sweet regardless of what my meal consists of.
To fix this ailment, my favorite thing to do is make a homemade chocolate cake. There’s nothing different about any recipe in comparison to mine, except that I also add hot coffee into the batter, and it makes it taste ten times better than any chocolate cake without it. The absolute best part is making my own chocolate fudge icing to put on top of the cake and it’s amazing every time.
Once I get more recipes under my belt and get to perfect them, I’ll likely compile my own cookbook and I can’t wait to share it so stay tuned!