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Quick, Easy, Affordable and Delicious!

Sitting in the Learning Center with a group of students, young professionals and busy moms I realized that I am not the only one looking for a quick, easy, healthful, delicious meal. Learning Center Instructor Gerda Lederer taught a class last Wednesday full of great ideas for meals on the fly or for when you just want to come home from school or work and relax…not cook. Gerda took us step by step through delicious, easy approaches to dinner starting with a Fire Roasted Tomato Soup. I never make soup and was shocked by how easy it was and how much better it tasted than canned or boxed soup. I will definitely make it for friends or family with some delicious grilled cheese once it gets a little colder.

Gerda moved on to a vegetable and bean burrito. This is currently one of the staples in my college-student diet because it’s so easy, but Gerda provided new ideas to spice it up: mix up the vegetables and beans you use, add different types of salsa or hot sauce and add other proteins such as tofu or chicken—I can’t wait to try one of these variations.

The next dish may have been my favorite. A warm, comforting white bean, chard and tomato stew. It makes me excited for chillier days when I can whip some up and dunk a big piece of garlic bread in it. Following the stew we made curry, which I’ve always steered away from because I’m generally not a fan of creamy dishes. But this curry (like most) was made with coconut milk so it wasn’t tremendously creamy and I ended up liking it a lot. I just bought all the ingredients to make it for my roommates this weekend! Lastly Gerda taught us all how to stretch out the perfect pizza dough, top it and cook it to perfection—with a lightly dressed salad on the side it was the perfect dinner!

All of Gerda’s recipes used minimal equipment and required minimal clean up and she incorporated tips to accommodate all dietary requests.  Best yet, Gerda had lots of ideas for future dishes and suggestions on how to make creative variation of the meals we made as well as a shopping lists of staple items to keep a well stocked pantry. This class was a great success so be on the lookout for another Quick, Easy, Affordable and Delicious class with Gerda—it’s a must try!

Amy

Intern Extraordinaire