Quick, easy meals can be made in apartments By Julie Mastrine COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Those of you with campus meal plans don’t have to think twice about dinner. You can study and study until your stomach’s growls become too obnoxious to ignore, and at the very last minute head over to the dining commons. With the swipe of your ID card, you’ve got hot, fresh food and you’re ready to return to that English home work. It can be easy to get used to this kind of convenience, but eventually, many people want to gain more independence by getting their own house or apartment. Factoring time into your day to make a meal can be tough for busy college students, and getting the meal to actually taste good is anoth er story. So what do you do when you find yourself with an empty stomach and a big scary kitchen? Fret not, apartment dwellers: Here are a few recipes that make cooking for beginners quick, easy and delicious. Piggybacking incident raises need for dorm security By Stephen Hennessey It started out as an ordinary trip downstairs to greet the Chinese food delivery man. It tinned out to be one of the creepi est things that has ever happened to me During the sec ond week of my freshman year, I had an experience MY OPINION that made my mom almost force me to transfer from Penn State. Yeah, it was that bad A random kid successfully snuck into my dormitory room in Pinchot Hall, ate a slice of my roommate’s pizza and tried to jack my room mate’s credit card number. This is why each time I hear Panwiches After a few weeks of apartment living, you’ve grown tired of your usual breakfast routine of cereal and milk What do you do? Make panwiches, of course an interest ing take on the classic breakfast sandwich. With a total preparation time of only 20 minutes, you won’t be late to class, either. Ingredients: 2 cups pancake mix; 1 1/3 cups cold water, 6 slices Canadian bacon; 2 eggs; 2 tsp. water; 1 tsp. butter or margarine; one-fourth cup shredded reduced fat Cheddar cheese. Heat oven to 200°E Line cookie sheet with paper towels. Make pan cakes as directed on box, using 2 cups pancake mix and 1 1/3 cups water. Place cooked pancakes on cookie sheet; keep warm in oven. Heat bacon as directed on pack age. Meanwhile, in small bowl, beat eggs and water with fork or wire whisk In an eight-inch nonstick skillet, heat butter over medium heat. Pour egg mixture into skillet; cook until top is almost set. Gently lift about the possibility of increased dorm security, I support it —lOO percent. Every school I’ve visited besides Penn State either has a person patrolling the door or a swipe-in card to enter a room. Anybody can find their way into a dorm at Penn State by piggy- backing at the doors. There’s not an obvious fix to this problem because not many people would shut the door on a kid approaching But one way or another, some thing needs to be done. ril never forget the tone of my mom’s voice when she got my phone call, telling her my ridicu lous story. Telling her how this kid followed me up into the elevator, followed me into my pried-open door and made for one of the crazi est dorm stories of all time. After he piggybacked from the edges to allow uncooked egg to flow underneath; continue to cook until set. Top with cheese. Remove from heat. Cut into four wedges. To assemble each panwich, top one pancake with egg wedge, bacon slice and another pancake. Recipe courtesy of bettvcrock er.com Ramen Noodle Salad Ramen noodles are a staple among many college students. But instead of making the bland soup, why not by using the noodles in a salad instead? This quick meal is a fun way to spice up your average salad. Ingredients: 2 packages Ramen noodles, broken up (Don’t use fla vor packet); one-half cup sunflower kernels; three-fourths cup slivered almonds; one-half cup butter or margarine; 1 romaine or bibb let tuce, tom in small pieces; 4 table spoons green onions, chopped; 1 broccoli, cut up; three-fourths cup salad oil; one-half cup vinegar; three-fourths cup sugar, 1 Tbs. soy sauce; one-half tsp. salt. Saute sunflower seeds, noodles and almonds in butter until lightly Chinese food delivery man and fol lowed me into the elevator (with out telling me what floor he was' going to), the creeper entered my room behind me and sat at my roommates’ desk chair. My room mate was laying down on his bed listening to his headphones with his back turned to the entrance, so he didn’t even notice what hap- pened until a minute later. I figured the kid was my room mates’ friend and was sitting at his desk waiting for him. My room mate thought the kid was my friend. We were both signed onto AOL Instant Messenger, so my room mate sent me a message: “Yo do you know this kid?” My response: “Dude, I have no idea...l thought you knew him.” To this day, my roommate has that AIM conversation saved, and he’ll e-mail it to me from time to browned. Add to lettuce, onions and broccoli. Combine salad oil, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and salt. Shake well. Pour over salad just before serving. Recipe courtesy of recipes.epi curean.com. Salsa Chicken Fiesta Here’s a recipe that even the most cooking-incompetent college student can handle. The recipe requires only a few ingredients and has a prep time of about 15 minutes and a total time of 45. This 190-calo rie meal is light and makes six serv ings perfect to share with your roommates. Ingredients: Two-thirds Bisquick Heart Smart ® Mix; 2 tablespoons water, one-fourth cup fat-free egg product or 2 egg whites; 1 M> cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese; 3 boneless skin less chicken breasts, cut into l /z inch pieces; 1 Vt cups Old El Paso® Thick ‘n Chunky salsa Heat oven to 400°E Spray eight inch square pan with cooking spray. In small bowl, stir together Bisquick® mix, water and egg product; spread in pan. Sprinkle time to reminisce about the crazi ness of the situation. We finally kicked the kid out after about five minutes after he took a bite out of my roommates’ pizza and picked up my room- mates’ credit card off his desk. We were both freaked out more than anything, so we didn’t call the police. About an hour later, we found his sandals in our room. How does somebody walk out of a dorm barefoot? It also took us that hour to real ize how freaked out we were. We went to talk to our RA, who made us call the police. While the officers were question ing us at our dorm, they got a call about another kid who had snuck his way into a female dorm. Sure enough, it was the same creep. We ended up having to testify against the perpetrator at the courthouse in Bellefonte, which Salsa Chicken Fiesta is a quick fix. with 1 V* cups of the cheese. In 10-inch nonstick skillet, cook chicken over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until outsides turn white; drain. Stir in salsa; heat until hot. Spoon over batter in pan to within one-half inch of edges. Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until edges are dark golden brown. Sprinkle with remaining one-fourth cup cheese. Bake 1 to 3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted; loosen from sides of pan. Recipe courtesy of bettycrock er.com. To e-mail reporter |amsB7s@psu.edu meant a police officer had to pick us up at 7 a.m. and drive us to Bellefonte. The whole situation created more annoyance than anything else. But the worst thing was the response my mother received from the Penn State Police. They basi cally dismissed her and told her it wasn’t their problem. The on-campus housing officials, however, were very helpful and sympathetic. I received multiple e mails from the director of East Halls to make sure everything was okay. Everything was, but something wry worse could have happened than a half-eaten slice of pizza. Stephen Hennessey is a senior majoring in journalism and is the Collegian’s sports editor. His e-mail address is slhso37epsu.edu.
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