The Scoop

Food for lazy people

By: Lina Marin 10A

Cooking isn’t an easy job as much as we wished it would be. I, for one, love cooking but from time to time I get way too lazy for doing complicated recipes, or sometime I’m just too impatient to wait for over an hour just to eat a piece of dessert. Also, school usually leaves me zero time to do other things than, well, studying. So, what to do? Well, to all my fellow lazy, impatient, hungry people with no time, I come with an answer.

Sometime ago I came up with an online article about easy, quick recipes for students who basically had zero time and zero cooking skills. Among all the options the article listed, I found the most appealing the cake mug recipe (which at the time was known by virtually no one) and the Mac n’ cheese in a mug recipe.

The cake mug recipe is quite simple and it includes ingredients everybody has. Among all the internet pages with mug cake recipes the best one I found was Kirbie’s Cravings (you should totally visit his webpage). This guy is amazing; he basically has any mug cake flavor or variation like eggless, flourless, lemony, nutella, skinny, 3-ingredient, or anything you can think of. I can’t post each and every one of them but I will post one I’m sure everyone will love: the Nutella mug cake.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 egg
3 tablespoons Nutella (if you don’t have Nutella you can use 3 or 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder, hot chocolate powder, Milo or Nesquik)
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in an oversized coffee mug. Whisk well with a small whisk until smooth. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes and then take it out to check to see if it is done. If not, microwave for another 30 seconds. You don’t want to overcook it or it will become rubbery. You can also make this into two smaller-sized mugs. You can mix the batter all in one mug and then pour half into another mug. Make sure you cook each one individually.

And now for the ones who prefer a savory recipe. I found this recipe for Mac n’ cheese in a mug in Ella Claire’s blog, there are many other places to find the recipe but I liked this one the most. You can google her webpage and see many more recipe, DIY projects and interesting and creative stuff. So, here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup macaroni pasta

1/3 cup plus ¼ cup water

1/3 cup of your favorite cheese, shredded. I recommend cheddar jack. Make sure the cheese you choose melts easily with heat.

1 tablespoon milk

Procedure:

In a microwave safe mug or bowl (make sure it is a big one or it will boil over), put the macaroni and the water (you may need extra water depending on your microwave’s heating strength).  Microwave for 6 minutes, stirring at 4 minutes, 2 minutes, and 1 minute. (Microwave times may vary depending on the strength of your microwave. You may want to check it at the 1 min interval to make sure it hasn’t dried up if you have a stronger microwave). The pasta should be cooked and there will be a tiny bit of thick pasta water in the bottom. Leave this water. Add the shredded cheese. Return to the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds to melt the cheese. Stir well, adding a small splash of milk. Enjoy!

I hope you find these recipes useful, especially for busy days, or for when you’re tired, or maybe just for when you’re craving something sweet. Keep in mind cooking can be fun and simple, and it can be an accessible activity, instead of an unreachable activity only chefs and your mom can do correctly.