Easy dorm eats

By Staff Writer Thea Di Giammerino

Boston University offers its students their choice of five dining halls, 22 restaurants and two delivery pizza places that work with various dining plans. But everyone has that one day when, clad in a T-shirt, sweats and slippers, you can’t make yourself walk out the door.

For students living in most of the dorm buildings on campus, the only approved cooking device is the 600-watt microwave that comes with a MicroFridge rental. But fear not – dining-in doesn’t have to be all ramen noodles and Hot Pockets. Some students on campus are getting creative – and the results sound delicious.

For something easy, stick with an old favorite Kraft Easy Mac, but mix up the sauce. You can heat red sauce in a microwave-safe cup, or you can get ambitious and make your very own cheese sauce. Here’s one recipe my own mother taught me years ago:

1. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a bowl (this should take about 30 seconds).
2. Add 1 tablespoon of flour, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of cheese and salt to taste.
3. Cook on high 3-4 minutes, then serve over pasta

If you want something a little more gourmet, Alex Yellin, College of Arts and Science sophomore, has a quick and easy recipe for salmon filets.

1. Take an inch-thick salmon filet and season with half a lemon’s worth of juice, a tablespoon of salt, half a tablespoon of pepper and a sprinkling of olive oil.
2. Seal the filet in a plastic bag.
3. Microwave on high for about 3 minutes.

“You can tell if salmon is cooked by looking at the center with a fork, and seeing that it’s turned orange all the way through, as opposed to pink,” Yellin said. For a side, consider a baked potato or corn on the cob, which both cook just as well in the microwave as they do boiled over a stove.

To cook a potato in the microwave, stab it several times with a fork then cook on high for about 4 minutes. To make corn on the cob, leave corn in its original husk and wrap in a damp paper towel. Each ear will take about one and a half minutes.

For dessert, try cinnamon sugar apples, courtesy of CAS sophomore Sarah Chudnovsky. “My grandma used to make cinnamon sugar apples for me and my sisters when we were little,” she said. “A fter going apple picking last semester I had a lot of apples sitting in my dorm room. So I got some cinnamon and decided to try it out.”

1. Cut up the apple (peel it first if you prefer skinless)
2. Place slices in a bowl with put 1 to 2 tablespoons of water
3. Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of sugar, then stir until apples are well-coated.
4. Microwave on high 2-5 minutes, until apples are soft and cooked

Voila! You’ve just made a whole dinner in your microwave. If these ideas don’t strike your fancy, you can always go online for hundreds more microwave recipes.