I had had a chaotic schedule in the last few days. I had been busy studying for my biochemistry exam (which thankfully is over) and devoted less time in the kitchen. Nevertheless, I made a creamy potato stew (or soup) for the weekend.

With some leftover pale ale still sitting in my refrigerator, I decided to make “creamy potatoe soup”. Making the soup is simple; sautee any kind of aromatic vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, bell peppers, etc) first, then dump in the potatoes with whole milk (instead of chicken broth)  and cook until the liquid is thickened and potatoes softened. Make sure to stir the soup occasionally to avoid scorching (coagulation of protein). The soup should be ready in 40 minutes. Making soup is one of the best ways to manage your diet when time is not your side. Once the soup is made, you can put noodles, dumplings, poached fish, or beans in it, and have a healthy and hearty meal within 10 minutes.

I also made “pocket pies” to help me get through the stressful weekend. Once the pocket pies are made, I only needed to reheat them in a toaster oven for 3 minutes (toast heat setting). To make the dough, mix chilled butter(break it into pieces with hands in the flour mixture), all-purpose flour, salt, and suga, then add whole milk to the dry ingredients. Stir the mix together and form a dough. Once the dough is formed, start kneading it 20 times to create some gluten. Once kneading is done, cut the dough to pieces, the size of a jar lid. Finally, use a rolling pin (you can an emtpy wine bottle as well) to roll out each little dough to as thin as possible. Put some fillings (pizza fillings or jelly) towards one of the rolled out dough and close it up by folding the other side over.

Cooking was a great way to help me relax. Not only was I able to learn some new cooking techniques, but I was also able to manage my studying time more efficiently; most of my cooking was done by microwave or toaster oven from there on.

What do you eat when you are busy?