Not So Authentic Huevos Rancheros

Well, two finals down and two to go! This past week has been a whirlwind of studying--I commandeered the kitchen table on Monday and parked myself there for maybe ten hours a day, culminating in an all-nighter on Thursday night to prepare for my two morning Chemistry finals. Needless to say, I'm a little sick of the kitchen. Though, really, we've reached that point where I don't want to cook or buy groceries, so I've had to be a bit creative in my cooking to try and find healthy, easy, and quick meals.

One of my roommates had these jalapeño and cilantro tortillas that she hated, so she offered them up to me. Her loss! I ate one by itself as a snack and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor and mild heat from a store-bought flour tortilla. This then inspired me--why not use them in a meal? Naturally I thought of breakfast. It's my favorite meal of the day--I like it so much that I will generally have cereal for breakfast and oatmeal for lunch! However, to power my countless hours of studying, I needed something filling and hearty. Huevos Rancheros perfectly fit the bill--while they may be my cheap, not-very-legitimate college version, they're still dang good.

Dead simple to make, these require few ingredients and take a grand total of ten minutes to prepare.

You will need:
 -1 tortilla (corn is traditional, but I used Jalapeño and Cilantro flour tortillas)
 -1 egg
 -1/4 cup refried beans
 -2 tbsp pico de gallo (or salsa!)
 -1/3 bell pepper, chopped
 -1/2 avocado, diced

First of all, heat up 1/2 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. While you're waiting for that to get hot, nuke your refried beans until they're warm.

When that pan's nice and hot, place your tortilla in it. Let it cook for about thirty seconds, then flip it over. There will be nice big air bubbles--yum! When both sides are golden-brown, remove the tortilla from the pan and place it on a plate. Then, adding more oil if you need to, crack an egg into the pan. While that's frying, spread your refried beans over the tortilla.

I personally love runny yolks, so I left my egg sunny-side up. However, feel free to cook however you'd like. When your egg is fried to your satisfaction, turn the heat off and slide it on top of the refried beans.

Finally, add toppings to taste! I went with some mild pico de gallo for some brightness and a bit of a kick, the bell pepper for some greens and great crunch, and avocado, since everything's better with avocado, right?

Feel free to top with whatever you'd like, including jalapeños, cheese, hot sauce, or more veggies! You can make these whatever you'd like. However, huevos rancheros will always be a fast and incredibly filling meal. I was stuffed until dinner! This meal also presents a nice balance of protein, carbs, and fats--you gotta fuel that brain!

Serve for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can't go wrong! They're quickly becoming a staple in my rotating menu, because of their awesome versatility and nutritive benefits. Give them a try when you need a quick and hearty meal to power you through the day--I promise they won't disappoint!

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Bean Dip

Last week's Superbowl had absolutely no meaning to me. I'm a fair weather Patriots fan at best, so this whole football thing was maybe more about the commercials and food than the actual game. Well, scratch that. It was entirely about the commercials and food. I made bean dip from this recipe to bring to my friends' party, since I don't like showing up empty-handed. I placed it on the counter with a bag of chips without any fanfare and walked away... within an hour, the dish was scraped completely clean.

It's not the prettiest dip, but it's delicious and really quite cheap. You can easily make this as spicy as you'd like, and I'm sure you could add things like finely chopped bell peppers, other small vegetables, or even some ground meat. Think of it like the inside of a taco, in dip form.

Fast, easy, and really dang good, I highly recommend this for your next gathering. A group of hungry boys demolished this, but it could easily be halved for a slightly less ravenous crew.

You will need:
 -8oz (1 package) of cream cheese, softened
 -1 cup of sour cream
 -2 (16oz) cans of refried beans
 -taco seasoning mix, to taste
 -hot sauce, to taste
 -1/8 cup of chopped fresh parsley
 -1/2 of an onion, chopped
 -2 cups of cheddar/monterey jack cheese

Oven temp: 350˚F

You'll start by taking your softened cream cheese and fully mixing it with the sour cream. I took a picture for this but it looked completely nasty. You just want them to combine to make a nice, smooth texture. I'm sure you get it--you don't want any weird clumps of straight cream cheese hangin' out.

Add literally everything else and mix together very well. I ended up adding the majority of the taco seasoning as well as a fair amount of Tabasco and Frank's Red Hot sauce. Overall, probably a few teaspoons of each sauce. I wanted to make sure that the flavor of the beans didn't completely overpower the other tastes in the dip.

Maybe self-explanatory, but make sure everything is well combined and mixed. You want an even distribution of all the components. Who ever wants to bite into a mouthful of straight parsley?

Transfer to an oven-proof receptacle. I used a 9" cake pan, but you could definitely use a 9" x 13" pan to have a thinner layer of dip.

Top with cheese and pop into the oven for twenty or thirty minutes, until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Remove from the oven and serve hot with a fat handful of tortilla chips. You could even dip crunchy vegetables, or slather this onto a burger. The options are endless! I was hoping I would have some leftovers to put into a breakfast burrito the next morning, but unfortunately, I couldn't.

When football starts up again in a few months, I'll definitely be thinking of this for a crowd-pleasing dip. So easily customizable to your tastes, not too messy, and inexpensive! Just make sure you get a few bites before it all disappears.

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