Sometimes you just need a break from the busy lifestyle of college. Taking a road trip home for the weekend is one thing that can cure just that! This weekend I went back to my hometown of Annapolis Maryland, enjoyed some down time, and my favorite part: my mom’s homemade meals. If you’re feeling homesick but can’t go home, here are some of my mom’s famous homemade comfort foods that are easy enough to cook in your apartment yet still delicious enough to make you feel like you’re right back home. Bon Appetite!
BREAKFAST: Crêpes
Whenever I’m home my mom loves to make me breakfast. Usually she makes either homemade pumpkin waffles or pancakes but this weekend she decided to make her favorite, crêpes! My mom studied in Paris while she was in college and her host mom used to make these for her for breakfast sometimes. Although they may seem hard to make they are actually very simple, quick, and delicious.
RECIPE:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons margarine or butter melted
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a 1 1/2 quart bowl. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Beat with hand beater or a spoon until smooth. Lightly butter a skillet and heat over medium heat until bubbly. For each crepe, pour 1/4 of a cup into the skillet and immediately rotate the skillet until the thin batter covers the bottom.
- Cook until lightly brown. Run a wide spatula around the edge to loosen it then quickly turn and cooke the other side until also lightly brown.
- Cover them to keep warm and enjoy with sugar, Nutella, berries, jam, or even lemon custard!
- Recipe from: Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, 1989 addition.
LUNCH: Spaghetti & Meatballs
Lunch in our household is normally not very big, but since I was home my mom decided to make something more special and filling. She decided to make spaghetti and meatballs with her homemade tomato sauce, a meal we don’t have often. It was extremely yummy and something she has taught me to make while I’m at school for dinner and that stays well as a leftover. So for those of you who love spaghetti this recipe will hopefully entice and inspire you to get in the kitchen and start cooking!
RECIPE:
For pasta sauce-
- 2 cans of tomato sauce, any brand you like
- 1 shallot finely diced
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon dried baisil
- Add precooked meatballs to sauce or just leave it vegetarian!
- Cook one box of any type of pasta you’d like and add the sauce on top!
- This recipe is homemade!
DINNER: Chicken & Veggies
Full from the last two meals yet? Well in my household that’s not an option! For dinner we had chicken and seasonal vegetable, a meal that we commonly cook because of its simplicity yet nutritious value. My mom seasons everything so well you can never be unhappy with this simple meal.
RECIPE:
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 6 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 6 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup minced parsley (if you want, we did not use)
- 3 tablespoon melted butter
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Pinch of cayenne
- 4 chicken breast halves, skinned, and boned
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium baking pan mix garlic, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, water, parsley, melted butter, pepper and cayenne.
- Cross hatch the smooth side of the chicken breast. Then place the check scored side down in the pan and spoon the sauce over the chicken coat.
- Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Stir the remaining parsley into the sauce.
- This recipe is fabulous alongside french bread, rice pilaf, greek salad, or the roasted veggies we made that were covered with olive oil and cooked in the oven till crispy!
- This recipe is from a woman my mom used to work with and has been around since my parents got married. It is on a very old recipe card that my mom keeps in a box with various other household recipes, many from my grandmother.
DESERT: Chocolate Muffins
My mom is one of the BEST bakers I know. Every time I’m home there is always some type of home baked dessert, from her famous apple cake to zucchini bread she can make anything. Coming home to these times of baked goods always make me feel welcome and comfortable, so its nice when I can replicate them at school and create this sense of “home.”
RECIPE:
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- dash of cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup coconut oil or applesauce, vegetable or canola oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a standard 12 cup muffins tin with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flours, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and chocolate chips and stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, yogurt, milk, oil and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet mixture, stirring just until moistened (don’t over-mix).
- Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to let cool completely.
- Recipe from: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/greek-yogurt-double-chocolate-muffins/
