Attempting to Cook a New Dish Every Week for a Month

By: Lanie Brice ‘24

In March of this year, I moved across the street from a grocery store, and I realized that I no longer had an excuse to not try new food and make fun, healthy dishes for myself. I’d wanted to explore cooking for a while, but I’d been stuck in a rut of making the same roasted cauliflower and rice on rotation. I have worn the picky eater badge my whole life, and I decided that now would be the perfect time to work on it. If I made the food myself, maybe I’d be more inclined to like new types of food, and I consoled my anxious self with the reassurance that I could always modify ingredients I knew I wouldn’t like. 

My month-long cooking adventure of making a new dish every single week has truly changed my perspective on food. I’ve gained a major sense of pride in the dishes I’ve been able to create. There is an unmatched satisfaction to being able to create a truly beautiful dish. 

I’ve learned a ton about how creative cooking can be, even when following a recipe, and I’ve loved the ability to know what exactly is going into what I eat as someone who suffers from a number of food allergies. College students often discount cooking, but it can be an amazing hobby that also ends with plenty of leftovers to eat through the week. 

Week 1: Penne with Fresh Tomato Sauce, Burrata, and Herbs from Let’s Do Dinner by Antoni Porowski

I decided to start with pasta with cherry tomatoes because I’ve loved pasta since I was a baby, but I’ve always picked around tomatoes in dishes. Even pizza sauce was a big step for me a few years ago. I substituted Banza gluten free pasta for the penne and Miyoko’s vegan mozzarella for the burrata to fit my own personal dietary needs, and it didn’t effect the recipe at all. 

I was decently satisfied with this dish, especially with how pretty it turned out, but I really didn’t love the feeling and super acidic taste of the half tomato bursting in my mouth. Microwaving leftovers actually made me realize that I’d probably enjoy the pasta more if I cooked down the tomatoes until they had a bit more of a sauce-like consistency. After that adjustment, this recipe has become a favorite staple in my meal prep rotation and gave me more confidence in modifying conventional recipes. 

Week 2: Salmon and Spinach Rice Bowl with Green Tea Broth from Antoni Porowoski

This is another major all time favorite recipe of mine. The only substitution I made with this recipe was omitting the scallions and switching chicken broth for vegetable broth. I’ve never been a huge fan of soups, but there is something undeniably warm and lovely about this rice-based soup that combines nearly all of my favorite flavors. It’s basically a cooked sushi roll in a bowl. 

It’s also ridiculously easy to make even though it sounds fancy. The hardest part is making sure the sushi rice doesn’t boil over on the stove. One of my small cheating moments here was buying pre-cooked salmon to crumble on top, but I think it’s good to remember that it’s perfectly okay to take needed shortcuts sometimes if it makes the difference between trying something new or not. 

Week 3: Scallops with Burst Cherry Tomatoes from Antoni Porowski

This dish forced me to face one of my biggest fears–cooking meat-like things. I’ve loved scallops the handful of times my mom has made them, but I always get so worried about over or undercooking meat/seafood, and I honestly don’t eat much of these kinds of products, so I’m not super familiar with them. 

It turns out that it was cooking down the tomatoes that ended up giving me the most trouble when the pan got too hot and some of them burned. Cooking is definitely forcing me to confront my perfectionism.

Week 4: Vegan Chicken Nuggets (Corn Flake Breaded Tofu) from Nora Cooks 

Since giving up meat 5 years ago, I’ve rarely had any second thoughts. The biggest exception to this is chicken nuggets and chicken tenders. Among the best of the kids' food on the market, I’ve often found myself craving them, but all of the vegan alternative chicken tenders have gluten as well. So I jumped at the chance to try to make a version of my own. I found this recipe and a couple others I’ve tried (with varying success) on the food blog, Nora Cooks. This site has tons of vegan meal and dessert ideas and some gluten free options as well. 

These nuggets consisted of chunks of extra firm tofu marinated in tamari (which is just gluten free soy sauce) and onion and garlic powder. Then I got to crush up corn flakes to make a breading for the nuggets and popped them in the oven. This one made a complete mess of my kitchen, but it was fun to try something that was more involved.

While I was skeptical when I sampled one fresh off the pan, I actually found them more authentic eating them as leftovers the next day. The soggy breading and more saturated flavors reminded me quite a bit of the Chick fil a nuggets I used to eat cold from the fridge when I was a little kid in Texas.

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