Favorite Recipes

For many, the path to independence starts in the kitchen and cooking classes have been a part of Pathways since the beginning. Recipes are developed that could be recreated at home with little to no supervision. These classes also help students explore new foods and discover new flavors. Here is the list of students’ favorite recipes:

Favorite Snacks and Appetizers

Ants On A Log

This simple snack is perfect to hold you over between meal. It is full of crunch, tasty peanut butter and super easy to make.

Ingredients: Washed and cut celery, peanut butter of choice*, raisins
Fill celery with desired amount of peanut butter and top with raisins. Boom! Done!
Serving size: We follow the peanut butter serving size to determine how many to have. 1 TBS of peanut butter should fill 4-5 cut pieces of celery *substitute other nut butter if you have a peanut allergy

Cowboy Caviar

Don’t worry no fish eggs are involved in this tasty recipe. This fan favorite salsa dish packed full of tasty veggies and goes great with tortilla chips.

Ingredients: 2 avocados, one small red onion (you don’t need to use the whole thing, about ⅓ of it), 1 can of corn, 1 can of black beans, ⅓ cup of cilantro finely chopped, ⅓ cup olive oil, 2 TBS lime juice, and a pinch of salt
Chop everything up and mix everything together. Boom salsa!
File your soup is souping, butter one side of two pieces of bread.
Place desired amount of cheese between unbuttered sides of bread (you may get a little buttery). Place buttered side of bread on preheated stovetop pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (cook to your desired level of crispiness).
Enjoy with chips or on top of tacos.

Hummus

Students did not expect this chickpea based recipes to be one of their favorite appetizers. Grab your foot processor or blender and enjoy!

Ingredients: 1 can chickpeas rinsed and drained, ½ tsp baking soda, ¼ cup lemon juice, 1 medium clove garlic chopped, ½ tsp salt, ½ tahini (a staff member happened to have a jar, be prepared it can be a little pricey), 2 to 4 tbs ice water, ½ tsp ground cumin, 1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
Combine tahini and lemon juice and process for 1 minute, scrape down sides the process for 30 minutes more.
Add olive oil, garlic, cumin, and salt blend for 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl and blend for another 30 seconds.
Open, drain and rinse chickpeas. Add half of the chickpeas to the mix and blend for 1 minute. Scrape the sides down and add and blend in the remaining chickpeas for 1 to 2 minutes.
The hummus will be little thick at this point add 2 to 3 tbs of water until you reach desired consistency. Add salt to taste and enjoy with veggies!

Chex Mix

This salty snack can be made gluten free and can be thrown into a slow cooker with ease.

Ingredients: 1 package crispy corn and rice cereal, 2 cups pretzels, 1 cup cheerios, 1 cup peanuts, 1/3 butter melted, 1 tbs salt, ¼ Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp garlic powder
Whisk together butter and salt until its dissolved. Stir in Worcestershire sauce.
Place the rest of the ingredients in the crockpot and drizzle with butter mixture. Toss until evenly combined.
Cover and slow cook on low for 3 hours, stirring every hour to keep from burning.
Spread mixture on baking sheet in an even layer until cool.

Energy Bites

These no bake bites are great for breakfast or a quick snack! Add raisins or cranberries to try something new.

Ingredients: 2 cups oatmeal, 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup flaxseed, 1/3 cup honey, 1 tsp vanilla
Combine all ingredients.
Scoop a tbs of mixture and roll into a ball. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to set.

Fruit Salad

This snack is quick, healthy, and tasty.

Ingredients: Your favorite fruits
Cut fruit up. Mix it all together.
Enjoy by itself or with some low fat yogurt.

Tzatziki

While studying Mediterranean countries students tried this tasty dish complete with pita chips.

Ingredients: 1 cup grated cucumber (include peel and seeds), ½ cup plain Greek yogurt, 1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tsp mint or dill chopped, 1 ½ tsp lemon juice, 1 medium clove garlic minced, ¼ tsp salt
Squeeze grated cucumber to remove excess moisture.
Add the rest of ingredients and stir to blend. Let mixture rest for 5 minutes. Taste and add addition herbs, lemon juice, and/or salt to taste.
Serve immediately or chill for later. Our favorite pairings are pita chips and pita bread.

Favorite Lunches

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

This fall favorite is easy to make and will warm you right up. We normally serve 25-30 students so we bake our sandwiches in the oven, for smaller batches you can use a stove top pan.

Ingredients: Bread of choice (we like wheat), 1-2 slices cheese of choice (we like American), small amount of butter or vegetable spread, 1 can of tomato soup
Grab your can of soup and follow its cooking instructions. Most of the time you pour your soup and a can of water into a saucepan and let it heat up for about 20 minutes.
File your soup is souping, butter one side of two pieces of bread. Place desired amount of cheese between unbuttered sides of bread (you may get a little buttery). Place buttered side of bread on preheated stovetop pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (cook to your desired level of crispiness).
Once your soup is warm and your sandwich is crispy you can sit back and enjoy. Do be careful because your soup will be hot!

Veggie Lasagna

We are working on perfecting this veggie lasagna recipe. Boiling lasagna noodles can be hard as it requires pouring out a heavy pot of hot water. To solve this problem we have experimented with no boil noodles and removing the noodles completely by using sliced vegetables as a substitute. Our discovery? Veggie noodles is the way to go!

Ingredients: 4 zucchini, 2 eggplants, 3 jars of pasta sauce, 1 container of cottage cheese, 1 small bag of shredded mozzarella cheese, precooked meatballs (optional)
Slice eggplants into long, thin slices. Sprinkle eggplants with salt and place between paper towels to absorb excess water. Slice zucchini into long, thin slices.
Starting with pasta sauce, alternate layers of sauce, veggies, cottage cheese, and meat (if desired). Once all ingredients are used top with mozzarella cheese, cover with tin foil and place in oven for 45-50 minutes at 400. Check regularly, veggies should be soft when done. Remove foil and cook for 5 more minutes to finish melting cheese on top.
Enjoy this healthy lasagna alternative warm!

Tacos

Some people have taco Tuesday, at Pathways we have taco Thursday.

Ingredients: tortillas, rotisserie chicken, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, salsa, sour cream
Tear up chicken.
Warm tortillas then top with chicken and other favorite toppings.