Cooking on campus: an easy enchilada recipe

Written by Bryana Torres-Martinez | Graphics by Jiselle Santos

Living away from home can be difficult. From being in a new environment to being apart from family, adjusting isn’t always an easy feat. One thing we tend to compromise on is the food. Although UH does have a variety of great dining options, the only option we don’t have is a home-cooked meal. Of course, this isn’t the fault of UH, but there’s nothing like a meal made especially for you.

There’s more to food than frozen meals, dining halls, and fast food. Putting in the time to cook yourself a meal can be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. Although it may feel impossible to do this, especially when living in dorms with a shared kitchen, this can be an amazing opportunity to come together with roommates and get cooking! Not only does this cut costs, but gives you an opportunity for a fun night in.

Just this past weekend, my roommate and I decided we’d try to make ourselves dinner. After walking around Costco, searching for an inexpensive meal idea, we settled on making chicken enchiladas. Here’s what we used:

1. Pre-cooked chicken

2. Enchilada sauce (green or red, we used both)

3. Mexican style grated cheese

4. Corn tortillas

5. Salt (to taste)

6. Oil

Now that we had our ingredients, we went back to our dorm to make ourselves a delicious dinner. Here’s what we did:

1. First, preheated our oven to 350 degrees.

2. Then, we shredded and lightly salted chicken in a bowl.

3. Next, we heated up tortillas in the microwave to get them ready to roll.

4. After that we heated up our sauces and oiled our baking pan.

5. Then we filled tortillas with chicken and cheese and rolled them up.

6. Next we laid them in the pan, one after another.

7. Once our rolled tortillas were in the pan, we poured our sauces on top.

8. Adding a second layer is optional, we had extra so we added a second.

9. Finally, we topped it all off with cheese and put it in the oven!

After 30 long minutes in the oven, our meal was ready. The aroma alone made going the extra mile to make dinner for ourselves so worth it. With the help of a roommate, it’s easy to make an inexpensive, mouthwatering meal yourselves. Cooking is definitely not impossible here at UH, and I would say it’s even fun! Next time you’re feeling hungry for a meal just for you, try our recipe or find one that suits your appetite. In the kitchen, there’s no limit!