If you live in a college residence then you can probably relate with the constant struggle of eating in the caf every night. I mean, sure, at first the constant pizza and ice cream bar was exciting, but you quickly realized how starved you were of filling and healthy meals. Finding the time and effort to run around the caf trying to construct a half decent meal is difficult, and TBH takes way too long. After months of feeling discouraged about the food, I started becoming more creative with how I went about my dinners. With a few test trials, I created the caf hack “rice bowl”. In 4 easy steps, you can make yourself a tasty dinner using different ingredients from your cafeteria.
GIF Courtesy of tumblr.com
The Caf Basics:
To start off, you are going to grab two bowls which will be useful later for mixing. Fill the first bowl up halfway with brown or white rice, whatever they are offering in the caf or what you feel like eating! Make sure you keep one of the bowls empty for later.
The Protein:
Add a serving of the protein of your choice; I find that chicken tastes the best but it’s not always offered. If the caf isn’t serving good meat, chickpeas can be a tasty alternative.
The Toppings:
Photo by Naomi Flanagan
Using the caf salad bar, add the vegetables to your bowl; the more the better! A good combination is cucumbers, red onions, lettuce and chickpeas. You can mix it up and try different veggie combos, like sometimes I go with beets. It’s really all up to you! Here is one of my dinners, its not that pretty but it tastes good!
The Finishing Touch:
I recommend adding feta as the cheese of your choice, especially when the rice is still warm because it melts on top and tastes awesome. Once the bowl is ready, add any type of dressing you would like. The best is usually a light dressing such as olive oil and balsamic vinegar or greek dressing. I use olive oil because the salad already has so much flavour and the oil just mixes it nicely. Once you have all of your ingredients, grab the second bowl, flip it upside down and place it over the full bowl to make mixing easier. Hold them shut together tight and toss your salad. Once all of your ingredients are mixed, eat up!
GIF Courtesy of India O’neil (Pinterest)