3 (Insanely Easy) Recipes to Take you from Morning Through Lunch

The quickest recipes are usually my favorites because I don’t have a ton of time for cooking throughout the day. Previously though, I’ve found it to be a little challenging to get good meals made quickly that don’t involve reheating a sad frozen entree.

So, I started looking around online and remembered that Skillshare had some culinary classes that might help me pick up some fast kitchen skills. Turns out they actually have a TON of culinary classes (in addition to the thousands of other classes in different categories), and plenty of those ended up being up my alley for quick and easy ideas. Yay!

So, I’m taking you from morning coffee through lunch (or maybe even dinner) with 3 delicious food/drink ideas and recipes that will each only take (literally) a few minutes to make. All thanks to my friends at Skillshare and 3 of their classes that inspired today’s recipes. Perfect timing too, since this month is #psfoodcrush month, right?

If you’re not familiar with Skillshare already, it’s a global learning community for creators where anyone can take thousands of online classes (in categories like DIY, food, fashion, business and more!) or even teach a class themselves, for $10 a month. Get started today and receive your first 3 months for just 99 cents, when you use the code paperandtsitch99 at checkout.

I’ve been using Skillshare for years…I even teach a Skillshare class of my own (The How To on How Tos: Creating Compelling Tutorials for Your Blog). So, I highly recommend it.

Back to the recipes though… what exactly is on the agenda today? How to make the perfect cup of coffee, a breakfast you can make the night before (in under 5 minutes), and the best grilled cheese I’ve EVER had.

Lets go!

Before Breakfast

But first, coffee! Everybody loves coffee, right? Well, almost everybody anyway. And the From Plant to Cup: Brew an Amazing Cup of Coffee class is awesome for learning the ends and outs of brewing the ‘perfect’ cup. It’s taught by the Director of Training at famed California roaster Blue Bottle.

Jeff is usually the one that makes coffee in the morning because he’s kind of particular about it. BUT I wanted to learn too and now I’m a coffee making machine. 🙂

If you’re a coffee addict, this class is a must and can do a far better job explaining how to the make the perfect cup than I can. So you can check it out here.

In terms of a recipe, this one is more of an add in… I like to put a little cream in my coffee and a tiny bit of caramel sauce to sweeten it up, but I’m pretty sure the coffee gods would frown on me for that last bit. So pretend I didn’t say that. Or get your caramel coffee on and give it a try. Either way.

Breakfast

I recently discovered overnight oats, thanks to Make Ahead Breakfasts That Will Change Your Day, and am totally hooked. You can make it ahead of time (the night before etc), so that when you’re getting ready in the morning you don’t also have to worry about making breakfast. Just grab and go! There are endless possibilities for different flavor pairings for this one too.

So, I made my own version, which is a little sweeter. I switched out plain Greek yogurt in favor of vanilla yogurt, and added honey in place of some of the suggested spices. Here’s how I made my (slightly sweeter version) of overnight oats…

Mix 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup oats, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp of honey, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract in a large bowl. Pour into lidded jars and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, add some fresh fruit on top and maybe even a little more honey and you’re good to go.

Lunch
I love grilled cheese! So The Perfect Grilled Cheese class was a no brainer. My mom and grandma would both make me mini grilled cheese sandwiches when I was a kid and there is definitely a part of me that will likely never grow out of those childhood food cravings. Fine by me.

This class, taught by Plated’s Head Chef Elana Karp, has several 1-4 minute videos, going over the grilled cheese basics from ingredients to cooking, with a few genius tips along the way (like how you should use a thin layer of mayo instead of butter on the outside of your bread so that it toasts up evenly without being greasy). Brilliant!

After finishing the videos, I whipped up my own versions of the perfect grilled cheese, using the same four cheeses that Elana suggested, but with some extra ingredients that (in my opinion) have officially made them the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had.

Strawberry Fig Grilled Cheese: #1 in my book! So good. Just scrape a little bit of mayo onto each piece of bread (on the outside), and add a small handful of each of the following fresh shredded cheeses in a bowl: fontina, mozzarella, gruyere, mild cheddar. Mix the cheese together and place half the cheese on the first piece of bread. Add the sliced strawberries and fig jam, then the rest of the cheese and the last piece of bread. Put in a frying pan on medium heat and flip after 2 minutes to crisp the other side.

Apple Bacon Grilled Cheese: This one is Amelia’s favorite and it’s delicious too. Just crisp up some bacon and slice some apples. Then stuff those between the four cheeses like the other recipe (fontina, mozzarella, gruyere, mild cheddar) and two pieces of hearty bread, again with the scraped mayo, and put in a frying pan. Flip after 2 minutes to crisp the other side.

Photography by Amelia Tatnall
Recipes and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff

And that’s it – 3 food and drink ideas that will take just minutes to make.

Want to give Skillshare a try? Get started today and get 3 months of Skillshare premium for 99 cents when you use the code paperandstitch99 at checkout.