How to Fuel Your Brain: Recipes for easy student cooking

A balanced life starts with a consistent diet that fuels you for the demanding everyday tasks of a busy student. It has taken me three years to adopt a diet that is easy to sustain and makes me noticeably happier – and to make sure it doesn’t take you that long too, I am here to tell you all of my secrets. 

First, forget what you know about diets. From fat-free and high-protein and different types of fasting, it is so overwhelming. It’s just not worth the stress, especially when most of these fad-diets are unsustainable in the long run. 

Everyone has a different relationship with food, so, to try to take everyone into consideration, and since we’re students, I will be focusing on food that fuels your brain rather than fulfilling a health goal. 

This all comes down to your gut, specifically your gut microbiome. 

Let me give you a quick anatomy lesson. Your gut microbiome includes all of the microorganisms in your body that work to make your body function. The gut-brain axis is the reason that a healthy gut equates to a healthy brain. 

If you excite your gut microbiome with a variety of food, you will be making your brain function better than ever. I might just be dramatic, but since I have been focusing on my gut health I feel 10x smarter and much more switched on! 

Importantly, a healthy gut microbiome has been linked to improving your mental health. So, the jury seems to say a gut-focused diet is the way to go. 

Your gut thrives when you give it fermented foods. These are, in short, foods that have live cultures (it usually says this on packaging), look for this when buying yoghurt or kefir, that are good for your gut. 

Secondly, it thrives on a variety of plants, with the goal being around 30 different plants per week. I know, this is a lot easier than it sounds. But, by buying five different coloured peppers, you already have five. Do not worry about counting exactly but rather striving towards variety.

Right, it’s recipe time. For all of these meals, I suggest dedicating some time to cook and prepare your food. Then, refrigerate or freeze your meals so that you only have to cook once per week. 

First, let’s start with the most important meal of the day: Breakfast. 

Getting your breakfast right is crucial in getting the best possible start to your day. Believe me, I have tried every breakfast, and my absolute staple is homemade granola served with banana and kefir (yoghurt also works). 

It is delicious and keeps you full for so long! The fun thing about this is that it only takes roughly 25 minutes to prepare, and you can cater it to your personal preferences. I will give you a rough estimate of how much of each ingredient to include but you can alter this as much as you like, depending on how much you want to make. 

The base of the recipe boils down to the following three ingredients: rolled oats, honey (or maple syrup), and extra virgin olive oil. You can add-on other ingredients to spice it up and these ingredients can be categorised as dry and wet. 

The Granola:

Ingredients:

Dry:

– Rolled oats (~2 cups) 

– Almond flakes (~1 cup)

– Mixed seeds (~1 cup) 

– Dried fruit (~2/3 cup) – ex. Raisins, cranberries, sultanas.

– Chocolate chips (add in after baking) 

– Cocoa powder

– Cinnamon

– Nutmeg

– Ginger powder

– Turmeric powder

Wet:

– Maple syrup or honey (~1/2 cup)

– Extra virgin olive oil (~1/3 cup) 

– Vanilla Extract (1 tsp)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 175˚C.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients, I use oats, almond flakes, mixed seeds, dried fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and turmeric. 
3. Add wet ingredients and combine. 
4. Line a baking tray with grease-proof paper and add the mixture. 
5. Press down on the mixture so that it bakes together to create your classic granola chunks! (:
6. Bake for 8 minutes. 
7. Take the baking tray out and use your wooden spoon to remix and re-press your mixture – this is so that the mixture gets baked equally. 
8. Bake for an additional 8 minutes or until golden brown. 
9. Allow to cool before breaking it into granola chunks. 
10. If you’re using chocolate chips, you should add them once the mixture has cooled to prevent the chocolate from melting. 

Now that you have had an unreal breakfast, it is time to think about lunch and dinner. What is so perfect about this, is that you can prepare for them simultaneously and both recipes can be modified for variety and your personal preference. 

TOP TIP: chop up and prepare all of your veggies and pulses/grains at the beginning of the week so that you do not have to implement this into your busy schedule! 

Here is the best salad recipe that won’t get boring because there’s so many ways to switch it up. There aren’t even any instructions since it is this easy. The only cooking you will need to do is preparing your pulses/grains as specified on the packet. 

TOP TIP: cook your pulses/grains in vegetable stock for flavour, thank me later! 

Here are some ingredients, try to aim for at least 3 vegetables, 1 source of protein, and 1 pulse/grain. 

The Salad:

Ingredients: 

Pulses/Grains (1):

– Bulgar Wheat

– Couscous

– Quinoa

– Wholemeal pasta 

Vegetables (3+): 

– Cherry tomatoes

– Peppers (all different colours) 

– Cucumber

– Courgette

– Spinach

– Kale

– Lettuce (go multi-coloured for extra veggie variety!)

– Apples 

– Grapes

– Sweetcorn 

– Carrots 

Protein (1):

– Chicken breast

– Sausages 

– Pancetta 

– Quorn pieces

Have fun with your salad, switch it up as much as you’d like! Eating a salad just makes you feel like the healthiest person and it’s great, as it also tastes amazing. To make a quick dressing, combine yoghurt/kefir, vinegar and lemon juice to add even more flavour. 

Now for dinner. This recipe is another staple of mine because it is so easy, and you can change it up so that it doesn’t get boring. 

As we have done with the last couple of recipes, I will categorise each and recommend how many you should be working with. This is great because you can just switch it up each week. I will tell you how to prepare every ingredient I have listed for reference. 

The Bake:

Ingredients: 

Carbohydrates (1-2):

– Butternut squash 

– Sweet potato

– Potato

– Wholemeal pasta

Cheese/Dairy (1-2): 

– Halloumi

– Feta

– Goats

– Mozzarella 

– Kefir/yoghurt

Veggies (3+, must inc. chopped tomatoes):

– Chopped tomatoes

– Grated Carrot

– Spinach

– Pepper

– Onion

– Courgette

– Sweetcorn

– Peas

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 190˚C. 
2. Chop up peppers, onions, and courgettes. 
3. Peel and chop potatoes, sweet potatoes, or butternut squash (easier to buy frozen chunks of these) 
4. Add some oil to a baking tray and put your chopped vegetables and chosen carb into the oven to roast. 
5. Grate your carrots and/or mozzarella and cook your pasta, sweetcorn or peas if needed. 
6. Add chopped tomatoes, grated carrots, spinach (to wilt), pasta, sweetcorn, peas, yoghurt (to make the bake creamier), grated mozzarella (for that stringy, cheesy texture) to a large pan. 
7. Mix ingredients together in the pan, bring it to boil and simmer for around 10-15 minutes. 
8. Spice with paprika, Italian herb seasoning, basil, Chinese 5 spice, salt, black pepper, garlic granules or garlic salt. 
9. After roasting, do not turn the oven off and add the ingredients from the baking tray into the large pan and stir. 
10. Now, slice your halloumi, feta, mozzarella or goats cheese. 
11. Add your large pan mixture to a roasting tin and place your chosen cheese on top.
12. Put the roasting tin in the oven for around 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. 
13. Voila, you have a beautiful and delicious bake! 

I hope these recipes are easy to follow and become fun to experiment with. Each recipe is so versatile that it is like learning 10+ meals with just three easy recipes to follow. 

Happy cooking, your gut will thank you!