The ScholarNet team shares their favorite quick and easy fall recipes with busy financial aid professionals and lenders.
While it’s getting too late in the season to call this our summer recipe series, we’re not quite ready for really hearty meals. Keeping in mind that fall brings a busy season in the financial aid office – and back to school for those of us with kids of any age – we decided to focus on quick and easy recipes that offer some comfort. Bon appetit!
The best recipes are those that get passed down from generation to generation. Writer Kyle Danielson swears by his mother’s four-ingredient guacamole recipe.
Kathy’s Guac Recipe
Ingredients:
2 avocados
¼ cup chopped onions
¼ cup chopped tomatoes
1 packet of guacamole seasoning
Directions:
Mashup two avocados. Add your chopped onions and tomatoes, and continue mixing. (I like a lot of onions – may be too much for those who don’t!). Add the packet of guacamole seasoning and mix until it’s evenly spread out. Refrigerate one hour and pair with chips, tacos, quesadillas, etc.
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Writer Susie McCormick discovered this recipe for beef stroganoff when her kids were young and she was often carpooling them to activities. She found this was a fast, simple way to enjoy a classic, delicious favorite, even when their lives were busy.
Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients:
1 pound sirloin steak, ¾” thick
1 tablespoon oil
1 10-3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
1 10-3/4 oz. can beef broth
1 cup water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 cups uncooked corkscrew pasta
½ cup sour cream
Directions:
Slice beef into very thin strips. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add beef and cook until browned and juices evaporate, stirring often. Remove beef from the pan and keep warm in a bowl covered with aluminum foil. Add soup, broth, water, and Worcestershire. Heat to a boil, stir in pasta. Reduce heat to medium and cook 5 minutes. Add beef into the mixture, and continue cooking another 10 minutes or until noodles are done. Stir in sour cream and heat through.
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It’s not a complete meal without dessert. And again, family recipes are often the best ones. Diane Borchardt’s tried-and-true frosted brownie recipe comes straight from her mother-in-law, Phyllis.
Brownies
Ingredients:
½ cup margarine
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup flour
1 can Hershey’s syrup
½ cup chopped nuts
Directions:
Cream sugar and margarine, add eggs. Then add flour and syrup. Mix until smooth, and add nuts. Spread in greased 9×11 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Frosting
Ingredients:
1-1/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons margarine
6 tablespoons milk
½ cup chocolate chips
Directions:
Bring to a boil and then boil 30 seconds. Take off heat, and add chocolate chips. Beat until smooth, and then pour over brownies.
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We hope you enjoyed these recipes. (If you missed them, you may want to check out Part I and Part II of our Summer Recipes Series.) Those of us on the ScholarNet team who share recipes with you find it fun to see what types of dishes we like to prepare for our families. We hope you enjoyed the first in this Fall Recipe series – and even try a few of the recipes. Stay tuned for our next installment, when we explore different chili recipes and traditions for how to serve it.