Whipped cream makes a fantastic (and super easy) keto dessert. You can sugar-free flavored syrups for flavor - they're usually next to the coffee at supermarkets. Get yourself one of these and you can whip up cream in less than a minute.
boil water in a large pot, 60% full, and cook spaghetti. Cooking time will be on box.
take a large-ish teflon pan, put a silver-dollar's worth of E.V. Olive Oil, and some chopped garlic (you can buy it in a jar in olive oil), heat it in the pan for a minute, coating surface.
throw in some chicken, cut into bite-size pieces (sausage works too), fresh greenbeans (or any veggi), cook until browned medium-low heat, add some salt, and basil while cooking, mix in pan with a plastic spatula (always use plastic on teflon. it scratches) add fresh baby spinach at the end for a minute and a half (it cooks down A LOT so add way more than you think you need)
add some heated tomato or vodka sauce OR, a nice alternative: put 2 tablespoons of olive oil, spoonful of chopped garlic, and a spoonful of tomato sauce in a bowl. Chop with a wand mixer, and mix in very well into pasta. You may want to add more or less of this.
The whole thing takes 20 minutes, and it's delicious.
I use an immersion blender like this: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-76BC-SmartStick-200-Watt-Immersion/dp/B000EGA6QI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291916788&sr=8-1 except I don't think mine is as nice. Very handy because there are no extra dishes and the immersion blender cleans much easier than the pieces of my blender.
Immersion blender. Like this.
I've only been drinking bulletproof coffee for a week but I love it. It gives me the energy I desperately need. I use 1 Tablespoon regular salted butter, 1 Tablespoon Virgin Coconut Oil, 12 oz black coffee, 1 packet Splenda. I blend mine with a stick blender I received as a gift. If you're on a budget, and I'm assuming you are because you're in college, get a small personal blender like This One. I've read a lot of posts on bulletproof coffee and it seems Kerrygold butter is best. And the MCT oil, Coconut oil contains MCT so I just use that. It works for me, I love it.
I recommend this.
"Immersion blenders" such as THIS model , intended for kitchen use, brag about having 200 Watt motors. Here is ANOTHER one that lets you
> Choose from five variable speed settings, from 7,000 rpm to 15,000 rpm, plus a 17,500 rpm TurboPulse setting
However, they are probably designed to stir more than 1 liter of liquid, of much higher viscosity than water (think: pureed chickpeas), at much faster velocity than you are interested in. You can probably treat these as an upper bound.
As a college student and a working cook you want something that's well worth the money (it's a real investment) AND cheap. Soooo I recommend you choose to look at Japanese knives, more specifically Tojiro. Why? Well, you cook every day of the week and I'm sure you would want a nice edge that will last, right.
Other investments already being thrown around here would probably be a cast iron. Once seasoned, will last years and will turn up the flavor of any protein being cooked. Another thing that's handy, is an immersion blender. This, without a doubt, receives most of the action in restaurant as far as sauces/soups/last minute buzzing go.
Also, when scraping the bottom of the pan use a wooden spoon. It's natural.
I think the key to a silky smooth gravy or soup is an Immersion blender.
Lumps? They just blend away along with the carrots, celery, onions, etc.