RECIPES!!

I like to get cheap frozen cheese pizzas at the store and then add my own fresh veggies at home. Tomatoes, green peppers, onions, spinach, leftover chicken, more cheese, just about anything. I also like to make bean and rice burritos. Just get tortillas, a can of your favorite beans (I like black beans), and "mexican rice". You can just use the Lipton or Rice-a-roni kind or I make my own by adding a can of tomatoes and a couple spoonfuls of salsa to a couple cups of rice. This makes two meals for me. I also eat alot of pasta. I add my own chopped veggies to pasta sauce from a jar and it turns out really good.

I'm a university student and so I will share some of my tips, tricks, and recipes!

- Wash and chop your veggies when you come home after grocery shopping. (Or the first time you use them. ) It is so convenient to throw together a salad when everything is prepared. Doing it that way is cheaper than those packaged bags of lettuce.

- Don't be afraid of casseroles and things like that. It is time-consuming at first but it makes several portions, and you can just freeze the rest in single-portions to save time later. This also applies to purchasing frozen meals like lasagna at the grocery store. I buy large portions instead of microwave dinners, and reheat the rest.

- Make a "pizza" by spreading tomato sauce on a whole wheat pita, and putting on slices of a tofu dog and then some part-skim mozzarella on top. Microwave it or put it in the oven. All of these ingredients except the tomato sauce can be refridgerated.

- Green bean and feta pasta:
- Boil a saucepot of salted water. When it comes to a boil, add in some long whole wheat pasta. Meanwhile, take out the basil, garlic, olive oil, frozen green beans, onion, tomato, and feta cheese. Pour 2 tsp (or whatever reasonable amount) onto a skillet, and add some basil, garlic, and 1/2 cup chopped red or while onion. When the onion is slightly browned (this takes like 30 seconds, don't overcook) toss in 1 1/2 cups frozen French-cut green beans (You can buy them French cut). When they are cooked but still a bit crispy (after 2-3 minutes) add on the chopped tomato, stir briefly, then remove from heat. Pour on 1 tbsp feta cheese. Drain the pasta, and pour the pasta on the plate. Top with green bean mix.

- Stir fry
- Prepare brown pasta or brown rice. Pasta takes about 10 minutes after the water boils. Rice takes 30-40 minutes for brown rice on the stove.
- For the stirfry, pour in 1-2 tsp of olive oil. Add garlic or onions if desired. Pour on some frozen vegetables. Make sure to cook the veggies enough that they are no longer cold on the inside. When they're almost done, toss in some veggie ground round or tofu chunks. Cover with tomato sauce, soy sauce, or teryaki sauce and simmer until the pasta or rice is done.
- You can also do this with meat. For the meat, brown it in the skillet or wok beforehand, then transfer it out while you cook the vegetables, then put it back in at the end.

- Spicy chickpeas (a healthy snack)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Drain and rinse one can of chickpeas. Pour into a medium sized bowl. Add 2 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp cumin, 2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper. Toss to coat evenly. Pour onto cookie sheet trying to spread them out into a single layer. Bake until slightly crispy. (40-ish minutes maybe.) The baking time is long but the prep is 5 minutes and they're a fantastic snack.

get a george foreman grill! works wonders in minutes!!

Grilled Chicken Breast... get some chicken breast, trim the fat, get a bottle of italian dressing and dump it into a container and put chicken breast inside and let them marinate overnight. Grill them on a barbecue the next day, serve with vegetable and rice. Really tasty with if you make your own honey mustard sauce as well.

If you go to Kraft.com, somewhere on the page, they allow you to sign up for a free subscription to their recipe magazine that comes out every season.

DO IT!

They have some of the easiest and tastiest recipes I've ever encountered! They all have Kraft ingredients on their list (hence why they're free- advertising) but they can easily be substituted.

Always have pasta on hand, it is fast and easy.
I try to have a frozen bag of shrimp in the freezer so I can always have something for pasta, stir fry, or for cocktail.
bake your own pizza: Trader Joe's sells pizza dough for under $1, buy some tomato sauce and mozzerella, add your fave toppings and bake.
Buy some cans of thick and hearty soup such as corn chowder or clam chowder and some sourdough. Instant bread bowl soup.

Snack items:
Hummus and pita
Peanut butter + apple slices or celery sticks
milk + cereal

I like grilled cheese too. I make it "healthier" by using skim milk cheese and whole wheat sourdough.

Does anyone else put tomato slices on grilled cheese? It's sooo good. We bacon on too when I was a kid.

I always peel off the tomato on sandwiches or burgers and eat it independantly.

^ i always peel mine off and give it to my boyfriend!!!

stir frys are so easy. Most grocery stores have yellow curry sauces in cans now, most are pretty good! If you want to try a good yellow curry chicken dish I suggest making one with spinach, roma tomatoes, potatoes (hell you can buy these in a can peeled and cut for $.87 can at walmart), and mushrooms. It's nummy!

^ my boyfriend peels his off and gives them to me... hahaha

In college, I used to buy bags of frozen chicken breasts and frozen fish fillets and cook them individually to put on salads or pastas. One of my favorites was cooking a chicken breast with some spicy cajun seasoning and putting it over a caeser or ranch salad.

I also made a pasta recipe that my mom had made for years... Its good for dinners and for pasta salad the next day. This makes a lot, but can be cut into smaller portions.

Olive oil (maybe 1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic
Fresh basil, (2 bunches) Fresh parsley (1/2 bunch)
1/2 red onion.
Mince all these ingredients (i used a little chopper thing)
5 tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 tsp coarse salt
black pepper (just a little)

Combine all this in a bowl and let it sit (covered) out at room temp for at least an hr. The longer it sits the better it gets... It can also stay in the fridge for a day or two til you want to use it.
Whenever you are ready to eat, cook a box of pasta. (any kind works, I always liked ziti or rigatoni)

I would make this for my friends and roommates, and boyfriend. They all loved it. Its easy, quick, and does not require a ton of ingredients from the grocery store. Its also very good the next day as a cold pasta salad. And very fresh and healthy tasting.

Do you think you could be more specific in how to cook the curry? I love curry and would love to make it myself. Do you put all of the ingredients in the pan at once? How high do you turn the heat? How long do you cook it for?

I make yellow curry sometimes. I take a can of coconut milk and put a little in a pan with a little yellow curry paste and turn it on low. Stir until the paste is dissolved in the milk (this is kinda important because you don't want to have any blobs of the curry paste) then add the rest of the can of milk and turn up the heat to a low boil. First add a cubed potato and a half a chopped onion. After that had been boiling for about 10 minutes add some chopped up chicken and boil for another 15 minutes. I usually serve it with sticky rice.

The curry is in a can so it's already to be thrown in the pan! I start by cooking the chicken which i dice up into small pieces, I think it's up to you how big you'd like. I like a larger piece myself. Cook it with spray/oil/butter and put it into a bowl including the juices/water.

When cooking the veggies you want to put the hardest in the pan first and then work your way down to the lowest. I usually start off with broccoli (and celery if I'm using it) and start throwing things in half way. I am a BIG believer of the "you never use high unless your boiling water" club.. so I cook about 1/2 way between medium and high and let the pan heat up fully first.

Since there is so few veggies (but you can always experiment honest I find those to work the best though!) usually you just add once (the tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms later). I like to add the curry sauce into the veggies when I put the soft stuff in (spinach/mushrooms etc). I usually put the chicken in at this time too. I'm sampler, so I taste things until they're ready.

If you can't find the curry in a can you can buy coconut milk (like $0.85 in canada) and mix in SMALL amounts of curry (in a bowl) until you like the taste. I do this with a yellow curry paste. I stress SMALL amounts because it gets HOT really really fast!!! I throw this in the pan at the same time as the stuff in a can.

I'm actually going to try experiementing with the green and red curries now...I'll let you know what I find out!! Hope this helps

^ ah daynu I didn't see your post! Sorry to double post some stuff!