Sick of eating cereal and ramen for lunch and dinner? Want to spend less money eating out and finally start cooking for yourself? Put down that frozen pizza, because HC’s Health Editor, Sammie Levin, is here to share her daily eats so you can get ideas for healthy, satisfying meals that are easy enough for any time-strapped collegiette to make. After you read Collegiette Eats, your taste buds, wallet and waistline will thank you.
Breakfast
When I got my jar of almond butter out of the fridge yesterday morning, I saw that it was almost empty and rejoiced because that meant it was time for... oats in a jar! I prepared my oats as usual (with a quarter cup of oats, a half cup almond milk, a banana, cinnamon and a scoop of ground flaxseed) and then transferred it to the jar of almond butter. I've said it before and I'll say it again: everything tastes better out of a jar. I enjoyed my oats with a glass of iced coffee, which I made in our Keurig using a vanilla flavored K-cup. I added some almond milk and a packet of Splenda to sweeten it.
Lunch
For lunch, I went to babo, which is a market on campus that's basically like Whole Foods. They have specialty health and local products as well as delicious prepared foods. It was hard to choose what to get because everything looked so good, but I went with Brussels spouts and a kale salad. The sprouts were made with apples and dried cranberries and had a sweet glaze that kind of tasted like teriyaki sauce. The kale salad had tomatoes, pears, dried cranberries, walnuts and pecans. It was a little too heavily dressed for me; I don't like when the kale is drowning in marinade, but it was still yummy.
When you're getting a meal at a prepared foods counter, it can be overwhelming to decide what to get because there are often so many options (and plenty of unhealthy ones tempting you). For example, there was dense, four-cheese mac and cheese staring me down as I made my decision. My advice when you are in these situations is similar to my advice for tackling all-you-can-eat buffets: First, survey all of the offerings before making your choice so that you don't end up seeing something else you want after and tacking it onto your order, resulting in you eating more than you would have otherwise. Second, make compromises. If your craving for the mac and cheese is too intense to ignore, then pair a serving of it with a salad instead of also getting the fried chicken. And third, be mindful of your portion sizes. Just because it all fits in one container doesn't mean that you have to eat it all in one sitting! Leftovers are your friend, so save whatever you don't finish for another meal or snack later.
Dinner
For dinner, I made something that I will definitely be eating again in the near future: soba noodles and edamame with a spicy homemade peanut sauce. This took pretty much no time at all to prepare and it was so satisfying. It tasted just like a peanut sauce from a Chinese or Thai restaurant; I couldn't believe it only took 30 seconds to whisk together! I used the sauce from Kalyn's Kitchen's recipe for Spicy Vegan Peanut Butter Tofu. I didn't even have to prepare the soba noodles because they were left over from a soup that I got at a restaurant the night before, but soba noodles only take a few minutes to cook anyways, so this dinner is perfect for a night when you don't have a lot of time but still want a home-cooked meal. Check out the recipe for the sauce below. I loved it on the soba noodles, but it would also taste good on rice, sautéed vegetables (especially broccoli!), tofu or chicken.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar
- 2 tablespoons vegetable stock or water
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha
Directions
- Whisk all of the ingredients together.
- Pour over noodles and stir until coated. I used about half of the sauce on my cup of soba noodles and a half cup of edamame, and then saved the rest of the sauce in the fridge.