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
Much like the best alternative to pasta, I'm about to let you in on a healthy alternative to ice cream. No, not froyo - it's even healthier than that, and you can make it yourself using only one ingredient: a frozen banana. Take a moment to reread that to really let the magic sink in.
All you do is put a frozen banana in a blender or food processor until the consistency gets creamy, which only takes about 30 seconds. And that's it! The texture actually does resemble fro-yo and the flavor is so fresh and natural since it's just straight up banana. If you're feeling fancy, you can mix in other ingredients, like cocoa powder, chocolate chips or other frozen fruits.
Since it's just made from banana, you can finally fulfil your dream of having ice cream for breakfast without feeling like you're doing something that you probably shouldn't. I made some for breakfast yesterday and topped it with a scoop of almond butter. I also had a piece of toast on the side. Whether you eat it as dessert, a snack or breakfast, like I did, I promise you that you'll be amazed by how good and simple this treat is.
Lunch
I was out and about yesterday afternoon, so I stopped at Chipotle, aka heaven, for lunch. I got a vegetarian burrito bowl with brown rice, black beans, fajita veggies, lettuce, salsa and a side of guac. YUM. Is there any dip better than guac? Seriously, tell me if there is, because I have yet to taste one that beats the creamy goodness that is guacamole. With the option to get a bowl or salad and customize your fix-ins, Chipotle is a great quick-serve place for a healthy, on-the-go lunch. If you're looking to keep it low-cal, nix the sour cream, cheese and tortilla. If you want guac (I'll judge you if you don't), ask for it on the side so that you can control your portion, since the employees tend to dump a dollop the size of your face onto your order.
Dinner
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For dinner, I went out to Sadako, a Japanese restaurant on campus, with some friends. I got the house salad, which came with tomato, avocado and ginger dressing, and I added raw salmon and tuna on top. Ginger dressing is the bomb; I wish that Sadako sold it by the bottle because I would probably put it on just about anything (or eat it plain if no one was watching). I also got skewers of grilled shrimp and grilled scallops. The meal came with miso soup and we got edamame for the table, so by the end of the meal I was pretty stuffed. But I still had room for a piece of mochi ice cream, which is a little ball of ice cream coated in a chewy shell of Japanese rice cake. The texture is kind of weird, but I really like it. If you haven't had it before, try it the next time you get sushi.
Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday! Can't say I'll be watching the game, but I'm looking forward to the commercials and all the foodstagrams of people's snack spreads. Go stick a banana in the freezer right now so you can make some banana ice cream (or "nice" cream as I've seen it called on food blogs) for a healthy way to wash down the chips and wings.