Taco Salad

When they're on sale, we like the Fiesta Salad mix (you know, the bag has the salad, dressing, cheese and tortilla bits all in it) so I decided to try to imitate the dressing and I think this worked really well! I think that people know what salad proportions they like, so I'll leave that to you.

Taco Salad
Prep time: 20 min

Lettuce (iceberg is what the bag kind has, but anything works)
Cheese (I prefer cheddar or monterrey jack)
Tomatoes
Lean ground meat
Onion, chopped
Garlic
Flour tortilla (1 per person)
Cumin
Chili powder
(or your favorite spice blend)

Brown meat with chopped onion, minced garlic and spices. Assemble salad while meat cools a little. Lettuce, sliced tomato, grated cheese. Spray both sides of the tortillas with cooking spray and toast in a 400 degree oven or toaster oven until crunchy, about 3 minutes. Top salad with meat, broken tortilla pieces and dressing (below).

Taco Salad dressing
Directions are per person - depending on the salsa, will almost always be fat-free.

Plain nonfat yogurt
Salsa

Mix 1/4 cup yogurt with 1/4 cup salsa. Pour on salad!

Shrimp and Sausage Paella

I should admit that this isn't exactly a paella recipe. I looked up a bunch of paella recipes online, and then made something that is similar, but faster to make and skips the pricey ingredients. That is why I say this isn't exactly paella - the only ingredients it consistently includes are rice and saffron. And I skipped the saffron. Feel free to put it in if you would like a more authentic flavor.

Shimp and Sausage Paella
Prep time: 25 minutes (depends most on how quickly your rice cooks) Servings: 2-4

1 cup rice, uncooked
water for rice
1/3 pound turkey sausage
2-3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups shrimp (I used pre-cooked salad shrimp)
1 medium onion
1 carrot, peeled and sliced into rounds
1 bell pepper
1/4 cup peas
paprika
salt
pepper
(other spices if you'd like)

- Start rice cooking.
- Chop all vegetables into bite-size pieces.
- Brown turkey in frying pan. Cooking spray or oil shouldn't be necessary. (If you are using raw shrimp, add during the last 2-5 minutes of cooking, depending on size.) Remove from pan when brown.
- Cook all vegetables (including peas) in pan (I didn't use any oil here, either) until they sweat a little, at most 5 minutes. Carrots should be easy to bite, but still very firm.
- Add rice, sausage and spices to vegetables. Mix. Add shrimp and mix just to warm shrimp through.

Nutrition info (based on 1/4 of recipe): Cal: 354 Fat: 3.1g Carbs: 52.2g Protein: 26g

Seafood and warehouse stores

Yes, those do go together. First, the seafood. You probably know that seafood is often naturally low in fat, while being high in protein and has other good things like the helpful fatty acids. The price at the fresh counter is what we don't like. If you buy your seafood frozen, you get a much better deal at $3-6 dollars a pound, depending on the exact type and whether there's a sale.

Growing up in a family of 8, we always went to warehouse stores to shop. While I was an undergrad in college, I occasionally went with family to get snacks and quick meals, but that was about it. This year for Christmas, I was given a membership and so I have re-discovered how great they can be. In our area, you can get just one gallon of milk, and basic staples (oil, milk, eggs, bread, baking mix) are a much better price. Even if it hadn't been a gift, the $40 a year membership is less than what you could save on milk and bread alone.

There are a few other items that are cheaper here, too, while still being small enough quantities for two people - nuts, dried fruit, frozen meats, and frozen seafood. Lately, I really like the pre-cooked frozen salad shrimp. They are so easy to throw into or on top of anything, and at a great price. The only drawback is that they take a while to thaw, but with a little planning that is not a deal-breaker for me. We also got tilapia for something like $3 a pound. It's a 3 pound bag, so it still fits in our normal fridge, and each filet is individually packaged so it's very easy to thaw just the amount you need.

Crock pot corn chowder

This recipe is from another cooking blog but I am including the version of it I made here because I had to scale it back to fit it into my 1.5 quart crockpot. The recipe as written is very low in calories and fat, so feel free to top with sour cream, plain yogurt, grated cheese, bacon bits, hot sauce, etc.

Crock Pot Corn Chowder
Prep time: 15 minutes before cooking, 5 minutes after Serves: 4

1 cup broth (mine was made from bullion)
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon corn starch

1 half a medium onion, chopped

1 bell pepper

1 peeled and chopped carrot

2 medium potatoes
1 cup frozen corn
Spices (to taste)

- Put the broth into pot. Mix (cold) milk and corn starch, add to pot.
- Coarsely chop all fresh vegetables. Add to pot.
- Add corn, and any spices you like (I added a couple of dashes of chipotle tabasco, 1/4 teaspoon of poultry seasoning, and a little fresh ground black pepper.)
- Let cook in crock pot on low at least 6 hours.
- Before eating, blend partially using an immersion blender, or puree half in a stand blender or food processor.

Nutrition info per serving: Cal: 150 Fat: 1.3g Carbs: 32.6g Protein: 5.9g

Crock-pots (or slow cookers - whichever name you like)

Before going to college, my mom bought me a 1.5 quart CrockPot. Being 17, my thought was "what am I supposed to do with this??" and it sat in my closet for a couple years. I had grown up on slow cooker meals, but I associated them with cooking pinto beans, starting from dry beans, or with pot roast and potatoes - not college food.

When I moved off-campus, I started using it and realized how nice they can be! Mine is actually not meant for cooking full meals, though I think it works fine, and only has the "low" setting. I would recommend one that does have the "high" option. It works especially well for things like chili where you want the flavors to really mingle. If you don't have one, consider it and look at the recipes here. If you do have one, those recipes still look super yummy.

For our crock pot recipes, we will put the prep time and the cook time, but the tags will be based on the prep time because that's really all the attention you'll have to give it. You can find safety tips, including how to tell if your cooker heats properly, here if you want to be sure you are using your cooker properly to avoid undercooking and the possibility of food poisoning.

Taco Salad bowls

This was an idea I found in Family Fun a magazine from the Disney Company.

large flour tortillas - enough for each person to have 1.
aluminum foil
cooking spray
cookie sheet

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Crumple foil into a fist size ball. Put balls of foil on a cookie sheet. Spray each side of tortilla with cooking spray. Drape tortillas over balls of foil. Gently place cookie sheet in oven. The balls and tortillas have a tendency to wiggle at this point but are easy to rearrange. Bake for 5-7 minutes until they are golden brown. The tortillas will naturally fall over the balls forming the bowls. Remove from oven and let set for 2 minutes. Fill the bowls with taco salad or chili and enjoy!

Couscous & chickpea salad

A recipe to go with my favorite pasta recommendation. The time I took a picture, I added 1 bell pepper and 1 small cucumber, cut into small cubes. Olives would be a good addition, too.

Couscous & chickpea salad
Serves 3-4 (as main dish – 6-8 if a side!)

1 c water
1 c couscous
1 cube/teaspoon chicken (or veggie, or anything) bullion

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas
1 med. tomato (or 2 roma tomatoes)
1 clove garlic
¼ t chili powder (I used chipotle chili powder, but cayenne or another would work)
1/2 t dry basil
feta cheese

- Boil water with bullion in medium sauce pan. When water reaches a steady boil, remove pot from heat and pour in couscous. Cover with lid, let sit for 5 minutes while you prepare the rest.
- Chop tomato into small cubes, put into large bowl. Mince garlic (I use a press) and add to bowl with tomatoes. Open and drain chickpeas, add to bowl. Add chili powder and basil to bowl, stir.
- When couscous is ready (when the 5 minutes is up) add it to the bowl and mix.
- Serve immediately or put in the fridge to chill. I like to have the feta available for those who want it to put on top of their own.

To meat or not to meat?

If you haven't noticed already, one of the ways to make food cheaper and quicker is to skip the meat. I'm not advocating a vegan or vegetarian diet here - just pointing out a fact. I know that some people are really attached to eating meat with every meal, so I looked up the USDA dietary guidelines. They recommend that a 2,000-calorie diet should include 5 1/2 "units" of the meat/poultry/fish/eggs/beans/nuts group a day. How much is a unit? 1 oz of meat, poultry, or fish, 1 egg, 1/4 cup cooked dry beans or tofu, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, or 1/2 ounce of nuts or seeds.

How much is one ounce of meat? Well, a piece the size of a deck of cards is 3 ounces - so cut that in 3. How much is one half ounce of nuts or seeds? One small handful. You can find actual numbers of nuts and their fat content here, if you'd like. Just remember that it's a healthier fat than you find in most foods.

After gathering that info, I realize it's really easy to get as much as you need! So, go do it.

Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe is also based on one from Cooking Light (original here) but the puff pastry it asks for is one of those things I don't buy often, and some of the other ingredients don't find their way into my cabinet, either. Instead of making a pie crust topping, we decided to try cornbread, and it worked really well! I didn't time how long this took, but it is relatively long for me.

Chicken Root Vegetable Pot Pie
Serves: 4-6 (makes an 8x8 square dish)

2 cups chicken broth (I make mine with bullion)
1 medium red potato
1 medium white potato*
1 1/2 cups (est.) butternut squash*
1/2 onion
1 large chicken breast
1 cup frozen peas (a can would work, but be softer in the end.)
2 tablespoons cornstarch (to thicken - use flour if you don't have cornstarch)
cornbread mix for 6 muffins (one of the Jiffy blue boxes would work)
water (or other ingredients mix calls for)
*Feel free to replace either of these with sweet potato, I've used it before and it works really well

- Preheat oven to 375
- Put chicken broth in a large pot over medium heat. It will eventually boil.
- While broth is heating, cut vegetables into approx. 1/2 inch cubes. To make sure it all gets fully cooked, start with the potatoes and add them as you finish, then peel, chop, and add the squash. Cover the pot when you're not adding ingredients.
- Turn the heat up to medium-high and stir occasionally. Chop onions, but leave them out until after chicken is cut.
- Cut chicken breast into cubes and add into the pot (yes, it will cook completely)
- Once chicken has turned white (3-5 min) add peas and onion.
- Mix cornstarch with cold water in a cup, then pour into pot, stirring the whole time.
- Turn pot to low and prepare the cornbread batter.
- Pour mixture from pot into 8x8 pan and carefully pour cornbread batter over the top. Put a baking sheet below the pan in case it boils over.
- Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until cornbread is as done as you like it.

I love my microwave

But sadly right now it's broken, so preparing dinner takes a lot of time and fore thought. When my microwave is running one of my favorite things to use when making dinner are the Ziploc Zip & Steam bags.

I'm not trying to be a commercial but they really are are great as all the commercials make them seem. They don't take any additional water, butter or oil (they use the water found in foods to cook).

There are recipes on the actual Ziploc website and others can be found can of course be found with a search engine.

The bags can be found at most every grocery or department store with the other Ziploc products. I buy mine at the warehouse store in packages of 40. I believe they are labeled one time only use, but if I've only cooked vegetables I do rinse and reuse them, just not if I cooked meat.

Try it out, and think of me having to defrost meat for days in the fridge and be glad your microwave works!