Dinner Time, and a Genius Idea

Since Cal Poly has crappy food, I have to survive on not so great salads, very salty soups, and overcooked veggies... however the other day I had a genius idea: get a salad, bring it back to the dorms, and make a sandwich!

Ingredients (vary!):

1. Lettuce

2. Spinach

3. Cucumbers

4. Olives

5. Artichoke

6. Tomatoes

7. Two slices whole wheat bread

8. Turkey

Steps:

1. Go to the salad bar. Get what you like, I usually get lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, artichokes, and turkey. One of our salad bars doesn't have tomatoes so I had to use my own. I flipped the salad into the to-go box so there are a lot more toppings than it looks like!

2. Using two slices of bread, make a sandwich with your ingredients. Then, of course, grill it on the george foreman! In the end, you get a delicious sandwich. I absolutely love the Trader Joe's "Daily Bread" sprouted whole grain bread.

Compiling the sandwich:

Ready to grill!

Complete and ready to eat :)

Now that is one hefty sandwich!

Avocado, Rice, and Bean Quesadilla

Back to the dorms! For lunch today I had a nice grilled quesadilla.

Ingredients:

1. Refried beans

2. Pre-cooked brown rice (Trader Joe's)

3. Tomato

4. 1/2 avocado

5. Spinach

6. Whole wheat tortilla

Directions:

1. Spread a few spoonfuls of beans over tortilla.

2. Sprinkle with rice, it should stick to the beans.

3. Top with avocado, tomato, and spinach.

4. Cook on george foreman grill for 4-5 minutes!

Quick Breakfast

Looks like mush, takes yummy!

Ingredients:

1. Instant oatmeal or multi grain hot cereal plain

2. Milk, soy milk, or water

3. Banana (or blueberries, raspberries, etc)

4. Cinnamon

5. Small amount of Greek yogurt (optional)

It's just basic oatmeal, cook the oatmeal in the microwave for about 3 minutes. Mix in cinnamon for taste and yogurt for consistency. Top with banana. Hmm.. a bit of peanut butter might be good too!

This is what I usually eat for breakfast with some variations. I like to add vanilla soy milk for flavor usually over milk or water.

Giant Pasta Stuffed Meatball (This is NOT Easy!)

Since I'm home I am not making as easy meals... as you will see below. What's involved: a lot of meat, a lot of time, and a lot of bacon!!

Ingredients:

Pasta

1. 1/2 bag whole wheat pasta (any type)

Sauce

1. 1-1.5 cans Trader Joes marinara sauce

2. 1/2 onion, sautéd

3. 1 can olives, sliced

4. 1/2 pound bacon

5. 1/4 cup chopped bell peppers (can use other vegetables)

6. 1 cup meat, cooked

Giant Meatball

1. 1 pound ground beef

2. 1 pound ground turkey

3. 2-3 slices of wheat bread

4. 1/8 cup plain oatmeal

5. 1/2 tsp salt

6. 1/2 tsp garlic powder

7. 1 tbsp ground parsley

8. 1 tsp oregano

9. 1/4 cup Parmasean

10. 1/2 lb bacon, cooked

11. 2 eggs

12. 1/4 cup milk

Directions (this may take a while...)

1. Cook the pasta

2. Saute onions and bell peppers.

3. Cook the meat for the sauce.

4. Cook the bacon using a microwave and bacon cooker. Then chop the bacon.

5. Slice the olives.

6. Mix all together with the sauce! Then mix 3/4 of the sauce with the pasta.

7. Meatball time! Mix the two meats together.

8. Make the bread crumbs and oatmeal mixture.

9. Mix in salt, garlic powder, parsley, oregano, and cheese. Whisk the eggs and milk.

10. Add the other 1/2 pound of bacon, chopped, to the meat. Mix the egg mixture, bread mixture, bacon, and meat mixture together.

11. Form meatball shell.

12. Top with mozzarella. Place pasta inside. Form into meatball. If it is too liquidy to flip into a square baking pan, add bread crumbs.

13. Cook at 375 degrees for 25-40 minutes. We put it in for 15, 10, 10, and then 5. Cut into it to see if it is ready.

14. Top with meat sauce, sprinkled with cheese. Bake until cheese melts.

15. Enjoy!!!

NOTE: to make this healthy you should probably serve it with some broccoli. We also made garlic bread. Yummm.

Just a Sandwich... but a Delicious One!

As a college student, I don't get access to all this yumminess without going to the grocery store/farmers market weekly. However, I am home for spring break so I have lots of things to put in my sandwich. This sandwich is delicious and is very healthy! I served it with a side of snap peas, some green grapes, and a cup of delicious Silk Dark Chocolate Almond milk!

Ingredients:

1. 2 slices Trader Joes Sprouted Wheat Bread (mmm this is good bread!)

2. Cucumbers

3. Bell Peppers

4. Avocado (really makes the sandwich!)

5. Romaine Lettuce

6. Spinach

7. Sprouts

8. A few slices oven Roasted Turkey from Trader Joes

Toast the bread, it makes it a lot better! Put your own twist on it. I don't add any condiments because I don't like them but add them if you do. This would be great in the panini press, but that is one thing I have in my dorm that I don't have here!