College/Cheap, fast, but not horribly unhealthy ---for Vegetarians!!!

[circus]

the hand pies sound amazing!
My diet often consists of
instant breakfast with instant coffee (breakfast)
pepperjack cheese melted on everything bagels (lunch)
beans and grains (black beans, garbonzo beans, lentils, brown/white rice, couscous, quinoa)- you can actually get  them cooked and canned together, so you can just heat it in the microwave (dinner)

 

I figure its a bit better than my boyfriend's favorite- cheesy eggy ramen ranch.

[olive_juice]

They are pretty fantastic! I live in the meat pie capital (Natchitoches, LA. Curious? Google Lasyones), so I like to think i'm stickin' it to the man when i make my veggie version. hehe.
;.)

[tiramine]

When I'm in a hurry, and low on money, I buy canned chickpeas and jars of indian sauces (like tikka masala or korma). Then I just heat everything in a pan, and serve with rice. Mmmm.

Another thing i recently discovered is how easy and cheap it is to make your own tortillas. I actually learned from Robert Rodriguez, the director. They take a while to finish, but they're sooo good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBgsLmDcL78

[Lilyvanilli]

One of my favorite things to make (coming from a poor college kid) are hand pies.
I use either pizza dough or pie crust, make a yummy filling with cream cheese, sauteed mushrooms, and reduced spinach and add whatever else i feel like (parmesan, oregano, italian seasoning, green onions, etc. etc.) then cut the dough in to squares or circles, whether i'm feeling more like a pie or a hot pocket, fold over and seal 'em then bake til the dough's done. I make up a whole bunch at once and keep them in the freezer for later. Not that they last long-the boyfriend usually gobbles them up within a few days.
I also make pizza-y ones with mushrooms, onions, cheese, pizza sauce....yum!

I made some hand pies tonight with mushrooms, red pepper, green onions, yellow onions, garlic, parmesan, feta, oregano, and basil. They were delicious!! Thanks for the great idea.

[olive_juice]

Awesome! no problem, and they freeze great, for the record. Your ingredients sound fantastic; I'll have to try it!

[Ma Rut]

I figure its a bit better than my boyfriend's favorite- cheesy eggy ramen ranch.

Are we dating the same guy??? That sounds like something my boyfriend would LOVE too. Eww

When I was a poor college student trying become a halfway vegetarian again, I would make a big pot of mac-n-cheese and add a lot of dried minced garlic. It makes it spicy and less-boring, and something about the fullness of garlic helped combat the yearning for meat, for me at least.

[maria isabel]

These ideas are all so great! Im a veggie lover since childhood but my husband LOVES meat and hates veggies so these ideas will help us since he was put on a diet by a doctor and he cant eat meat or dairy at all!
Thanks guys!!!!

[batgirl]

Fake Cajun/Dirty Rice:

sausage style veggie crumbles
spanish rice (I use frozen rice because I am just that lazy)
sriracha sauce

Microwave some crumbles in a bowl
Pour in some rice
(you can also throw in some beans if you want)
add a spritz of olive oil, or not
add some sriracha or other hot sauce
stir it up and eat it

[sillymomma]

Wow, there are some great ideas here! I love all the posts on sushi! I'm not a vegetarian, but my hubby calls me "borderline". Here are my ideas for you!

Mac & cheese: If you really want something healthier but can't afford anything but mac & cheese, add salsa & sour cream (if you're not opposed to dairy), or add frozen mixed veggies and a jar of pureed squash (baby food jar). Seriously, my kids love it & don't even know they're eating yellow veggies!

easy taco soup: A can of each - corn, tomatoes, black beans, red beans, and add onions if you like & a spoonful of crushed garlic if you like. Add a packet of taco seasoning for flavor & voila!

Flour tortillas with mexican rice & beans - make a big batch of homemade salsa! Here's the recipe:
Mexican rice: brown rice, tomato paste, mexican seasonings.
salsa: tomatillos, tomatoes, onion, garlic clove, japanese roasted peppers, cilantro - chop & microwave your tomatilloes, chop everything else & blend it all in a blender.   add salt & lime juice if you have it.

Eating vietnamese is cheap & easy! All you need is rice vermicelli noodles, veggie broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and whatever oriental style veggies you have on hand. Shred the ginger & lemongrass, crush the garlic & mix it with your broth & soy sauce. Oriental chili sauce for spice if you like. Boil the noodles in the broth, add your veggies & cook until tender. Then at the last, add bean sprouts & cilantro raw mixed into your soup. Some examples of good veggies could be snap peas, mushrooms, shredded carrot, bok choy, spinach leaves)  

All these same ingredients could be adapted to a vietnamese noodle salad (drain the noodles, finely shred the veggies raw, include the cilantro and bean sprouts & add peanut sauce on top for a dressing), a spring roll (wrap the drained noodles and shredded veggies all up in a rice-paper spring roll wrapper & Dip in peanut sauce - don't forget your cilantro & bean sprouts!) or a veggie fried rice dish (instead of noodles use rice & fry it up - lots of ginger and lemongrass in this one, but no cilantro or bean sprouts!)

Good luck!

[mandystein]

When I'm in a hurry, and low on money, I buy canned chickpeas and jars of indian sauces (like tikka masala or korma). Then I just heat everything in a pan, and serve with rice. Mmmm.

Another thing i recently discovered is how easy and cheap it is to make your own tortillas. I actually learned from Robert Rodriguez, the director. They take a while to finish, but they're sooo good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBgsLmDcL78

I've done something similar with curry paste!  I mixed up a curry paste and added a bit of heavy cream (easily omitted, but it did give a very rich flavor, of course), a can of chickpeas, some cubed tofu, and served over brown rice.  And because I eat it on everything, I added parmesan cheese.  Definitely not traditional Indian, but I loved it and the leftovers were great, too.  But this is easily made vegan/less fattening -- the cream and cheese are absolutely not necessary.