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
I went into the kitchen yesterday morning to discover a horrible crime: we were out of bananas. Holding back tears, I decided to top my oatmeal with strawberries and raspberries instead. While nothing goes as good with almond butter as bananas, it was still delicious. I also mixed in a tablespoon of ground flaxseed (rich in omega 3’s and fiber), which adds a little bit of a nutty flavor and thicker texture to the oats.
Lunch
By the time my lunch break rolled around, I was still craving breakfast foods—obviously, cause breakfast foods are the best—so I had a toasted English muffin. I topped one with mashed avocado and smoked salmon, and the other with a Light Laughing Cow Swiss Cheese wedge, a fried egg and one slice of turkey bacon. Laughing Cow spreads are amazing; each wedge is only 35 calories and they are really rich. There are a bunch of different flavors, but the Swiss is my favorite.
Dinner
For dinner, I had a salad topped with a turkey burger with a side of baked sweet potato. The salad consisted of spinach, arugula, cherry tomatoes and avocado. I used red wine vinegar as a dressing, and also squirted a little bit of Frank’s RedHot sauce on the burger.
This meal was very satisfying—filling, nutritious and tasty, too. Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods (especially when the sweet potato in question is in fry form). You can read about all the health benefits of sweet potatoes here.
The best part about this meal is that it was also very easy to make, thanks to my house’s handy-dandy George Foreman grill. These grills are definitely a worthwhile investment. You can make burgers and grilled chicken without having to go outside or have any cooking skills whatsoever. You just stick whatever you’re making on the grill, close the lid and keep it there until it’s done.
Baked sweet potatoes are also incredibly easy to make. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, pierce the potato several times with a fork, wrap it in foil and stick it on a baking sheet for about 40 minutes to an hour. And voila! You have a warm, sweet side dish to round out your meal.
Couldn’t wait to have a bite before taking a picture of it. Whoops.