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’ve been on an oatmeal kick after not having it for a few days during the juice cleanse. Yesterday, I had a bowl with banana and extra almond butter and honey.
Lunch
I’ve already introduced you to the magic that is spaghetti squash. Well, I’m about to turn your pasta world upside down again. During my interview with Lisa Lillien, the founder of Hungry Girl, I learned about another healthy pasta alternative: tofu shirataki. Lillien hails it as the world’s best pasta swap, so I was obviously very intrigued. Tofu shirataki is made from a blend of the root of Konnyaku (a type of yam) and tofu. It comes in various shapes and styles, such as fettucine and spaghetti.
So how does it stack up to traditional pasta? Well, health-wise, it beats pasta by a landslide. One serving of tofu shirataki, which is half a bag, has only 20 calories, 0.5 grams of fat, three grams of carbs, two grams of fiber and zero grams of sugar. Dang. Compare that to a typical serving of spaghetti, which has 220 calories. Taste-wise, it’s unsurprisingly not as good as the real deal, but it’s actually pretty good given its nutritional stats. It is more chewy and slippery than typical pasta and it kind of has a strange scent and taste when eaten plain, but top it with a sauce and you’re golden.
When I went to Whole Foods last week, I came across a package of tofu shirataki in the vegan section (with the tofu, tempeh and dairy-free cheeses) and decided to give it a whirl. I tried it for the first time yesterday for lunch. This lunch took about three minutes total to prepare. All I did was pop the noodles (I used a full bag for my lunch) in the microwave for two minutes, added marinara sauce and microwaved them for 30 seconds and then mixed in sautéed spinach. I topped it all with nutritional yeast and basil and garlic seasoning. Despite the chewier, more slippery texture of the noodles, this still satisfied my pasta craving. Don’t get me wrong, it was nowhere near as good as the bowl of spaghetti and meatballs I had last weekend at an Italian restaurant, but for a healthier swap, I’ll take it. I think next time I use tofu shirataki I’ll probably try topping it with a more Asian-inspired sauce, like terriyaki, peanut or soy sauce, because I think that sort of flavor would go better with the consistency and taste of the noodles.
Dinner
Apparently I was all about pasta alternatives yesterday. For dinner, I had an interesting bowl of spaghetti squash. I found a can of pumpkin in our pantry, so I figured I would use it up even though it’s far past pumpkin season. I mixed about a half cup of pumpkin with a quarter cup of almond milk and then microwaved it for about a minute, which turned it into a creamy sauce that I used on the spaghetti squash. It kind of sounds like a weird combination, but it makes sense that they would taste good together since they’re from the same family. I also added in more sautéed spinach like I did for my lunch pasta because I had a ton of spinach in my fridge that was on the verge of spoiling.
I’ve never used pumpkin as a pasta sauce before, but I’m really into it after last night’s dinner. Since pumpkin is so thick, it makes for a rich sauce that tastes much more decadent than it really is. A half cup of pumpkin only has 50 calories! Plus, it’s a great source of fiber and Vitamin A, so feel free to incorporate pumpkin into your diet even when Halloween is months away.
My unseasonal pumpkin affair didn’t end with dinner – I continued it into dessert with a pumpkin parfait. I warmed up more pumpkin, stirred in Splenda and pumpkin pie spice (you can just use cinnamon and nutmeg if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice) and then layered it in a glass with vanilla yogurt and topped it with whipped cream and more pumpkin pie spice. So good! It tasted like crustless pumpkin pie. Whipped cream makes everything better. It’s slightly dangerous for me to have it in the house because I always end up squirting it into my mouth in very large quantities. Sorry not sorry.