Less than 5: Big-kid Ramen

Another in my "Less than 5" recipe series. All recipes beginning with that title will have less than 5 ingredients and/or cost less than $5. Bonus for ones that also take less than 5 minutes. =)

 

Ramen used to be the greatest after-school snack ever. Then in college, it was pretty much a daily staple. At 10-20 cents per pack, the good people of Ramen keep poor college kids worldwide from starving. When I started graduate school, and started taking this blog more seriously, I figured Ramen was no longer part of my life. I had graduated to frittatas, lasagna, and white bean chicken chili. Big kid food. 

But then in my masters study, my Taiwanese advisor had Ramen for lunch nearly every day. She just fancied it up by adding a handful of fresh spinach and an egg. Well of course I had to try it, as the chicken-salt smell of Ramen is hard to resist. Adding veggies ups the nutritional value (which previously was negative zero) and an egg or tuna will bump up the protein.

It turns out to make a decently healthy meal, for way less than a dollar per serving. Ever since then, when I have a random Ramen craving, I give in with the justification that at least it's "big kid" Ramen. Now you can too!

Ingredients:

1 package Ramen noodles

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables or spinach

1 egg

Spices (I used parsley, parmesan, and red chili pepper for kick)

Step 1: Heat the noodles and water for 3 minutes in the microwave. Let stand for another 3 minutes.

Step 2: Add the vegetables and egg. Break the yolk so it doesn't explode. Microwave another 3 minutes.

Step 3: Stir in seasoning packet and spices, enjoy!

The chili flakes gave it a nice bite of heat, and I like the frozen mixed veggies because of the corn and carrots' sweetness. You can get creative with this. Use tofu, beans, tuna, chicken. Any cooked vegetable will work well. I'm partial to the chicken flavoring only, but there are beef and shrimp flavorings too. For 0.10 (noodles) + 0.10 (egg) + 0.10 (frozen veg) = $0.30 not a bad meal!

What do you put in your Ramen?

Ten minute chili mac

Who doesn't love a little comfort food now and then?I know I do! I believe in life with moderation in all things. Eat well most of the time, be active most of the time, indulge a little some of the time! Not only is this chili mac super easy and fast, it is also ridiculously cheap. To bare-bones it, just get the store brand mac n cheese and the frugal-est can of pre-made chili and mix the two. This recipe is just one step up from there by making your own quick chilli. You can use the chili alone, or top hot dogs or baked potatoes too.

Ingredients:

1 box macaroni & cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar for extra oomph)

1 can kidney beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1 pound ground beef or turkey

1 small can tomato sauce (6 oz)

1/4 cup chili powder

Step 1: Prepare the macaroni by boiling and draining pasta. You can choose to make your own pasta and cheese sauce if you don't want the preservatives or seasonings from the packaged version.

Step 2: While noodles boil, brown the ground meat and drain fat. In a sauce pot, combine the meat, diced tomatoes with juice, chili powder, drained kidney beans, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes to 2 hours.

Step 3: If you're using this just as chili for a meal or topper, longer simmering is better. But basically as soon as flavors combine and it is heated through you can add into the macaroni. Just pour it all in there, and give it a good stir.

You can add in any spices you want too, hot sauce if you like that kinda thing, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, etc...

There you have it, a thick, hearty comfort food that is sure to please your palate and fill your tummy. Depending on if you hit sales and buy store brand or not, you can easily feed six-eight for under $3!

Enjoy!

What's your favorite comfort food?

Less than 5: Tuna Salad

I'm going to try a new thing, maybe twice a month, and call it "Less than 5". In these posts, I will feature a recipe which takes less than five ingredients to make, and/or in less than five minutes. If these turn out to be popular, there's a good chance another e-cookbook like my 7 Souper Soups will be in the making. 

For this post, I am highlighting a classic poor student lunch/dinner: tuna salad. Tuna in a can is often on sale for under $1, making it a great budget buy. There are several ways you can dress it up, depending on what you have available and how much time you have. My personal favorite is to dice up a hard boiled egg and mix in some Miracle Whip (which is FAR superior to "mayonnaise" in my opinion.) You can also go uber-easy and cheap, and just sprinkle in a tbsp or 2 of lemon juice and eat it over crackers. However, if you have relish in the house, I recommend trying this variation.

Ingredients:

1 can tuna, drained

2 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tbsp sweet relish

2 pieces bread (or pita, tortilla, bun, crackers, etc)

Step 1: Drain the tuna water. Put it in a bowl with the relish and mayo and mix well.

Step 2: Spread over the bread and enjoy! One can makes about 2 decent sized sandwiches. You could add toppings like sliced cheese, lettuce, or tomato too.

I don't think I could count the times I've had tuna sandwiches throughout my childhood and school career, but this is definitely in the top three recipes for how to make it delicious!

What's you favorite tuna recipe?

Cheeseburger Mac

This classic student-loved recipe is still delicious as an "adult", though you can fancy it up with different cheeses and noodle shapes if you want. Super simple to make yet very filling. It's like macaroni & cheese only beefier.

Ingredients:
1 pound of macaroni
2 cups of cheese (any kind, shredded or cubed)
1 pound of ground beef
1 cup of milk

Step 1: Boil the macaroni for about 7 minutes, until al dente. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef and drain the fat.

 Step 2: Drain the pasta, add it back to the pan. Add in the cheese and milk, heat until the cheese melts, stirring often so the cheese doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. Add the beef back in, mix well.

I used half cheddar and half pepper jack cheese, so it was a little tangy. I'd recommend trying it. You can use any kind of cheese and noodle shape you want, and even add veggies if you're feeling crazy.

Slow cooker ham & corn rice casserole

This is another creation born of needing to use up items left in the pantry. You'll notice two themes in most recipes from times where I am either very busy (being a student) or in a state of flux (like moving), I use the slow cooker a lot, and recipes get a little weird. I prefer the term "creative" but let's not argue semantics. Anyhow, the best template for any meal in a rush is "meat + carb + vegetable/fruit + liquid", and I use it a lot. You can have literally endless variations, and in fact nearly every meal ever is based on this formula. For this recipe, I simply checked my food box and freezer to see what was left, then followed the formula with things I thought might go well together. This is what ended up happening.

Ingredients:
1 cup cubed ham
1 box rice pilaf with seasoning packet
1 can corn with liquid
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup water

 Step 1: Mix all ingredients in the slow cooker. Set on low for at least 4 hours; I left it for about 9 all day.

The rice didn't end up being overly mushy, which I worried about, and the corn gave it a nice sweet flavor. Ham paired with this well, though I think chicken would've been even better based on past experience with the flavor of rice pilaf and the fact that I used cream of chicken soup rather than mushroom or celery. But overall it was tasty, couldn't be easier, used up a box and two cans from the pantry, and lasted for about 6 servings, so I call that a success.

Sneaky bean & beefy pasta

In an effort to not only be healthier but also use up canned goods, I decided to take the old student standby of pasta with meat sauce and kick it up a notch. I had a half jar of Ragu from a few days ago, so I just used a small can of tomato sauce to round it out, and a can of chickpeas. (You could probably use any bean here, but chickpeas were what I had, plus they blend better than pinto or black) I didn't just want chunks of beans in my sauce, so I blended them. Makes the sauce thicker and adds protein and fiber.

Ingredients:
1/2 jar pasta sauce
1 can tomato sauce
1 can chickpeas
1 box pasta noodles of your choice
1 pound ground beef
Handful spinach

Step 1: Open the can of beans and drain half the liquid. Pour the rest and the tomato sauce into blender and liquefy it. Add extra water if it's too thick.

Step 2: Fill a large pot half full of water, add salt if you want. Bring to a rolling boil, and cook the pasta 5-8 minutes. While cooking, complete step 3. Drain when al dente (aka soft but not mush).

Step 3: Brown the ground beef in a frying pan. You want to make sure it's fully cooked. Then add the handful of spinach and cover. Cook for 3 minutes to wilt the spinach. Pour the sauce on top, mix well and cook on medium, covered, until heated through.

The beans makes the sauce thick and gives it a certain depth of flavor without being too obvious. You could also blend in the spinach once cooked so you don't even know it's there. Mixed with the plain Ragu pasta sauce and ground beef, it isn't too noticeable. This is a good way to sneak extra nutrition past whiny kids and picky hubbys. Those adjectives are probably also interchangeable. Just saying.

Fancy ramen: steak & spinach soup

This is one of my favorite ways to fancy up ramen noodles. After freshman year of college, I thought I'd left the days of ramen behind forever. Not true. Some months in grad school I feel even poorer than I did back in my dorm days, and sometimes I just crave the chemically created fake chicken taste & smell. Sure, I may be weird but don't lie and say you never have had a ramen craving!

Anyways, since I now like to pretend I'm all grown up and 'adult' and all that, I feel the need to spruce up old college standbys. I can't just be eating out of a cup-o-noodles anymore, after all. Besides the social expectations, I also have grown into great knowledge and concern for my health. As I am still on the young side of life, I'd like to take care of myself now to prevent problems later down the timeline as long as possible. So I sneak extra protein and veggies into everything I can. With that, here is the healthiest version of ramen I could come up with. If you have other ideas or something even better, feel free to comment and share!

Ingredients:
1 package ramen noodles
1 cup fresh spinach
1/2 cup meat of choice (I had some leftover steak from burritos)
1 egg
1 cup water

All you do is microwave the ramen & water for 3 minutes. Add the spinach, meat and crack the egg (yes, right into the bowl) and microwave another 3-5 minutes. Stir well and enjoy! The spinach will be slightly wilted and the egg cooks fully so no worries. If you're vegetarian don't add meat, put in some beans or tofu instead. Any other veggies or spices of your choice can also be added. This is an extremely easy, fast, cheap and portable lunch.

Taco Salad!

When you're hungry for Mexican but don't want to go out, don't have much time, want to eat healthy, or don't want too many ingredients (or all of the above), you can't beat a Taco Salad. Quick and easy, it can be as healthy or unhealthy as you want it. Having just moved into a new apartment, most of my kitchen is not yet unpacked. Besides that, I don't have an oven. I know, shocking. That eliminated about 1/3 of my cooking repertoire. However, this requires only one pan, and little effort, so you can make it happen in under 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 head romaine lettuce, or 1 bag pre-cut mix

1-2 tomatoes

Doritos

Shredded cheese, preferably cheddar or Mexican mix

Catalina dressing

1 lb. ground beef

Taco seasoning

1/2 cup water 

Black olives (optional)

Step 1: Brown the ground beef in a skillet. Drain off the excess fat, and add 1/4 cup taco seasoning and 1/2 cup water slowly, stirring it all together. Leave on low heat for about 10 minutes to allow the seasoning to cook into the beef. 

Step 2: While waiting, chop up the Romaine and tomato and place in a large bowl. When all seasoning is cooked in, put beef over top. Sprinkle on the cheese, crush up a few handfuls of Doritos, and douse with Catalina dressing. 

The Doritos give it a cheesy crunch and the dressing is just enough tang, while the sweet works with the spice of the taco seasoning. It is so tasty! Obviously, if you go heavy on the lettuce and tomato and light on the beef plus nix the Doritos and dressing, it is much healthier. But where's the fun in that? ;)

What's your favorite salad topping?

 

And so it begins...

Well, after debating and thinking about starting a blog for quite some time, I have decided to go ahead and do so. No idea what I'm doing, so you will have to learn along with me. I have this idea to try to make a cookbook of some sort with recipes which are very easy and very easy on the wallet. Having been a college student, and still a grad student, I know how strapped for cash we all are. And after talking to several people, I am always amazed at how few of us know how to feed ourselves beyond Ramen noodles and Taco Bell! So my mission is to educate the hard working students of the world (or anyone who has little to no culinary experience and/or cash in their pockets) how to feed yourself... simply and cheaply.

I will update as often as I can, and will include recipes and pictures when I can. If you have recipe suggestions or any questions I would be happy to hear from you! I also welcome any reader to take my recipes and see how reproducible they are. If this cookbook idea goes through, I want to know that my ideas work in the "real world" with real people.