Cheap and healthy recipes

[weazelchef]

This is the place to post em!

Here's one i made tonight...

Coconut Risotto
1 cup brown rice
2 tsp cumin
2 roasted red peppers minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup coconut milk
Recipe Instructions:

---

Cook the rice accordingly or soak if you're a raw foodist

Mix all ingredients and eat! Adjust with salt and pepper to taste.


Add whatever veggies you have on hand for a healthier meal!



Okay guys, just because you cook the meal doesn't make it healthy! If you need a recipe converted to a healthier version.. you can post it and we'll help you.

"Just as a woman's heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth."

[eightdandelions]

This is my all time favorite lentil dish: 

1 chopped onion
3/4 cup uncooked rice
3/4 cup uncooked lentils
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 cups liquid, water or broth or combination

Rinse the lentils and rice in a fine mesh colander.  Mix all the ingredients in a glass baking dish and cover with tin foil.  Bake at 350 for about an hour, stirring halfway through, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the lentils are tender.  If they're not tneder enough, add more liquid and recover.  You can finish it with some cheese if you want, and it's delicious when garnished with sour cream!

I usually make up a tripled batch of the dry ingredients and keep it in the pantry so that when I'm tired all I have to do for dinner is chop and onion and pop it in the oven.

You'll love it, I promise!

[josslynsmom]

This is my favorite go to recipe when I don't really feel like cooking or we're low on groceries.  I always keep a couple cans of black beans and broth on hand and throw in whatever veggies I have left in the fridge.  But here's the basic recipe.  I made it up myself after we moved and I really missed the black bean soup from a restaurant in Greenville.

Black Bean Soup

2 Garlic Cloves
1/2 to 1 C. Chopped Onion
Stalk or two of celery (if you have it)
2 Tbl. Olive Oil

Sautee until soft.  Add the following:

2 Cans Black Beans drained and rinsed
2 Cans Broth (can use chicken or veggie)
Chii pepper flakes to taste

And if you have it or feel like it I add mushrooms and or tomato and or 1/4 C. rice and or cilantro.  Leftover chicken is great to throw in, too.  Cook for a minimum of 20 minutes.  So yummy with tortilla chips and a dollop of sour cream.  We use chips instead of spoons to eat it!

[hannaqueen]

Cheap chili n chips

1 lb dried kidney beans (winco has them 60 cents lb)
1 small can of tomato sauce(windo 25 cents)
Chili seasoning packet (winco 30 cents or make your own for free)
1 bag of corn chips (walmart $1.40

soak beans over night. Next morning put in crock pot with salt and water. enought water to slightly cover beans. Cook on low till your kids come home from school. Then add chili seasonings and tomato sauce. Cook until dinner time.  pour chili over chips. Add additional toppings of your choice if you have it on hand.  We had a dollop of sour cream, and a tiny bit of cheese. Would of loved chives or green onions if I have it on hand. 

[turtlemama5]

I just came up with this one the other night....

Its my version of a vegan shepards pie.  ( I never do any measuring when I cook, so its all to taste, just eye-ball it, you really cant screw it up )

All you need is:

a couple of cups of veggie broth
couscous
corn starch or arrow root
and any veggies you would like to put into it
( I also make a thing of vegan mashed potatoes to put on top if the pie when I am done and all you need for that is a few medium/large potatoes, vegan butter, soy or rice milk, and salt )
I also added some nutritional yeast



I start with taking the veggie broth and putting it in a pot on med/high heat
then I add all of my veggies ( I used potatoes, organic carrots, organic corn, organic peas, asparagus, onions, organic garlic ) , but you could certainly add whatever veggies you would like.
I let all of the veggies cook until they were soft
(mean while I had my potatoes going for the mashed potatoe topping)
After the veggies are nice and soft I added the cornstarch (or arrow root) just until its starts to get slightly thick then I add my couscous and nutritional yeast. ( if its too thick just add some more broth, water, or soy/rice milk)
After all of that is done and it has a nice gravy like consistancy I put it in a cassorole dish and spread the mashed potatoes on top and put it in the oven of broil just to get  a nice crispyness on the mashed potatoes.
and then Ta-Da!! You've got yourself a healthy, quick and simple dish that hardly cost anything.

I made enough to do 2 cassorole dishes worth and put one in the freezer.
and I still have pleny of my veggies left over to make more or do something else with.
Hope you all enjoy this one. Its soooo tasty!!!!!!!!!!

[JeffersonMom]

1 can of Chili Beans
1 can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of tomatoes
1 can of corn (frozen corn works well, too)
Corn Bread

Mix all canned ingredients together.  Heat thru.  Serve over corn bread.

[adriane3]

my favorite soup;
a medium sized pot for making soup is needed
1 lb of turkey smoked sausage, sliced
2 boxes of organic vegi broth
1 zuccinni
1/2 a medium sized white onion chopped
2 cups of baby carrots chopped
1/2 a cabbage chopped
3 med. sized potatos chopped
3 long celery sticks chopped
sea salt to taste
black pepper to taste
cook it till it till the veggies are soft
it is good stuff man!

[weazelchef]

Marinate tofu in olive oil/cajun seasoning for atleast an hour.

Roll up in vietnamese spring roll wraps with cilantro/lettuce.

[janisemom]

This is one of my family's favorite meals. You can use whatever amounts meet your need - we have a large family to feed, so we fill two 9"x13" baking dishes for the pie. And I don't usually follow recipes, so it's hard for me to give exact amounts. I tell my kids that a recipe is an outline, and I flesh it out as I see fit!

Taco Pie (this makes one 9x13 dish)

1 bag tortilla chips (you may not want to put all the chips in - my dh likes to crush more on his after it cooks so they'll be crunchy)

1 batch beans, with some liquid (undrained canned chili beans (1 or 2 cans), or dry beans of your choice cooked with chili seasonings)

2 Morningstar Farms spicy black bean burgers, chopped up (can also use taco meat)

8 oz. cheese (optional, but it holds everything together nicely)

assorted taco toppings

Directions -

Crush chips and layer in baking dish. Layer burgers on chips, and beans on burgers. Top with cheese. Bake about 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven (you can lessen the time if proteins are hot when you put it together). When it comes out, serve it with taco toppings. We love dill pickles on our tacos and burritos. I know, it sounds disgusting - I thought dh's family was crazy the first time I saw them do this. But it really is good, I promise!

With this meal, I usually serve some Mexican rice.

2 cups brown rice

2-4 cups water (depends on your rice and your cooking pot)

1 TBS or so of oregano

1-2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned or fresh)

Salt to taste

Cook everything together until rice is done. I boil the rice for 5 minutes, then cover it and turn the heat to the lowest setting. It usually takes about 40 minutes of simmering to get done.

I also like to serve Mexican Corn.

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 jar of pimientos, 4 oz.

1 lb frozen corn (or fresh)

Saute peppers and onion in small amount of olive oil. Add to corn and cook corn as you normally would.

Again, adjust as your family likes. Some might want more burgers than beans on the pie, or vice versa. You may not like, or have, pimientos. You really can't mess this up.

This makes a fabulous meal that my entire family loves (I have to leave some corn plain for my two youngest, though). I even feed my in-laws next door with it. And it costs very little to make, especially if the veggies come from your garden.

[SusieD250]

Made my husband's grandmas beef stew tonight. It was awesome! Typing in caps to make it easier to read.

GRANDMA ESTELLE'S BEEF STEW

1-2 LBS STEW BEEF (YOU CAN USE WHAT SUITS YOU FOR FAT OR NUTRITION. I PREFER BEEF AS MY HUBBY NEEDS THE PROTEIN AND IRON.)

1 LARGE CAN TOMATOES WITH JUICE

4 STALKS CELERY

2 CLOVES GARLIC

2 SMALL ONIONS

FLOUR

OIL ( I USE EVOO)

CARROTS

CELERY

POTATOES

DREDGE MEAT CHUNKS IN FLOUR AND BROWN IN SKILLET. PUT IN ROASTING PAN (WE USED A DUTCH OVEN)

PUREE IN A BLENDER OR FOOD PROCESSOR: 4 STALKS CELERY, GARLIC, ONIONS AND TOMATOES IN JUICE ADD SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE. POUR OVER MEAT IN ROASTING PAN.

COOK IN MODERATE OVEN FOR 2 HOURS.

ADD POTATOES, CARROTS AND CELERY. MIX INTO SAUCE. COOK ONE MORE HOUR.

SERVE WITH BISCUITS. YUMMY!

[astrogirl84]

This is so fresh and delicious (not to mention cheap and healthy)

Fresh veggies (carrots, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, etc.  Basically anything that you can cut up and saute)

1 C garbanzo beans.

1 tbsp olive oil

dried thyme and basil

1/2 can tomato

Suate veggies with olive oil until softened (about 5-6 min).  Add all other ingredients and heat through.