College Days Menu

Week 1
Breakfast:
Oatmeal
Fruit & yogurt
Scrambled eggs
Fried egg on toast or English muffin

Meals:
1-Sandwich- there's a variety of ways to fix them: with meat or without using avocados or hummus.  Try different types of breads (wheat, pita,french,etc.) and olive salad spreads. Boscoli is great if you like olives. Also try fresh spinach instead of lettuce, tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, etc.
2-Red Beans & Rice- Put red beans, onion, Tony's, salt and sliced smoked sausage in a slow cooker in the morning and let cook all day on low.  Serve over rice. (Instant brown rice is good if you are in a hurry.) When you are tired of that, mash and use for burritos.
3-Burritos: put whatever you like in it, beans, meat, chicken, cheese, lettuce, salsa, etc.
4-Chicken: buy about 4 chicken breast. Cut 2 lengthwise (you will have 4 thin chicken breast from these two). Season with Tony's, salt, or whatever you like. With 2 chicken breast.( or 4 after they are cut) pan fry in a little oil. About 5 min before done, put a bunch of fresh spinach on top and sprinkle 5 Italian cheese or mozzarella, cover and let finish cooking. The spinach should wilt and cheese melt. You can use that for 2- 4 meals or make a sandwich with some.
5-Fajitas- With the 2 other chicken breast, cut in bite size pieces and pan fry for fajitas. When done, heat tortilla, add chicken and whatever else you like: spinach, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, etc. this should be enough for a few meals. You can also add chicken to salads or use chips and
make nachos.
6-Meat, rice & gravy- if you like this, you can almost season any meat and put in slow cooker in the morning on low and let cook all day. They sell little packs of powder gravy mix you can add or
you can buy a can of gravy and add close to end of cooking time or add cream of mushroom soup.
Instant brown rice cooks in 5-10 mins and it's good.
7-Spaghetti-super easy. Again use slow cooker:add a bag of rosita frozen meat balls and 2-3 cans of
spaghetti and seasonings and let cook all day. If you prefer loose meat, you just brown a pack of ground meat and throw it in instead of meatballs. If you don't have a slow cooker, just cook in a pot for a couple of hours.

Sides- you can add: green beans, broccoli, salad, fruit, fruit salad, beets, edamame (bought in frozen section,just microwave), or whatever vege you like. You should really eat at least 2-3 servings of fruits and veges each day. A lot of carbs makes you feel tired and sluggish anyway!

This should last a week or more. If you get tired of something before you are done, just freeze it and you will have a meal for later.  Being prepared keeps you from eating super unhealthy, it saves you money from eating out all the time and it saves you time from having to think of what to eat and constantly going to the store.

Spinach Lasagna

2 boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
24 oz. cottage cheese,  blended up to look like ricotta
1 egg, beaten into cottage cheese
4 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz. Italian cheese
Parmesan cheese
1 can spaghetti sauce
Seasonings
3 zucchini s, sliced thin long ways to use as noodles or lasagna noodles, cooked
Sautéed onion, 2 bell peppers and garlic (mushrooms are optional) in a little oil (or whatever veges you like)

1. In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook mushrooms,bell peppers, onions, and garlic in olive oil until onions are tender. Drain excess liquid and cool.  Squeeze excess liquid out of spinach. 
2. Combine cottage cheese, cream cheese, spinach, salt, oregano, basil, pepper, and egg in a bowl. Add cooled vegetable mixture. Mix well. Lay 5 lasagna noodles or zucchini in bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread one third of the cheese/spinach mixture over noodles. Sprinkle 1/3  Italian  cheese and 1/3  Parmesan cheese on top. Spread 1 cup pasta sauce over cheese. Repeat layering 2 times. ( I wait and put last layer of Italian cheese after the lasagna has cooked for 45 min to an hr. I uncover, add cheese and bake about 10 more mins.)
3. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour. Uncover, add last layer of  Italian cheese, bake 10 mins. then remove from over. Cool 15 minutes before serving.   (If you use zucchini, the lasagna will be juicy. There are no noodles to absorb the juice.)