Cooking can be a real challenge for many first-year students. Many students resort to fast food — essentially junk food with little or no nutritional value — as they cope with the stresses of living away from home and a busy schedule.
So, here are some healthy options — four fun, easy, quick recipes to try with lots of nutrients to provide a balanced wholesome diet!
Egg white veggie muffins
A great breakfast recipe — protein and vegetables will provide a great start to your day. For this recipe, if you don’t like spinach or peppers, you can substitute some of your favourite vegetables instead.
Ingredients
Oil spray
24 egg whites
1/2 red bell pepper (finely diced)
1/2 yellow bell pepper (finely diced)
2 cups fresh spinach
3 green onions (for topping)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Spray a muffin tin with the oil spray.
Whisk the egg whites together with the salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Stir in the bell peppers and spinach.
Carefully spoon the egg and vegetable mixture into the muffin cups, dividing the mixture equally between the 12 cups.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the egg whites are set.
Remove from the oven and let cool for five minutes before serving.
Serve warm and topped with green onions.
Baked tomato and egg cups
A quick, easy, nutritious recipe — not to mention cute. The perfect recipe for breakfast or brunch.
Fresh grated cheese, a crispy slice of bacon, or some chopped ham and onions could also be added on top of each egg before baking to make this recipe even better.
Ingredients
3 Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded (look for larger ones)
6 eggs (smaller eggs are better for Roma tomatoes)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Fresh herbs (chives)
Toasted bread or toasted bagel for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 F
Place tomatoes on a baking sheet or muffin tray. You might need to slice a tiny bit off the bottom of each tomato to keep them level on the baking sheet.
Crack eggs and gently place in the cavity of each tomato.
Season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 6-7 minutes if you like your eggs runny, 8-10 for soft-set eggs.
Remove from oven and top with fresh chopped herbs.
Serve as is or on top of a crusty piece of toasted bread. Can also be stuffed into a toasted bagel.
Easy chicken & broccoli stir-fry
A quick and simple recipe for a nutritious dinner. The chicken-vegetable combination will fill you up but could also be done without the chicken if you prefer a vegetarian meal.
Ingredients
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into one-inch pieces)
1 red bell pepper (thinly sliced)
1/2 yellow bell pepper (thinly sliced)
2 carrots (small, peeled and diced)
1 white onion (small, thinly sliced)
1/2 head of broccoli (cut into florets)
1 tbsp soy sauce
Salt and pepper, (to taste)
Sesame seeds (for garnish)
Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet until it starts to shimmer.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the pan.
Cook until browned.
Stir in the peppers and onion and sauté for 4-5 minutes.
Add the broccoli and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
Drizzle with soy sauce and stir.
Garnish with sesame seeds and serve warm.
Raw avocado and chocolate pudding
A great nutritious recipe for a quick breakfast or as a dessert. Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients including potassium, vitamin E, vitamin B, folic acid, and fibre. Dates are a great source of magnesium and potassium, a good source of vitamin B6, and an excellent source of carbohydrates and dietary fibre with essentially no fat or cholesterol.
Ingredients
1 medium avocado
1/2 cup dates
Two 1/2 tablespoons raw cocoa powder
1/4 cup water + 1/8 cup water
1/2 tablespoon of honey
1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Throw the ingredients into a high-speed blender. Start blending on slow and gradually crank up the blending speed to high.
You might need to start and stop this a few times to get it to blend properly because the dates will require more blending than pudding recipes that don’t contain dates. If you have a good blender (a.k.a. Vitamix or Blendtec) then you should be able to get this super smooth.
You may need to add a tiny bit of extra water to facilitate blending. Try not to add too much extra water or it'll end up watering down the pudding and changing the consistency.
