Eating Clean on a College Budget: Dinner/Lunch Recipes

While you can see these pictures now, every week I will reveal a different recipe.

Brown Rice and Beef Stew

Ingredients: red or pinto beans, brown rice, 1/2 cup of a chopped white onion skirt or top sirloin steak, cayenne pepper, black pepper, cumin, ketchup, avocado

Prep

Prepare the brown rice according to the package directions. When the rice is done, set aside and prepare your beans. If they are canned, add about a cup of water to the pot and boil with 1/2 of the chopped onions
Once the beans have reached a boil, simmer down and add in the spices and ketchup (or any of your preferred spices)
When the beans are done, mix it with the brown rice and set aside. Now, marinate the steak strips and dice into strips. Sautee the strips until they are medium well.
Finally, stir all the ingredient together, including the remaining onions. Add in a cup of water and bring to a boil. Once it has reached a rolling boil, let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the meat is well done and the, remove from heat.
Garnish the dish with a avocado slices and enjoy!

Baked Spinach served with Brown Rice and Spinach

While the brown rice is boiling (which usually takes 30-45 minutes) baked the salmon seasoned with just a dash of black pepper on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking oil. Ten minutes before the rice is ready, boil and drain the spinach. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, or lemon juice to your preference.

Vegeterian Chili with Black Beans, Mushrooms, and Butternut Squash

Boil a can of black beans on the stove at a medium high heat. While it is cooking, chop of 1/2 a butternut squash and dice 1/2 cup of mushrooms. Once the beans are boiling, add in the fres vegetables and reduce to a medium. Let the chili stay on medium for 5-7 minutes before lowering it to a simmer. Now, add any medley of spices you decide (I did black pepper, mesquite seasoning, and parsley). Simmer for 5-7 minutes then garnish with cilantro. Turn of the heat but allow the pan to sit on the burner for until ready to serve. Stir the chili occasionally.

Baked Chicken on a Spinach and Avocado Medley, Brown Rice, and Black Beans

For this recipe, I started out a day in advance by marinating the chicken in BBQ sauce and herbs. The next day, I baked the chicken at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. While the chicken was baking, I boiled 1/4 cup of dry brown rice. This brand of brown rice suggest using 45 minutes to cook so I started this before the chicken was in the oven. For about the last 10 minutes of both baking and boiling time, I simmered a can of black beans. Once the rice was finished, I took it off the stove to cool down. Then I broiled the chicken for about 5 minutes while I was cutting the avocado slices and rinsing the spinach. Lastly, I pulled the chicken thighs out of the oven, took the beans off the broiler and voila! Rest the chicken on the bed of spinach and enjoy with avocado.

Salmon with Mushrooms and Red Pepper Puree

2 large red bell peppers
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
5 drops stevia
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced
6 ounces shiitake mushrooms, sliced
4 salmon fillets, 6 ounces each
more olive oil, for salmon
more salt, for salmon
parsley, minced

Pepper Puree

Place peppers in a baking dish in the oven at 350°
Roast for 10-20 minutes, until skin begins to shrivel
Allow peppers to cool, remove stems, then slit open and remove seeds
Place peppers, lemon juice, stevia and salt in a vitamix and puree until smooth
Transfer pepper mixture to a small sauce pan and warm slightly

Mushroom Mixture

Place the oil in a saute pan over medium heat
Add the onion and saute for 1 minute, then add the mushrooms
Reduce heat, cover and cook for 10 minutes

Salmon Preparation

Turn oven on to 500°
Leave the skin on the fish; rinse and pat dry with paper towel
Place fish skin side down on a metal baking sheet
Rub fillets liberally with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt
Reduce oven temperature to 275°, then put sheet with salmon on lowest rack
Roast 8 to 13 minutes –so that centers of thickest part of fillets are still translucent when cut into with a pairing knife

Assembling the Dish

When the salmon is done place some of the red pepper puree in the center of each plate
Place salmon on top of the puree, then spoon mushrooms onto the salmon
Garnish with parsley
Serve

4 Step Shrimp Scampi Skillet

Ingredients: Gluten free linguine, extra virgin olive oil, broccoli florets, shrimps, grated Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper to taste.
Preparation: This recipe is really based on eyeballing the measurements, you can adjust or add as much or as little of each ingredient as you wish! I love spicy food, so I used a generous hand of crushed red pepper. You can even substitute asparagus for the broccoli and regular linguine in place of the gluten free one!

Broiled BBQ Chicken and Spinach