I need simple, inexpensive, beginner's recipes

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000002011044

I made this for dinner tonight- it's easy and very good! I buy bagged parmesan- no parmigiano reggiano - you could also just leave it out. I used fresh italian parsley instead of basil. I didn't use fontina cheese. I couldn't find whole wheat panko so just used regular.

You basically bread the eggplant with panko, bake it. Then layer the eggplant, ricotta mix, mozzarella, and spaghetti sauce and then bake it. It's easy and you can substitute or omit all of the more expensive ingredients. It's light on calories, filling, full of protein and fiber. My 1 year old and 3 year old love it.

HTH- and good luck! I get lots of recipes on the cooking light website and just omit or substitute anything that's expensive or too fancy.

i second soup ... you cant go wrong. just put in what you like!

If you like fish, tilapia is relatively cheap (frozen) and very easy to cook- just sprikle lemon pepper on it and put a pat of melted butter on 2 pieces and bake them for about 15 minutes on 425 degrees. Add a bag of frozen veggies that you just put in a pan and heat with a little water until they are soft. Great meal and very low cal. Good luck!!

Stir fry:
Put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a big high sided frying pan.

Have ready cut up broccoli, carrots, green beans, whatever really. Seperate the really hard ones like carrots and broccoli, and the softer quicker cooking vegetables. Also have ready Some small one inch square, or long strips of meat. Chicken or steak.

Heat up the pan on medium high and put in the meat. Stir it around until it's cooked. Drain it back into the pan while scooping it out onto another plate for a bit. Now put the harder vegetables in that same pan and stir them around. Add a little water and put on a lid to let them steam a bit. Stir. Maybe cabbage or bok choy cut small? Stir them around, add water if it's dry, and put on the lid if it doesn't cook in a couple minutes to steam some more.

When vegetables are still bright and crunchy, but you can bite them, put the meat back in. Add some soy sauce (maybe a tablespoon for a big panfull, or a teaspoon for a little one. Garlic powder and/or onion powder (a little dash will do you). Now you put that over rice or have it with another side dish (mashed potato?).

Hello:

You can check out the following websites for an assortment of vegetarian recipes: www.fatfreevegan.com and www.vegetariantimes.com

(Sorry, I typed all this before I went back and realized that you wanted mostly vegetarian; most of these can be made vegetarian, though... my daughter is vegetarian.)

I only make simple things myself, such as:

BURRITOS. Open some canned refried beans, spread some in the middle of a flour tortilla, add a little cheese on top, and microwave for about 90 seconds. Roll up and eat. You can also use leftover meat, chicken or shrimp in addition to (or instead of) the beans, plus some tomatoes and/or onion and/or salsa if you like. Other possible additions are corn, cooked rice, black olives, cooked mushrooms (before heating) or avocado slices or sour cream (added after heating).

QUESADILLAS. Put a flour tortilla or a plate. Top it with some grated cheese. Also add vegies or meat/chicken/shrimp if you like. Put another tortilla on top. Microwave for about 60-90 seconds. (You can also cook it in a frying pan if you like the tortilla more golden and crispy.

SPAGHETTI. Boil a big pot of water. Cook the pasta for however long it says on the side of the box. While pasta is cooking, heat up a jar/can of spagetti sauce. If you want you can add some cooked meat, shrimp, black olives, cooked mushrooms or frozen vegies to the sauce while it's heating up. (To cook ground beef for the sauce, just put it in a frying pan and cook till it's all brown, breaking it apart as it cooks.)

BAKED POTATOES or SWEET POTATOES. Wash potatoes and poke them with a fork a few times. Cook in microwave for about 8 minutes... less for small potatoes, more for large ones. Cut in half and top with butter or butter spray... maybe add cheese and vegies or canned chili to regular potatoes, or brown sugar and pineapple to sweet potatoes.

HAMBURGERS. Buy hamburger already formed into patties. Hamburger with less fat costs more money but saves calories. Put burger into pan and cook each side about 3-4 minutes. Take a fork and make a little cut into the edge so you can see if the inside of the burger is cooked enough for you. Eat however you like your burgers... with lettuce or tomato or whatever. They are good plain (without bread) if you cook up some sliced mushrooms alongside the burger and put those on top when you eat it. There are also recipes on the internet for bean burgers and burgers made from canned salmon.

RICE AND SHRIMP. Buy a box of Rice-a-Roni (any flavor) and cook how it says on the box. About halfway through cooking, add some frozen cooked shrimp (they sell it by the bag) on top of the rice. Cover with a lid while the shrimp and rice finish cooking together.

STORE-COOKED CHICKEN. Eat by itself, or add to burritos or soup or salad or instead of shrimp to the rice above. You can get a lot of meals out of one chicken.