Budget friendly, simple recipes

This tastes a lot like eggroll filling so if you like eggrolls you'll most likely enjoy it.
Shredded cabbage - I use about half a head to make 4 servings.
Shredded carrots - 1 cup
Chopped onions - 1/2 cup - 1 cup depending on your own tastes
Pea pods - if not available you can skip it or use frozen peas (as much or as little as you want)
Ground meat - pork, beef, chicken, turkey
Garlic powder - to taste
Chili powder - to taste

*Shrimp can be used in place of ground meat but if using cooked shrimp, toss into pan at the very end just to heat it through.

I toss the cabbage and carrots into a large skillet then chop my onion and add that, toss in the ground meat now and when the ground meat is about half cooked toss in the peas, sprinkle seasonings in and give it all a good stir. Once the meat is completely cooked I add a little fruit flavored balsamic vinegar but if you don't have that orange juice will work very well.

You get a lot of food from this recipe and it goes with rice very well. You could due a variation of rice by adding more veggies and frying a scrambled egg into the rice for a faux fried rice feel.

Have you ever frozen Tofu, and defrosted it? The texture completely changes, and you can add whatever you want to it, it is just like ground beef. It fools my family, in tacos and enchiladas, sloppy joes.

Go to Vegetarian Times, they have a lot of vegetarian menu choices, which are quite inexpensive, if you use seasonal veggies, which right now, is squash, corn, potatoes, and apples. Enjoy the harvest season.

Have you ever frozen Tofu, and defrosted it? The texture completely changes, and you can add whatever you want to it, it is just like ground beef. It fools my family, in tacos and enchiladas, sloppy joes.

Go to Vegetarian Times, they have a lot of vegetarian menu choices, which are quite inexpensive, if you use seasonal veggies, which right now, is squash, corn, potatoes, and apples. Enjoy the harvest season.

what is the best type of tofu to buy for this, and things like stir fries, tacos etc?? I am keen to try this,!!

They say extra firm, but I usually do firm. I freeze it for a few hours (well, really, I cut it in half when I get it home from the store, then freeze the portions until I want to use it, but you can just pop it in the freezer three hours before you want to use it). Take it out of the freezer and straight into boiling water. Let it simmer (so, very low boil is what I do) for about 10, then take it out. From here, some people say marinate, others say it doesn't matter. I usually don't bother. Cut the tofu up at this point. Then some people sauté it, others bake. The sauté needs very little oil, but it's still more caloric than baking. Baking is a little trickier because there's a correlation between how hot the oven is, how long you leave it in, and how thick/dense your cut-up tofu is. When I get it right, it's better baked. When I get it wrong, it's not quite as good as sautéed, so for you I'd advise spending the teaspoon of oil calories and sautéing to see if you like the flavor. Then, of course, you put it in sauce with a bunch of other stuff.

I got 90% of the idea from a website of a home cook trying to get her husband to like tofu. Google Ultra Crispy Unfried Tofu. You'll see it's a little different than what I've described, so just decide which way you want to go and give it a shot. Good luck!

Have you ever frozen Tofu, and defrosted it? The texture completely changes, and you can add whatever you want to it, it is just like ground beef. It fools my family, in tacos and enchiladas, sloppy joes.

Go to Vegetarian Times, they have a lot of vegetarian menu choices, which are quite inexpensive, if you use seasonal veggies, which right now, is squash, corn, potatoes, and apples. Enjoy the harvest season.

what is the best type of tofu to buy for this, and things like stir fries, tacos etc?? I am keen to try this,!!

Buy the firm or extra firm.

Leave the package intact (as is).

Put package in the freezer over night.

The next morning move package to refrigerator so it can defrost.

The tofu's texture has changed:
http://triedinblue.blogspot.com/2012/05/tofu-tuesday-say-goodbye-to-soggy.html

I'm not sure if lentils are put completely, or if you're just sick of certain preparations, but if it's the latter, lentil tacos are fantastic! Spice it right and you can hardly tell it's lentils in there. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tasty-lentil-tacos-2/

ETA: if quinoa is easy to find and not too expensive, I love baked eggs (eggs, baked in tomato sauce and sprinkled with cheese) with quinoa on the bottom. If I'm feeling fancy, I throw some bacon crumbles in.

Simple Cuban black beans over rice, brown rice too. Sprinkle chopped raw onion and avocado (if in season and not too pricey) on top. Delicious.

Speaking of beans, it's hard to beat falafel and hummus, and both are cheap, cheap, cheap. A bag of dried chickpeas (which are pretty high protein), an onion, some tahini (but if you need to, you can substitute out almond butter or even peanut butter), and some spices, which you can modify to taste. They do require a food processor to not be a pain in the backside, but they are very easy with one. Fast and easy and delicious and cheap. Some people bake them and swear they're delicious. I keep meaning to try that, but since I always have the calories to spend, I have always kept it traditional and just fried them and assumed I was adding a teaspoon of oil to each one by doing that. (By the way, if anyone, anywhere knows of a good estimate for how much oil to calculate you've used for fried food, I'd love it. I know a lot depends on the temperature of the oil, which is one reason I get so confused when trying to figure it out and end up just hoping I'm overestimating by assuming a teaspoon. Totally off topic, sorry...)

You can put them in pita bread or just have plain or have over salad or rice or whatever.

And as expensive as Hummus is at the store, you can make it for next to nothing. If you've got a crockpot it's light on the labor and prep time (not soaking and cooking time, but actual in-the-kitchen work time). Soak beans over night, cook them in the slow cooker or in a very low oven or on top of the stove, whatever, just cook them low and slow. You probably don't have an immersion blender being young and in college and I assume tight on space, but it's only a little more time to let them cool and then put the in a blender or food processor with lemon, tahini (again, substitute if you want to), garlic. Just put the tahini in first with the lemon and let it whip up for about a minute until the color is quite a bit lighter and it gets fluffy, then add the chickpeas. See the link below, this is a great recipe.
http://www.inspiredtaste.net/15938/easy-and-smooth-hummus-recipe/

Finally, a piece of advise about oil. Olive oil is best for you and I use it for most things, but it's not like Canola oil is so very much worse for you than olive oil. In many countries (where most people are just culturally healthy), they prefer an oil without such a strong flavor for everything or for everything but dressing salads. Olive oil is exorbitant, and when I'm watching my pennies I substitute out canola oil for everything but salads and no one even misses it. Of course, if you're watching your weight you don't want to go crazy on the oil anyway, but a little applied judiciously is good for you.

Why are you trying to make her eat tofu - she dislikes it intensely!

You can also bake tofu to a light crispy brown outside and then use it in stir fry or whatever. I use the extra firm kind, drained. Cut it into cubes and placed in a oil misted baking pan. I use my large toaster oven. Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, drain and turn over cubes so the other side browns. Bake another 10- 15 minutes until it's as brown and crispy as you like. Any sauce with this is good.

If you've never used TVP, this recipe rocks. TVP( textured vegetable protein) is soybeans with the starch taken out. It's also super cheap. It can be used in chili and spaghetti sauce easily. If you do cut it with actual meat, never use a fatty meat as the TVP will soak all the fat up.

Vegan Sloppy Joes

"This filling sandwich has a surprise ingredient, cashews!"
Ingredients

1 cup rough granulated textured vegetable protein
1/3 cup diced bell pepper ( I use small can of green chiles instead)
1/3 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup barbecue sauce, of choice
1/3 cup roasted and salted cashew pieces
yellow mustard ( about 1 tablespoon)
hot sauce (several drops)
salt and pepper, as desired
6 split hamburger buns

Directions

Put oil and vegetables into 2 quart saucepan.
Saute until veggies begin to wilt and add the TVP, and enough water to prevent sticking.
Stir and add water until TVP begins to swell, and add the BBQ sauce.
Stir often and add more water as needed.
Taste and add mustard, hot sauce, and pepper as you choose.
When satisfied with basic flavor, add the cashews.
Do not salt until you taste again.
Serve on buns.

Page 2 of 2TVP and Cashew BBQ, Vegan Delight (cont.)
Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 (115 g)

Servings Per Recipe: 6

Amount Per Serving
% Daily Value
Calories 273.1

Calories from Fat 90
33%

Amount Per Serving
% Daily Value
Total Fat 10.0g
15%
Saturated Fat 1.8g
9%
Cholesterol 0.0mg
0%
Sugars 14.5 g
Sodium 561.0mg
23%
Total Carbohydrate 40.5g
13%
Dietary Fiber 1.7g
6%
Sugars 14.5 g
58%
Protein 5.5g
11%

Totally understand if you aren't into tofu - it's not for everyone. Have you tried tempeh? It's a fermented soy product. I had a tempeh burger once which was out of this world. Sadly, I never got the recipe from my friend before she dropped off the face of the planet.