Budget-friendly meals

budget-friendly Simple meals

Three easy recipes anyone can make

A pasta casserole can feed a hungry crowd A delightful, refreshing smoothie

BY ANNA STEPHENSON

Smoothie

Ingredients:

Baby carrots One bag frozen fruit or equivalent amount of fresh fruit Fruit juice or plant milk Fruit butter Optional: chia seeds 1. Add your vegetables to your blender and then add your fruit. (Tip: if you are using strawberries, keep the tops on! The leaves and stem are edible too!) 2. You want to have either a 1:1 ratio, or more fruit than vegetables. If you have lots of vegetables, especially strongly-flavored vegetables and only mildly-flavored fruits, add about a tablespoon of fruit butter to introduce concentrated sweetness to your smoothie. This recipe calls for guava butter, but there are many varieties. 3. Once you have added your fruit butter, pour liquid into the blender until it is at least halfway to the maximum fill line. You can use sweetened or unsweetened plant milk or fruit juice. Adjust the amount of liquid depending on how thick you want your smoothie. 4.For a thicker smoothie, freeze your fruit and soft vegetables before making it. A bag of prefrozen vegetables from the store is a great, convenient way to make this.

Pasta casserole

Ingredients:

Any pasta, one box Three cups milk (plant milk is okay) Eight tablespoons butter Two tablespoons flour Salt, pepper and seasonings to taste (Cajun spice mix is good) One bag frozen vegetables ½ pound bacon, cut into pieces, or one can spam, cubed Two cups cheddar cheese Parmesan cheese 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Prepare the pasta according to directions on the box but cook for one to two minutes fewer; the pasta should still be firm when bitten and will finish cooking in the oven. 3. For the sauce, melt the stick of butter in a saucepan on high heat. When it is fully melted, add the flour and quickly stir. It will start to turn a light brown color. Add milk and keep stirring. Add half of your cheddar cheese once the milk begins to bubble. 4. Turn the stove down to low heat and stir until the cheese is fully melted. Add your seasonings. 5. Sauce should still be thin. If it looks like it’s too much sauce for the amount of pasta you have, that is good! The sauce cooks down in the oven, so if you do not make enough sauce, then the casserole will come out dry. 6. In a mixing bowl, combine pasta, sauce, the other half of the cheddar cheese, vegetables and meat. It is helpful to steam your vegetables or let them thaw before doing this just to get all of the ice off; they do not need to be fully cooked at this point. If using bacon, you can fry it beforehand if you like it crispy. You can also add the bacon fat to your sauce for extra flavor. 7. Pour your pasta mixture into a greased 9x13 pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top according to taste. 8. Cover with aluminum foil and place in the oven for 30 minutes. Then, remove the aluminum foil and put back in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese on top has melted and any exposed pasta has begun to brown. Your casserole should be heated all the way through and your vegetables cooked. Serve hot.

Yellow rice

Ingredients:

One cup white rice One powdered chicken bouillon packet, approximately one teaspoon Turmeric Cumin Salt Pepper One clove garlic One bay leaf Optional: chopped onions or frozen peas 1. Prepare the rice by rinsing it in the rice maker. A tip to cook smaller amounts of rice is to set the bowl on a flat surface and touch your fingertip to the top of the rice. Add water until the water comes up to your first knuckle after your fingernail. This is a simple trick to get the perfect amount of water for rice every time as long as you are not cooking huge amounts. 2 .Add the packet of chicken bouillon to the rice, along with salt, pepper and about a teaspoon of turmeric and cumin. Note that you may not need to add salt, many chicken bouillons are high in sodium. So if yours is, go ahead and skip the additional salt. 3.Take your clove of garlic and smash it with the side of a knife, and add that to the rice too. You can also use minced or freeze-dried garlic; the package should tell you how much is equivalent to one clove. 4. If you wish, you can add chopped raw onions or frozen peas at this point. Use frozen peas instead of fresh or canned to prevent them from being overcooked in the rice maker. 5. Mix everything together and add your bay leaf. This makes it easier to remove the bay leaf when it is done cooking. You do not eat the bay leaf. 6. Set your rice maker to cook. Serve hot with toppings, such as sliced avocado, chopped tomato, corn, cheese (cotija is best if you can find it!), peppers, fried spam, kalua pork or hot refried beans. 7. Eat within three days; rice will begin to ferment if left in the fridge for too long. Before reheating, whether on the stove or in the microwave, add a few spoonfuls of water to rehydrate the rice. Storing your leftover rice and toppings in separate containers is recommended.

Photos by Mark Daeson Tabbilos and composite by Karren Chang. Table image by STIL.