Saute

This delicious dish can be prepared completely ahead of time. You can serve it at room temperature, but I like to reheat the vegetables before I serve them.

This easy and show-stopping dish has a little zip to it and will add life to the party. If you don’t like spicy food, you can cut down on the red pepper. This tapa should be cooked at the last minute and served hot. The shrimp cook so fast that you can finish it in less than 5 minutes and it will fill your apartment with mouthwatering aromas.

The combination of shrimp and green chiles is fantastic on these quesadillas. It doesn’t matter what size shrimp you buy because you’ll have to cut them up anyway, so save some money and buy the smallest frozen shrimp they have.

This is another dish that you can easily adjust to suit your tastes. You can use any vegetables you like. When your budget is squeaking tight, make it with just peas and carrots. But when you have a little more wiggle room, try it with red peppers, zucchini, and sugar snap peas.

Okay, I know this isn’t authentic carbonara, but eliminating the cream cuts the calories and reduces the cost. As long as it still has that exquisite bacon and Parmesan cheese flavor, I’m all for fewer calories and less money. This is another super simple recipe with generous portions that reheat well.

This recipe may look complicated because it has a lot of ingredients, but it’s not. You can prepare the whole dish in the time it takes to cook the rice. I use water chestnuts and pea pods in the recipe, but this is one of those dishes where just about any vegetables you happen to have in the refrigerator will work fine.

Although we college kids are known for our love of pasta because it’s cheap and easy to make, that doesn’t mean it can’t also taste great and be low in calories. This dish is a perfect example of that. Shrimp Linguine Marinara tastes like an extravagant indulgence, but it’s only about 400 calories per serving.

This is a healthier and simpler version of one of my favorite recipes, chicken piccata. Usually I eat this dish with rice pilaf, but when I’ve overindulged, I save calories by skipping the breading and serving it on spinach. Even though I’ve never been a big spinach fan, it’s yummy when you mix it with the lemon sauce.

Although this recipe isn’t hard, it does involve a fair amount of chopping. To me it’s worth it because I love lettuce wraps, but the ones in restaurants are too high in calories. Using vegetables in place of some of the chicken dramatically cuts the calories in this dish, but it doesn’t change the flavor. Fair warning though; if you’ve never used chili paste before, it’s hot. You may want to start with half the amount and taste the sauce before adding more.

This is a basic low-fat stir-fry recipe that can be adjusted almost any way you want. I often add pea pods, bean sprouts, celery, or whatever vegetables I happen to have on hand. One word of warning though; if you are making this for fewer than 4 people, cut the recipe down accordingly, as it doesn’t reheat well. (And that’s being kind.)

Here is another super simple dish that can be made in the time it takes to cook the pasta. You can use any type of pasta in this dish so feel free to swing out. I’ve used all different shapes, but my favorite was the pasta shaped like the state of Texas. It was so weird I had to buy it.

Because I am a vegetarian and the rest of my family is not, we are often at odds to come up with a dinner that will make everyone happy. Ratatouille (ra-tuh-TOO-ee) has saved the day more than once. I always make a double batch and freeze the extra in resealable bags. It reheats well in the microwave and is really good on pasta, rice, or whatever starch the rest of your family is eating.

The beauty of cooking is that you can make things exactly the way you like them. For example, chicken piccata is usually made with capers, but since I don’t like capers, I just use parsley instead. It also means that I can make a double batch of rice pilaf so there are plenty of leftovers. This is not exactly a quick dinner to prepare, but it is so good that I don’t mind taking the time to make it.

I love this dish warm or cold! Just be careful, fresh noodles don’t need to cook very long. If they are overcooked, they will get kind of mushy and loose their texture. This is one of my favorite dishes for those bring-a-dish dinners, because even if there is nothing else I like, I can make a meal out of this.

Pasta is one of my favorite foods of all time, and this version is really easy and super good. Although I do occasionally eat shrimp, I probably make this more often without shrimp than with it. It kind of depends on if I am making it for myself, or the whole family. If my parents are eating, then for sure it has shrimp. If it’s my sister, I leave the shrimp out because she likes to add (big surprise) grilled chicken.

Fajitas are great because you can put anything you want on them. I like mine with meat, onion, and cheese, but my sister always grills some eggplant or zucchini for hers. They are also really good with refried beans, guacamole, or even Spanish rice.

When I make this dish I buy the Asian-style baked tofu so I don’t have to marinate it. It is difficult to find in regular grocery stores, but you can find it at most health food or specialty stores. If you can find it, you can skip the marinating and just stir in the teriyaki sauce at the end. For you meat eaters, a chicken breast can be used instead of the tofu.

Pot stickers are one of my family’s favorite appetizers. In fact, my cousins even eat them as the main course. My problem with ordering them from a restaurant is that they never have a vegetarian option, so I prefer to make them at home, where I can sauté chopped cabbage to substitute for the pork.

I was going to call these “Walnuts Gone Wild” but took a less seamy route and decided on simply Wet Walnuts. You can draw your own conclusions. But there’s nothing indecent about these maple-glazed walnuts, except how good they taste.

Earthy and well-seasoned, this filling features char siu pork and shiitake mushrooms. The five-spice power adds sweet perfume, while the dried shrimp injects a note of the sea. Feel free to vary this filling by substituting a combination of chopped raw pork and shrimp for the roasted pork below.