Looking for Student-Friendly Recipes

I am getting bored of frozen dinners, brown rice pasta, and the occasional pizza pocket. Help! Haha

I'm not really concerned about calories, although I'm not a fan of things that are fried in a ton of oil because I don't like the way it feels in my mouth (I'm so picky!)

So if anyone has ideas for meals that are tasty and super easy and fast to make (with minimal dishes cleanup) please pass them along to me! :)

Oh, I also might be celiac or have a wheat allergy. Still waiting on test results. So gluten free or wheat free options get bonus points ;)

thanks all!

I'm not trying to be snarky but there are tons of threads like this on CC. If you go to the "Search the Forums" box in the top right-hand corner of the screen, you can search for the same topic. People always recommend the same things (dried beans, lentils, tofu, etc etc). 

I'm in grad school and work but there's nothing I can say that hasn't been said before. 

Good luck. 

I have searched, but the whole beans and lentils and tofu thing doesn't really float my boat.

My family stopped having dinner together when I was around 13, so it's been about 10 years since I've actually had a sit-down family dinner other than Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter and so I just kind of don't know what dinner is supposed to be any more.

So I guess I'm wondering if anyone has new suggestions...

Edit: I guess I should add that I live in a house with all your typical kitchen stuff so it's not like I have to eat out of a can or something.

Not sure if these have wheat but sweet potato fries :)

Chop a sweet potato into thick strips, lay on a baking sheet, and lightly drizzle in EVOO. Salt + pepper them, and bake @ 450 degrees for 15 min. Then turn the fries over, and bake for another 10.

oops, double post

Love, love, love, sweet potato fries.  These are delicious and good for you.  I like any kind of roasted vegetables.   When I was in grad school, one of my go-to meals (for ease and quick cleanup) was to boil up some pasta (not sure where you are, but there are many gluten-free types in the health/organic food section of my grocery store). When the pasta is almost done (about a minute left) I tossed in about a cup of frozen vegetables. When the pasta was finished cooking, I drained it and poured it into a bowl, tossed it with a little olive oil, garlic powder, black pepper, and a little Parmesan cheese for flavor. This was quick, easy, and only got 1 pan, a strainer, 1 bowl, and fork dirty.  You don't end up with stuck on food or messy sauces, so everything cleans up quickly. 

Good luck!

Risotto is good - there are tons of recipes online and (other than the time to make it) it's not that hard if you follow the recipe.  You can add mushrooms, veggies, meat, etc to fill it out.  Leftovers the next day are also good (store in fridge for up to 3 days)

I also like doing chicken or fish in the pan and, once that's on the plate, quickly stir frying some veggies for a side.

Black beans + corn + tomatoes + lime juice = great dip with chips and it's healthy (get low sodium cans or fresh)

I liked making tacos - brown lean ground beef in the pan, once it's nearly done, add corn & tomatoes and then scoop into shells and top with a bit of grated cheese and sour cream

There are tons of places online to look - it's how much time you want to spend (all the above are 30 minutes or less) and how much stuff you like to eat.  

And if you do have a gluten allergy, places like Whole Foods have all the substitutes so you really can eat the same way as you would otherwise.

STIR FRIES! You can make them with frozen vegetables and eggs, both pretty cheap. As long as you have garlic, ginger, and soy sauce, you're pretty much set.

1. Add a little oil to the pan (preferably something tasteless, like canola oil). Heat it until a drop of water added to the pan sizzles loudly.
2. Add the garlic and ginger; stir until you can smell it strongly!
3. Add your veggies, in order of hardness. Hard ones go first, soft ones go last. Cook them almost all the way through, but not quite.
4. Add your protein. I often use eggs because they are cheap and tasty, and scramble them along with the veggies.
5. Pour in some soy sauce. Squeeze on some lime juice or a little rice vinegar. Add chopped cilantro, if you like it. 

YUM! The whole process takes about 20 minutes. Eat with chopsticks; it tastes better that way!

Being a very lazy, cheap person, this is what I do.  Get whatever fish or chicken is on sale at the market.  Also, get a bunch of those clear plastic bags they have at the store.  Throw your meat in the bag with a marinade.  Let it sit for about 15 minutes.  Wrap you meat in aluminum foil and put it in the oven for however long.

I place the fish/chicken on a paper plate (with the aluminum foil), take out my plastic fork, and go to town.  No dishes to clean.

*Just noticed this is an old post.

Seriously, I just got a cookbooklet mail-order from the inside of a Hormel canned chicken label and it actually has quite a few reasonable, simple, recipes for chicken and tuna.  Personally, I think canned chicken is vile, but one could easily substitute "real" chicken (pre-baked chicken breast) for the canned stuff.  I think it's called the Hormel Chunk Meats book, which has got to be the worst title ever.  I don't know if they're still offering it; it was $1.50 for s/h (book was free.  $1.50 total).

I bet most of the recipes are on the Hormel site.