Attention everyone who wants to live a healthier lifestyle with less hassle! If you want to make healthy college food easily, this post (and this fantastic cookbook!) is for you. While health topics like balance and confidence are more common on this site, today is all about fueling your body.
As I was searching for more lactose-free recipes that were easy, tasty, and fast, I came across Carleigh Bodrug’s PlantYou cookbook. I was immediately drawn in by the beautiful food photography and graphics, well-researched understanding of a plant-based diet, and actual doability of the recipes for busy people. To make it even better, she has an entire website help you to cook plant-based food with ease. I surprised myself by actually buying the cookbook instead of just reading it for free through the library or her website, and I’m so happy that I did! First, however, I want to address some things from the outset.
Why Go Plant-Based in College?
I will be the first to admit that I don’t eat a totally plant-based diet. As nice as that seems, I do love steak and broccoli beef a little too much to give it up completely. However, when I was in college, I noticed that I drifted more toward a plant-based diet. Why was this?
Laziness.
It was pure and simple–laziness. When I had to cook for myself, I wanted foods that could go together quickly and easily. I also didn’t want to have to deal with meat, because I’m pretty squeamish around uncooked meat and I initially didn’t trust myself to cook it completely. On top of that, I wanted food that would last for a few days, or meals that I could make large batches of cheaply. Naturally, meat was more expensive to buy, and with only one of me, it wasn’t efficient.
So, while I still ate meat occasionally in quick meals or outside food, I only cooked plant-based for myself. What was my result from this?
- I lost weight.
- It took less time to cook.
- I had meals that lasted me throughout the week.
- Ingredients were applicable to many different meals.
- I saved money.
- I had less dishes to do.
- Less resources were used to make my dinner each night.
If you’re someone who hates doing dishes, this is probably the way to go. And this cookbook, with its easy to use recipes that will help you to make healthy college food, is the perfect way to get there. In this review, I’m going to go over what stood out from the book, some of the best recipes, and who this might be good for.
How Hard Is It to Go Plant-Based in College?
The answer to this depends. If you’re living in a dorm and trying to cook for yourself, it might be a bit more difficult. If you’re in an apartment, however, and you have a functioning kitchen, it’s not that hard. It also depends on whether or not you intend to go full plant-based or whether you simply want to incorporate it into your diet to add a healthy variety of foods.
Overall, I would say it’s a medium-easy difficulty to go plant-based in college. Most grocery stores have the fruits, vegetables, and other resources that you need, and many herbs grow in small enough containers that you can grow them in your college kitchen. When I was in college, I had a basil plant and a rosemary plant that I used to add to my dinners nightly! This is also a lot cheaper than buying meat most of the time, so I would say that that adds some financial ease.
Whether or not you want to go full plant-based or just dabble in it, it’s definitely a great way to expand your healthy college food menu! Now, we’ll get into the book and some goodies that it has for you.
Review: PlantYou
If I were to rate this like I would a fiction book, I’d give it a 5/5. The recipes are easy, fast, and tasty. I find that a lot of vegan recipes only cater to one very specific subset of people, and I often struggle trying to find something that I actually want to eat. This book took away that problem.
The cookbook begins with a foreword and an explanation of the benefits going plant-based. It then jumps into cooking equipment and prep tips, and finally, the recipes! I absolutely loved how everything was broken down so aesthetically and sensibly. You start with morning food, move to lunch food, then find dinners, and conclude with sauces, sides, desserts, and drinks.
They Actually Look (and ARE) Good!
Upon flipping through this book for the first time, I found myself wanting to make these different meals. To my surprise, they actually looked like healthy college food. While some dishes do take more refined machinery that might not be found in a college apartment (i.e., a food processor), many can be made with what you likely have!
Most importantly, these foods actually taste good. They’re not overpoweringly veggie-y, and many of them actually taste like healthy substitutions for less healthy meals. So, just to give you a glimpse, I’m going to walk you through three recipes I made that I would’ve loved to make in college.
Recipe 1: Presto Pesto Penne
If any of you are lactose intolerant and miss eating pesto like I did, this meal is for you! It has eight simple ingredients, is ready in 25 minutes, and makes enough to give you leftovers. My favorite part of this is that you can truly taste each ingredient, from the basil to the tomato to the lemon. It’s super flavorful, and though the picture below doesn’t do it justice, it’s enough to make you want to make it again immediately. Although I couldn’t find the exact same recipe on the official website, I have a similar pesto recipe linked here to give you an idea of what it entails.
Recipe 2: Crunchy Peanut Shredded Salad
Describing this salad in one word: YUM! If you love quinoa and a little bit of spicy zest, you’re going to love this. Like the previous recipe, it only took 25 minutes to make and gave me leftovers, which I happily ate the next day. For me, this was good both hot and cold, and it filled me up. Although the recipe calls for purple cabbage (something I hate), I swapped it out for some spinach leaves, and I really enjoyed it. So did my family! Seeing as quinoa was something I ate a lot in my apartment when I was looking for healthy meals, I could have definitely used this easy recipe back then.
Recipe 3: Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies
While I don’t have a picture for this one, I wish I did, because these ones were the most fun to make! I was super curious what a desert with only five ingredients would taste like, but these cookies did not disappoint. Similar to the other recipes, they only took about 20-25 minutes to cook, and they were easy bake, high protein treats for after dinner or snacking. If I were to do it again, I might add a bit less peanut butter so that it’s not as sticky, but I could have definitely used sweet, on the go snacks like this in college.
A Final Word
Hopefully, you can tell just from the glimpse that I’ve provided that this cookbook is a fantastic purchase, especially if you’re trying to eat healthier. It’s my summer goal to expand more on my cooking skills, and this is making it much easier for me. If you’re the same at all, I definitely recommend trying this book.
Have you tried this? What do you think of the meals? Let me know in the comments below.
