It doesn’t matter who you talk to – from college students living in a dorm, to young parents struggling for time, to empty nesters trying to avoid making large meals – everyone needs a quick go-to recipe for those cold winter nights. Recently, I’ve been coming up with some super simple, quick, recipes using just a few ingredients for my daughters in college.

Being in a dorm with just a microwave to cook with can make it challenging to eat healthy! I had to make sure that any recipes I created would not require a whole lot of ingredients or utensils, and yet be healthy and delicious. It’s a tall order for anyone 🙂 But I think you will agree it passes all these tests! Best of all it passed the toughest critics, college students!

This time of the year is a super busy time for everyone and people are eating out a lot, going to holiday parties or are on vacation!  We want to relax, enjoy the company of family and friends, and eat good delicious food without guilt 🙂 There isn’t much time for workouts etc. which is all the more reason to find easy to make healthy meals!

So, let me offer you an alternative, that is easy to make, uses only 2-3 ingredients, super quick to make so you don’t have to slave over a stove and tastes absolutely fabulous! A dish that you took the time (5 minutes!) to do something positive for yourself. That in fact will motivate you to maybe drink a bit less of the empty calories or maybe walk for 5 minutes after a meal!

The recipe I’m sharing with you all is a super quick hack which can be made in maximum 5 minutes using just 1 bowl, without even using the stove if you don’t want to. It can be done entirely in the microwave; which is super helpful for a student in the dorm that might not have access to a stove.

These days most grocery stores have veggie (zucchini or carrot) spirals or you can make your own in literally 1-2 minutes. For this recipe I’m using a store bought jar of any good quality marinara sauce. Regarding the meatballs, you can use veggie ones or regular. It’s totally your call! I personally prefer using the vegetarian ones as that just ups my fiber intake and are also nutrient dense. I like the ones from Trader Joe’s!

Ingredients:

Zucchini – Spirals from 1 medium zucchini

Marinara Sauce – ½ cup or however much you prefer

Frozen Vegetarian meatballs – 5

Directions:

• Cook the veggie meatballs in the microwave according to package directions.

• Pour the marinara sauce on the veggie meatballs and microwave for 1 minute.

• Using a Vegetti or Spiralizer, make zucchini spirals. Or you can buy them pre-made from the grocery store.

• Feel free to add microwaved broccoli or any other veggie of your choice to that for additional nutrition.

• Add to the above and enjoy!

Nutritional Content:

Total Servings: 1

Serving size: 1 medium size bowl

Per Serving:  233 cal, Total Fat 7.7 g, Carbs 26.8 g, fiber 6.2 g, Sugar 13.6 g, Protein 16.6 g, Vit A 25.8%, Vit C 35%, Calcium 12.5%, Iron 20.3%