Now, I’m pretty sure none of you people have 7 kids, but you do have a full course-load and weekends spent laying in bed watching TV. Yeah, you’re busy and there’s not much time to cook, which means my Nana’s recipes are perfect for your college life.

And the best/easiest/warms-your-tummy from-the-inside-out recipe: Nana’s Turkey Tetrazzini. It sounds fancy, and tastes fancy, but it’s super easy (got a bowl and a spoon? You’re good to go) and quick to make (open, pour, mix, cook). And it can be made vegetarian! Just take out the turkey.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
2 Tbsp chopped celery
2 Tbsp chopped black olives ( I put in lots more)
1 and a half to 2 cups cooked turkey (or chicken!), cut in pieces
8-12 oz cooked pasta, like spaghetti
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup water or chicken broth
¼ cup white wine or sherry, if desired (and who wouldn’t desire a little wine in their dinner…and the rest of the bottle while they make it?!)
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Bread crumbs for topping

Tetrazzini Time:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook onion and celery in microwave for 1 minute to soften.

3. Combine all ingredients except breadcrumbs (and save some cheese for the top) and pour into pre-greased baking dish.

4. Top with crumbs and cheese and bake for about 30 minutes, or until top looks brown and cheese is melty and gooey and, mmmm, so delicious.

5. Act like it took forever to make, tell no one your secret.

Who doesn’t love a little Southern cooking? Fried, greasy goodness? I wouldn’t trust someone who didn’t dream about it once in awhile.  And better yet, who doesn’t love a little Southern dessert? There is nothing. better. on earth. (I love you, Paula Dean!)

This recipe comes from my best friend’s mother, Mrs. D, a Southern mom who doesn’t have time to bake like all those other mommas.  These Oreo Balls are easy, quick and delicious, which is perfect for the college girl with a sweet tooth. You’ll need zero to no cooking experience or talent, so don’t fret if you’re not Betty Crocker. Hell, you don’t even need a full kitchen; you can make these balls of heaven right in your dorm room.

There are a lot of different recipes for Oreo Balls out there, but, again, I’m sticking with Mrs. D on this one. That woman totally knows her shiz.

Ingredients:

- 1  Package Oreo cookies, crushed
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 bag chocolate chips, melted or 2 packages dipping chocolate  (white, dark, milk – whichever you prefer!)

Directions:

1. Mix the crushed Oreo cookies and cream cheese together in a bowl. Use food processor or blender to speed up this process.
2. With your hands, roll Oreo and cream cheese mixture into small balls.  Place on baking sheet lined with wax paper.
3. Chill in freezer for 30 minutes.
4. Melt chocolate chips or dipping chocolate in the microwave until melted.
5. Using a toothpick, dip the Oreo balls into the melted chocolate.  Cover well.
6. Let Oreo balls harden on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet in fridge or freezer. Takes about 15 minutes.
7. Keep in fridge! Serve cold and enjoy!

Makes about 25 – 40 Oreo Balls, depending on how you make them.

*To make a healthier version of these Oreo balls, try using low-fat cream cheese! But, really, what difference does that make?

Any Pilates enthusiast will agree that this practice can tighten your tummy in just one session. Ab exercises that are inspired by the Pilates roll up will give your mid section a flatter look and you will stand taller, which creates the illusion of looking slimmer.

Try lying on your back, legs out straight. Take a deep breath in through your nose and breath out as you pull your belly button towards your spine. Repeat, but this time when you breathe out peel your head off the ground and then – one vertebra at a time, keeping your tummy pulled inward – lift all the way up and over, rounding your back out as you reach the top. This is known as the Pilates Roll Up and to watch how it’s done, check out this video. Done regularly, your stomach will look like amazing every day. Do this move 20x before you hit the beach (yes the very same day) for some fABulous results.

Looking for a tighter butt? Try these two moves the same day you put on your bathing suit. The first is a split lunge and the second is a plank glute kick-back that is way harder than it looks. You can do these both at home right before you head out for the day. For the lunge, all you need is a step. Place one leg on top of the step and balance on the ball of your opposite foot about 8 inches behind you. Lower into a lunge until your front thigh is parallel to the ground, raise up pressing through the glute of the leg on top of the step. Repeat for 10-15 reps, then switch legs.

For the second move, get in plank position with your forearms resting on the ground. Raise your right foot in a flexed position about 6 inches above the ground, pause for a second and lower. Repeat on your opposite leg to complete 1 rep. Repeat for 15 reps. Wipe the sweat off your brow.

Switching up your diet can also contribute to a quick fix: stop drinking soda, stop drinking beer, and drastically reduce your sodium intake if possible. This will reduce the amount of water retention you are holding on to, which means less bloating. I understand the beer thing might be easier said than done, so if you know you are going to drink, avoid the midnight pizza run (duh) and don’t have a bagel to fix the morning hangover. Go with a healthy well rounded portion controlled dinner and a yummy veggie egg white omelette instead.

If you’re still feeling large, thank the heavens that cute cover-ups exist. And next year, start getting into shape before the first day of summer with this bikini body workout.

[If you liked this workout, don't forget to subscribe to DietHealth on YouTube for free and check out my blog updated weekly over at Examiner.com! It's like having your very own personal trainer at no cost. Could there be anything better? Have a question? Ask me on Twitter.]

Lately, it’s been so freaking hot where I live (hello, summer) that I don’t even want to turn on the stove for 30 seconds, let alone the oven. Remembering an awesome avocado and egg sandwich that I once had at a New York City deli, I devised this AMAZING veggie wrap.

You need: one wrap tortilla, half a fresh avocado, half a small tomato, one hard-boiled egg, one carrot, a couple tablespoons of cheese (type is up to you), a tiny bit of Miracle Whip, a tiny bit of pesto sauce, a tiny bit of honey mustard, and sprinkles of salt and pepper.

Hard-boil the egg (it takes 10-15 minutes) far enough in advance so that you can cool it down with some ice cubes and cold water in the refrigerator before you make the wrap. When it’s cold, peel it and slice it thinly. Slice the half-avocado thinly as well, and the half-tomato.

Grate the carrot. Grate the cheese, too, if it’s not already grated. I use cheddar and mozzarella, but I think almost any kind would be good.

Once you’ve done all that, set the empty wrap tortilla on a plate. Spread the mayonnaise across the diameter, then spread the pesto sauce evenly next to it.

Layer on the avocado slices, the egg slices, and the tomato slices.

Pour the grated carrot over what you have so far, then the grated cheese.

Finally, squeeze just a little bit of honey mustard over the whole thing, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Roll it up (as best you can; it might overflow), and dig in. YUM yum yum yum YUM. Now that is motivation enough to become a vegetarian.

• Spraying your oven with water will make your bread crisp and brown. Getting a nice crust on homemade bread is tricky, but steam is the key. Fill a clean spray bottle with water, then lightly spray the bottom and sides of the oven right after you pop in the bread. You can also create steam by warming up a pan in the oven and then dumping a little bit of cold water in the pan as you start to bake the bread.

• You can make better rice by rinsing it. Most types of rice contain excess starch, so if you think ahead a little bit, you can get far better-tasting rice. Soak the amount of rice you’re using in clean, cold water for 20 minutes before cooking it. When it’s done soaking, drain it and rinse it thoroughly a few times. The result: a less sticky, nicer-tasting batch of rice.

• Stainless steel will get rid of garlicky fingers. If you’ve been chopping and chopping cloves of garlic and your fingers have the scent to prove it, rub them for a minute on the side of a stainless steel knife or the bend of a stainless steel faucet. Use some muscle! Then lather up with soap and wash your hands normally. When you’re finished, that garlic smell should be almost totally gone.

[Image courtesy of 4hisglory.wordpress.com]

For one person, one small- to medium-sized tomato is plenty. You’ll also need some basil (fresh or dried), salt, pepper, a bit of olive oil, and a couple of tablespoons of parmesan cheese.

Cut out the hard upper center of the tomato and then cut the tomato either lengthwise or widthwise into slices that are between ¼” and ½” thick. Preheat the oven to 400, then arrange the tomato slices at the bottom of an 8”x8” square pan. Sprinkle them with a dash of salt, a little pepper, and some basil (fresh is best) to taste. Drizzle the tomatoes with the olive oil, and top them with the parmesan cheese.

Then pop those suckers in the oven and bake them for about 15 minutes. You’ll probably drool when you take them out, so be prepared!

You might think a blender is essential for successful smoothie making, but I’ve used my food processor on countless occasions and been just fine. Until recently, I believed that the Perfect Smoothie was strawberry-banana, with a thick (though not lumpy) texture and a little yogurt and milk thrown in for good measure.

Two days ago, though, I discovered a new Perfect Smoothie, and I am now convinced that nothing can beat it. It is criminal that I should keep this new recipe to myself, so I am sharing it with CC’s readership so that every one of you can also make yourselves delirious with enjoyment over this particular smoothie.

It’s easy: you just need one banana, half a mango (peeled and roughly chopped), a little over half a cup of milk, a tablespoon of heavy cream, half a teaspoon of sugar, and one ice cube.

You might need to crush the ice cube before you throw it in the blender/food processor, because a full cube of ice can sometimes make the blades in those devices go haywire. Once you have smaller pieces of ice, though, throw them in the blender along with everything else, and go crazy. I like to puree the smoothie until it’s really smooth, but you can leave it a little chunkier if you want.

Pure bliss, I swear. Pick up a mango next time you go to the store, and you can thank me later.

Ha, ha, ha. I’m laughing all the way to the grocery store.

No, seriously, though, that’s a lot of vegetables. And it’s not that I don’t like vegetables—it’s just that I don’t really eat them. I can eat about ten zillion servings of fruit per day, but when it comes to vegetables… I feel like a small child sometimes because I have to sneak them into my own food. I mean, who does that?

Maybe you will after trying this awesome homemade mac and cheese.

To make enough for just you, you need 1-2 chopped carrots, a few broccoli florets (if you don’t like broccoli, you can use cauliflower), enough dry pasta for yourself (4-6 oz.), about ½ cup cheese (any kind you like, or you can mix kinds), 1 tablespoon of flour, ½ cup milk, and 1-2 cups chicken broth (optional).

First, boil the pasta in the chicken broth. If you don’t have any chicken broth, use water instead.

Next, chop the broccoli and carrots finely (or toss them in a food processor, and pulse them a few times). When the pasta has 4-5 minutes left to cook, pour the vegetables in the pot to join the pasta.

While the pasta and vegetables are getting tender, mix the milk and flour together.

Drain the pasta if you used water, or don’t if you used chicken broth (just make sure there’s not so much broth in the pan that it’s overwhelming the pasta). Add the milk and flour mixture.

Cook the pasta, veggies, and milk mixture for another minute or so, until it thickens and begins to bubble. Turn off the heat, and add the cheese. Stir until it’s melted, then serve yourself up some veggie mac and cheese!

At least once a week, I find myself with less than a half-hour window to make and eat dinner. I guess I could just grab a sandwich or some Chinese takeout or something, but I have this annoying insistence that most of what I eat taste delicious and have recognizable ingredients. Yeah, I know, I’m a tough customer.

Since there’s no way I’d have time on those days to do more than punch a few buttons on the microwave or set the dial on the oven, I rely on three staple dinners that I can freeze and pop out of the freezer whenever I want. I usually make giant batches of each and then separate them into single portions that I can easily grab from the icicles.

1. Tamales. I don’t want to lie; tamales are a lot of work to make, but it’s worth it when you can spend half a day making them, eat a few fresh, then freeze all the rest to enjoy in minutes whenever you feel like it. Plus, if you use this great recipe, you won’t have to boil the meat as long as they recommend if you halve or quarter the total amounts of everything.

2. Pizza dough. True, pizza dough by itself isn’t much of a meal. But the things you can do with it are wondrous. If I’m crunched for time, I thaw out a single portion of dough and bake a mini-pizza or wrap it around ingredients to form a calzone:

Until you’ve tried it, you won’t know just how awesome it is. Try making a big batch of dough using this recipe from Epicurious.

3. Veggie burgers. You can always buy a package of Boca burgers and snatch one from the freezer when you’re running late, but it’s so much more delicious and worthwhile to make your own. This recipe for black bean burgers is fabulous, and they pack an amazing amount of nutrition and texture.

Got any other simple ideas that can sit in the freezer and make the perfect meal? Share your yummy knowledge with the world!

I love flavor, I need my food to be moderately healthy, not too expensive, and easy to make. I do love cooking elaborate meals, but not in the middle of the day when I’m consumed with everything else I’m doing.

So over time, a few simple lunches have worked their way into my mental cookbook, simple lunches that I’m now going to share with you! Here are four options that are delicious, easy, and relatively cheap to make, as well as healthy for you…well, healthier than Wendy‘s…that’s for sure.

1. Toast whole wheat bread. Spread your favorite hummus across both pieces of the bread (I prefer using the really spicy stuff). Then add turkey or your favorite lunch meat.

2. Stuff a whole wheat wrap with avocado slices, tomato slices, and mozzarella cheese. This is AWESOME, trust me!

3. Toast whole wheat bread. Spread reduced fat Peanut Butter across the bread. Top this with sliced banana. This sandwich is not only pretty good for you, but it’s also SO filling.

4. For a better version of the grilled cheese, try this:

Use whole wheat bread and place it in a frying pan with olive oil. Top it with mozzarella cheese or fat free cheddar cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over this and then add the other piece of bread. Sooo good!

All in all, there’s no reason to catch yourself ordering in every day for lunch or swinging through a drive through. With some whole wheat bread/wraps and just a few other ingredients, you can make some pretty tasty lunches; so do it!

Got any other easy, quick lunch ideas? We’re starving for ‘em!