If you've ever cooked on a budget, you know that veggies are much more cost effective than meat. Beyond that, I have a few vegan friends who have requested that I make some food that doesn't involve meat. Now, I know I give them shit about being vegan because meat, butter, and cheese make life worth living, but I do understand the moral, ethical, and health reasons why they may choose that way of life. I just enjoy eating flesh, eggs, and dairy. 
Tonight, though, we're eating vegan.
I kept it simple, because simple is often best. I diced up some red bell pepper and two radishes and thinly sliced a mushroom, then put them all in my big bowl. I sliced a few small garlic cloves, diced a handful of cherry tomatoes, and chopped some parsley and basil for my small bowl. Notice that I kept two crushed garlic cloves and the parsley stems aside. That's important.
Starting off, I poured some extra virgin olive oil into my cold (!!!!) pan and dropped in the parsley stems and crushed garlic cloves, then I turned on some low heat. I let everything sit until it started bubbling. At that point, I removed the stems and garlic. I discarded the stems like a wasteful piece of shit, but I slivered the garlic to use later.
Once the stems and garlic were removed, I added some red pepper flakes and let them disperse, then I dumped in the big bowl and mixed everything around to get it all coated with the oil. I did add a little salt (not much at all) and let it cook until the veggies were all starting to soften.
I decided to be all proper and shit by pouring in a little bit of my (salted) pasta water. Unfortunately, I'm a fucking shit cook, so I poured too much water. Don't be like me. Use a spoon. I just turned the heat up some and waited for the water to cook off a bit. Once the liquid levels were down some, I dumped in the small bowl and a healthy portion of nutritional yeast.
Side note: if you're doing vegan meals, nutritional yeast is a great additive. It's got a little bit of flavor, but it helps you make sure you're giving your body the shit it needs. Like, minerals or something. I haven't read the bottle in a long time, but for real. Use it.
If you're a college kid still living in the dorm, dump your ramen on top, chug your beer, and wolf it down.
If you're looking for something a little better, mix your ramen in, get it coated with the oil, then pile it somewhat attractively on a plate with some slivered garlic and basil leaves as a little fancy touch. Crack some black pepper on that shit, wipe the rim of the plate, and boom. Vegan pasta that tastes good, isn't bad for you, and doesn't even make you feel guilty for not indulging your butter habit.
As for budget, I used about 2% of a $1.19 bunch of parsley ($0.03), about 10% of a $4.99 box of tomatoes ($0.50), about 20% of an $8 box of dry ramen noodles ($1.60), about 5% of a $3.79 box of basil ($0.19), about 8% of a $1.89 bag of radishes ($0.15), about 15% of a $4.49 pack of mushrooms ($0.67), about 8% of a $3.99 pack of bell peppers ($0.32), and about 5% of a $1.99 sleeve of garlic ($0.10) for a grand total of $3.56 for this dinner (and the next day's lunch).
I will be running out of olive oil soon and will need to get a new bottle, but I can't remember how much it cost, and I used a relatively miniscule amount, so I'm not counting it. I also am not counting the nutritional yeast, the salt, the black pepper, or the red pepper flakes since I've had them for a while and don't remember how much they cost. But hey, I'm doing the best I can.
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