Fancy apple chips: $1

You may have seen packages of these at your local upscale grocery store for anywhere from $3-$6, but did you know that with just 10 minutes of labor and a food dehydrator, you can make two bags’ worth for a buck? They’re sweet, they’re crunchy, they’ve got no added sugar or preservatives, and you can make them year round. They also keep well for vacuum sealing, and are a great holiday-season hostess gift when packed in a cellophane bag with a nice ribbon. Read on for the secret that makes them so inexpensive.

 

Sweet potato, apple & spinach salad: $1.47/serving

I make a lot of salads. Most of them I don’t bother posting here, as they’re usually just a mishmash of ingredients I happened to have lying around, paired with produce from the garden and tossed with some vinegar and olive oil. Simple, often boring (by food-blog standards, anyway), and not always good enough to bother re-creating. This salad, however, was an exception. It was originally supposed to be black beans and rice with roasted sweet potato and lime, but, as I came to discover at the last minute, I was out of black beans. Time for Plan B. Thanks to some apples from our neighbor’s tree and some spinach in the crisper, I was able to transmute most of the original ingredients into a salad that’s actually worth revisiting.

Crunchy granola bars: 30 cents each

I debated whether to call this a splurge or not, since granola bars are technically a snack and not a meal. However, we’ve certainly used them as both before in the past, depending on how the week’s budget is shaping up, and I can say they do make a decent grab-and-go lunch when paired with some fruit, so I’m leaving them as is. When B. and I first moved in together he was quite fond of buying Nature Valley granola bars for lunch, but despite some serious comparison shopping, the cheapest we could find them—on sale, at Costco, anywhere—was 50 cents each. Obviously that could not do, so I set out to start making crunchy granola bars from scratch. Even though the Nature Valley ones come two to a package, they’re thinner and smaller than these bars, and markedly less filling. I’ve never felt sated for hours by the Nature Valley bars, but I have by these, which are loaded with fruit, nuts, wheat germ for protein, and mostly honey as a sweetener. Make up a batch and keep them in your fridge for emergencies (that way they stay crisp).

Roasted strawberry, goat cheese & black pepper soufflé: $1.49/serving

Yep. More strawberries. Unfortunately, my stomach is now too big for me to bend over and pick them myself, so I have to rely on B., who not only works 12 hours some days, but is also saddled with the myriad other tasks I’m now unable to do. (Weeding, picking up dog poop, et al.) Needless to say, we’re still getting them, just not always before time and the sun have taken their toll. I admit this recipe is something of a work in progress; I’ve noted changes I’d still like to institute for next time, and tinkering at all levels is welcome…just let me know what you did and how it turned out. It should be served with salad and a lot of balsamic vinaigrette to pour over both the soufflé and greens.

Splurge: watermelon sorbet: 71 cents/serving

As you may have noticed, watermelons are cheap right now. Like, really cheap. They’re also very large. Like, the size of a small child and 39-cents-a-pound large. Which is great if you’ve got a huge family or plan on putting slices out for a barbecue, but what to do if you’ve got a household of two people who struggle to eat 12 pounds’ worth of watermelon in a week? Buy a cheaper, smaller watermelon that probably costs three times as much per pound? Of course not! Buy the big watermelon, eat half of it, and make this sorbet with the other half. It’s one of the most refreshing summer desserts there is, and if you buy mini chocolate chips (which I didn’t this time), it even looks just like watermelon, which for some reason makes it taste even better.

Strawberry summer cake: 18 cents/serving

I know, I know; again with the strawberries. They’re taking over the yard and the fridge! Not only did they cause me to make an exception for my no-big-pieces-of-meat rule, they’ve now caused me to bake, which regular readers know is not really my bag. But this was pretty darn easy, even for me, and the taste payoff is big. The sweet cake really highlights the tartness of the berries, making it perfect for coffee time or dessert time. It’s almost like a clafoutis; really soft and moist, almost like it’s mixed with custard, but with the structure of a sponge cake. It’s delicious the next day, too, although I admit I can’t attest to the day after that. (And let’s be honest, will you ever need to know?)

Gorgonzola- and prosciutto-stuffed chicken breast with strawberry-balsamic sauce: $1.94/serving

The garden strawberries! They just won’t quit! In my zeal to use them, I even broke one of my personal rules against meals consisting largely of one big ol’ hunk of meat. And it was chicken breast, at that. (I usually prefer thighs, as they’re more flavorful and less prone to dryness, but in this case breasts were easier to stuff.) However, this is the best savory use for strawberries—outside of salads—I’ve ever found, and I’ve been making it for years now (pre $35-a-week, of course) to great acclaim. If you want to get real fancy you could even convert this into a roulade, which would make for a much prettier picture than the one above. The sauce also doubles as a salad dressing; feel free to add a mess of spinach leaves or other greens to the other half of the plate. (As I did after this picture was taken.)

Strawberry sorbet: 20 cents/serving

As predicted, our strawberry patch this year is out of control (in a good way), yielding several pounds of strawberries every week. This was all fine and good for a while, but after eating strawberries for lunch, snacks, and dessert for days at a time, we were ready for a different iteration. I make this sorbet every summer after the novelty of plain strawberries wears off, and so far this week we’ve already made two batches of it. It’s pretty simple—just strawberries, sugar, and a little lemon juice (and optional kirsch), but we both prefer it to just about every frozen dessert out there. It’s also a good way to use up ripe strawberries that got half-eaten by slugs—just wash, trim out the bad parts, and store in the freezer until you’ve accumulated one pound.

Splurge: apple-miso ice cream: 26 cents/serving

Believe it or not, this ice cream was not born of a pregnancy craving. It was born of the arrival of a new ice-cream maker to replace our Kitchen Aid stand-mixer attachment, which ceremoniously sprung a leak around the time I became pregnant and REALLY could’ve used some ice cream. I was so excited to finally have ice cream again that I didn’t care what kind it was—I just wanted it now. Apples were the only fruit we had on hand, and a quick perusal of Epicurious confirmed they have been paired with white miso before in desserts, so onward I pressed with the idea. Was it a good idea? The jury’s still out. It tastes exactly as it sounds—sweet and apple-y, with a salty, umami undertone of miso. I think my taste buds were more confused than anything else. For that reason I don’t necessarily recommend it as a pregnancy dessert (a time when one doesn’t exactly need any more confused body parts), but it would probably make a great palate cleanser in between courses of an Asian meal, or unexpected dinner-party dessert.

Red-lentil dal with apples: 55 cents/serving

I don’t cook a lot of Indian food (no particular reason why; I just don’t find myself drawn to it), but when I do, it’s usually some variation of dal, a simple, usually vegan lentil stew that can be made using whatever vegetables or lentils one happens to have on hand. This red-lentil version was born to use up half a can of whole tomatoes I had languishing in the freezer, as well as some of the 4 lbs. of Granny Smiths we bought this weekend at Winco; the apples add a sweet tang that goes perfectly with the earthiness of the lentils. It’s quick, warming and healthy—perfect for a rainy weeknight. (Yes, I know the Pacific Northwest is probably the only place in the country right now where it’s still raining and 55 degrees, but just humor me.)