Creamy lemon pasta with olives & basil: $1.01/serving

Because basil is finicky to grow from seed outdoors—and doesn’t last as long once it gets going—we’re currently on our second planting of basil in the indoor Aerogarden, timed (hopefully) to coincide with the ripening of our larger heirloom tomatoes. Unfortunately, this means we’re currently having to buy basil, as I did for a lemon-basil cake I made for a party this past weekend. Do you have any idea how much basil costs in the store? Either $1.99 for a few limp sprigs packed into a plastic clamshell case, or upward of $3.50 for a “hydroponically grown” (with, incomprehensibly, dirt clods attached to the roots) or living bunch. You’d better believe I’m using every last minuscule leaf of that stuff. All I had left was enough for a sprinkling over this vaguely Greek-inspired pasta, which is good hot but even better cold as a salad. I must say, though, the basil completely made the dish, and may have earned it a spot in our regular rotation once the home-grown basil gets going.

Gemelli with sungold tomatoes, beans & olives: 63 cents/serving

We had our first harvest of sungold tomatoes this week, and as difficult as it was for me to refrain from eating them right off the plant (although I admit there may have been a few that “fell”), I managed to accumulate enough to make this pasta dish. It’s a light, quick, cheap, and filling warm-weather meal, especially with the beans, and it can, of course, be made with any variety of cherry or grape tomato. I also used fresh oregano, but I didn’t like it all that much with the olives, so I’m recommending you use basil.

Spicy tomato crumble: $1.41/serving

This may look like dessert—it is a real crumble, after all, made as one would make a berry crumble—but I assure you it’s all dinner. Light and crunchy, tangy and spicy, it’s equally delicious by itself, as a side dish for meat, or on top of a bowl of pasta. It’s also made completely with pantry ingredients, which means it can be whipped together any time of year, often without even having to go shopping.

Oat groats with blue cheese, walnuts & spinach: $1.98/serving

This dish was adapted from a recipe that uses an unfortunate euphemism for oat groats: “warm oat berries.” Maybe I’m just being juvenile, but that sounds a lot more unappetizing than “oat groats.” The oat groat is the original whole grain of the oat. A lot of people might not think of oatmeal as a processed food, but indeed it is—even the super-wholesome-seeming steel-cut or rolled oats are simply oat groats that have been chopped up or pressed and then baked. Groats take a while to cook, however, which is why I happen to find them better suited to dinner. They offer a very mild oat flavor with a satisfying chew not unlike farro, and lend themselves to a variety of salad or side dish applications.

Farfalle with Kalamata olives, pine nuts, & sun-dried tomatoes: $2.40/serving

Photogenic issues aside, odds are you’ve had this dish—or something similar—at a faux-Tuscan sponge-painted restaurant located next to a Bed, Bath & Beyond or a Sports Authority. There may or may not have been unlimited breadsticks, or the word “Grill” in the name. Anyhow, this is a quick and easy crowd pleaser that, considering you have the ingredients lying around, can be thrown together at the last minute. It may not be the cheapest meal you’ll ever make, but it sure beats $12.95 a serving.

Green olive, almond & orange pesto pasta: $1.45/serving

I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting pestos, so when Cooks Illustrated came out with a trio of creative combos intended to gussy up store-bought cheese ravioli, I knew I had to try this one, because it sounded so…well, wrong. Green olives and oranges? Believe it or not, yes. It works. The parsley and almonds are the main players in the dish, but the orange and olive add a certain je ne sais quois. Most important of all, though, was the opportunity to use up an elderly half-bottle of green olives that kept getting knocked over in the back of the fridge.