Budget friendly dinner: Cucumber, Apple and Dill salad

Graduate students can eat healthily without racking up credit card debt on groceries. Every now again I throw up a recipe on this site that demonstrates my point. This is a quick and dirty meal for hot Summer days and tight wallets. It is budget friendly for two reasons a) I didn't have to heat up the house to make it (and therefore didn't have to turn on the air conditioner to cool it down and b) the total cost of the ingredients came to a little over $5.





I ate this on Sunday night with a microwave-poached egg.


Cucumber, Apple Dill Salad (serves 2-4)


2 cucumbers, deseeded and chopped into 1 inch by 1/2 inch pieces

1 green apple , chopped into similarly sized pieces

3 gloves of garlic, chopped

3 scallions, chopped

3-4 tablespoons of fresh dill, chopped

1 cup of 0% fat greek yogurt

salt and pepper to taste




As you can see, the recipe involves a lot of chopping :)


Mix the yogurt, scallions, garlic, dill and salt and pepper together. The longer you let this mixture sit, the more garlic-y it will become. I let it sit for about 5 minutes. Toss the cucumber and apple together in a separate bowl. Combine the two mixtures.

Warning: the salt will draw water out of the cucumbers, so serve right after you combine the two mixtures.

Damn tasty and it cooled me off to boot!

Garlic Kale with pine nuts - budget friendly dinner

I've been writing quite a bit lately. Between publications, book stuff and the biiiiiiig paper, I haven't been hitting the gym as much. I used to go for 2 hours a day. Now I sit in one position, and putter about looking for grants and whatnot. This is the recipe I go to on the days when I'm pretty sure I blew my calorie allowance by noon.

I think I came across this recipe during my running days. It's iron rich and filled with fiber - all things runners need. It's pretty simple

2 Tbsp olive oil

2-4 gloves of garlic diced

1 bunch of kale

2 Tbsp of pine nuts

2 Tbsp of dried cranberries

2-4 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the oil on medium heat. Add the garlic and wait until it is almost brown before adding the kale. I usually cover for 2 minutes while the kale cooks down. Take the cover off and let the kale cook for 3-4 more minutes. Add the pine nuts and cranberries. cook for a minute. Add balsamic and cook until the kale starts to turn brown. Take off the heat and season to taste.

I sometimes eat this with a little chunk of bread or pasta and a poached egg on top. Cost comes to about $5 for two people. Done and done.