The Weekend Wonder

Being a graduate student, I don't have a whole lot of "personal" time, which means normally I want things to get done as fast as possible so I can sit down in front of the TV and veg with my husband. This past 4th of July weekend, something in me changed. I have decided to say "NO!" to boring food that may require little effort, but is surely bad for my body, and say yes to bettering myself through cuisine.

I am also a thrifty gal, and so whenever I find a way to save money, I run with it. For example, this weekend, I made my own pita chips, hummus, and granola bars, all in about 1 hour of total work. Below are the recipes that I used (taken entirely from other sources but modified to fit my own taste). I calculated (yes...actually calculated) the money I saved versus buying processed versions from the store, and per serving I saved about $4. This may not seem like much, but taken in the context that there are normally 8 granola bars in a box, about 8 ounces of hummus per container and the pita chips were made with stale pita bread I was going to throw away otherwise, the outcome is significant.

Below (in my edit soon to come) are the recipes for these snacks. Enjoy, and remember to cite properly :). Intellectual theft is a terrible crime.