As a grad school student in New York, one of the priciest cities in the world, I’m always pinching pennies. At the same time, family and friends warned me against stuffing myself with cheap, unhealthy junk food (check out this video on Bronx bodegas, where the “food” is dirt cheap and probably just as unhealthy as that), so I make an effort to get my fill of fruit and vegetables every week. Whole Foods? Forget it. I get my goods at Trader Joe’s and farmer’s markets in the Bronx, where I’m assigned to report.

But again, as a grad student, time is just as scarce as money, so I can’t keep making meals and snacks from scratch every day. When I find pockets of time, I cook in big batches to spread out for several meals. Over the weekend, I made a chicken potpie topped with Southern biscuits; today, I made homemade salsa with juicy red tomatoes and plenty of cilantro to use as stuffing for chicken-hummus whole grain wraps. I’ve already made balsamic adobo twice, and I’m proud to say my cooking skills have greatly improved.

However, I’ve a big problem with snacking—I end up writing a lot of papers well into the night, and I need brain food to keep going. Unfortunately, my soft spot for Oreos and milk isn’t doing my sugar levels any favors, so I had to come up with munchies to help me get through those nights (and long days in the classroom).

I love Seneca apple chips; who doesn’t? But they’re pretty pricey, and after discovering that they were actually fried and not baked, I swore to make my own. I already owned a dehydrator (a spinoff of a previous project on fruit leathers—more on that in another entry), so making these were a cinch.

Slice apples thinly to get a crispy chip

You can core the apples or leave that pretty star-shaped center

Soak the apples in lemon water to prevent them from browning quickly

Sprinkle with cinnamon

And set them in your dehydrator (if you have one) for 4-8 hours, depending on the temperature. Don't have a dehydrator? Use an oven set at 250 C, and bake for 10 minutes or so. Keep checking!

Add more cinnamon if you want to. Voila! A healthy, inexpensive snack.

I apologize for not blogging more. The J-School is a lot tougher than any of us expected, and these photos are actually from a project (to illustrate a process) I used for a class. Still, I’ll make a point to swing by and say something once in a while.