Budget snack board
A full, generous board for around $20, built from two blocks of cheese, a tub of hummus and the cheapest crunchy things in the store.
- 25 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 8
- About $1.97 a serving
- 560 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: It’s ready in 25 minutes, start to finish.
Ingredients
For 8 servings.
- 8 oz cheddar cheese, in a block
- 8 oz Monterey Jack cheese, in a block
- 10 oz hummus
- 2 cucumbers
- 8 oz baby carrots
- 2 apples
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1 cup dill pickles, spears or chips
- 1 cup peanuts
- 6 oz butter crackers
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch paprika
Each serving has about 560 calories, 23 g protein, 35 g carbs and 39 g fat, and costs about $1.97 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No cheddar cheese? Shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese works.
- No cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Cut both cheeses into bite-size , about ¾ inch, and pile them at opposite ends of a large board or tray.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Dolly’s tip: Cubes go further than slices, and nobody needs a knife.Spoon the hummus into a small bowl, swirl the top with the back of the spoon, and with the oil and of paprika.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Cut the cucumbers into thick coins and set them by the hummus with the baby carrots.
the apples, them into wedges, and them with the lemon juice so they stay white.
Core. Coring means cutting out the hard center of things like apples, peppers or cabbage. That center is tough and woody, so it’s the part you throw away.
How you’ll know: What’s left is all tender flesh, with no hard, pale center.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Dolly’s tip: Lemon juice holds off browning for a few hours.Add the pickles and peanuts in small bowls or piles wherever there’s space.
Fan the crackers into the gaps just before serving.
Dolly’s tip: To make it ahead, cover the board with plastic wrap and chill up to 4 hours. Cheese and cut fruit can sit out up to 2 hours.Food safety: Food with mayonnaise, dairy, eggs, cooked meat or cream, like dips, salads and cream desserts, can sit out for 2 hours at most, or 1 hour above 90°F. Keep cold food in the fridge or on ice until serving, and hot food at 140°F or hotter.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
When you host a dinner, Dollop builds the menu around your guests’ allergies, works out a cooking timeline back from when everyone sits down, and puts it all on one grocery list.
