Steak on the Grill for Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day.  We never go out to eat then, because it's crowded, noisy, frenzied, even,  and the food deteriorates accordingly.  We have a Mother's Day meal on Saturday at a restaurant of my choosing.  This year it was the Garden Restaurant at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA.  Always a treat with decent food at reasonable prices and lots of good exhibits at the museum. 

For THE DAY itself, I had some sale-purchased $5 each strip steaks which we grilled.  Also grilled Vidalia onions and I made cherry tomatoes Provencal and a salad of baby spinach and avocado.  Delicious, and husband did the grilling and set the table.  The onion recipe is a keeper: Grilled Vidalia Onions

We each ate half a steak (plenty, believe me) so there's steak-fried-rice tonight.  I'll cook some Basmati rice and add scallions, the rest of the spinach and some Asian spices, garlic and a bit of cilantro.  Easy, delicious and now bordering on cheap. 

Baby lettuces have sprouted.  We eat the thinnings in salads, too, and the chives are rampant.   Sage, hit hard by the winter is recovering, and oregano is coming along.  Thyme also took a beating from winter.  Will have to replace. 

The hummingbird is back, and lots of nesting is going on right now.  The titmice are pulling the stuffing out of my wire planter and using it for nesting materials.  They are so cute (and the liner is so old) I can't be angry.


The Cheeseparer 

Hummingbird at feeder with Clematis in background

Too Much Month Left At the End of the Money

Ten weeks of house guests can eat into the food budget.  Worse yet, when the quarterly months roll around, there are property taxes, health insurance, life insurance and newspaper (we read a lot of papers) bills to pay.  All this can lead to, well, diminished cash.  There are, of course, option:  credit cards and dipping into savings are two.  This only aggravates the problem.  We decided to make do on the ridiculously small amount of available cash.  It worked pretty well.  Coupons!  Remember coupons!  I had a $5 cat food coupon.  The kitties have to eat, too. 
The piggy bank, alas, had been raided the prior month.  There was, however, a treasure trove in the freezer.  Meat for a week, and then . . . mystery meat.  What might it be? 

We found out.  Create recipes and meals from what's on hand.  This is when a well-stocked pantry is your best friend.  There were turkey cutlets, which we gussied up with capers, white wine and lemon juice.  There was chicken which was made into a delicious salad.  A couple frozen pizzas, small ones.  Dr. Oetker's.  Have you tried Dr. Oetker's pizza?  Kind of pricey, but we buy it with coupons when it's on sale.  Very good and just right for two people for lunch or a light dinner.  

The garden  gave us fresh herbs, tomatoes and cukes.  Lots of salads and the wonderful appetizer, Insalata Caprese, with fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, olive oil and salt and pepper.  This can be lunch if you have some bread.  Oh yes, the mozzarella was dirt cheap, made fresh in one of our local supermarkets and totally delicious. 
Yeast and flour?  Bake a loaf or two of bread.  So tasty. 
 We found a can of corned beef hash left from the winter stores.   We ate it with some found-at-the-back-of-the-fridge English muffins.  Even stale bread tastes o.k. toasted.

Walmart had wonderful big fresh heads of iceberg lettuce for $1.14.  They (and Trader Joe's) have cheap bananas, too.  Just because every meal is a scrounge doesn't mean you can skip fruit and veggies.  Of course you read the weekly fliers for bargains.  We even had some blueberries. 

We discovered the "mystery meat" was half a small round beef roast and two (count 'em, two) short ribs.  They made two wonderful meals when cooked up with onions, some oldish celery, two big freshly purchased carrots, and red wine and garlic. (Home grown).  I cooked them for hours.  Served with some barley that has been in the cupboard for ages.   Cucumber salad, natch! 

At the end of the week, the freezer was bare, really bare.
 I also made lemon-lime ice milk, because we had bags of lemons and limes.  Bought a small container of heavy cream and we had delicious desserts.  Again, a well-stocked pantry.              

Some money finally arrived, and we went shopping, because by now, there was really no food in the house, the canned soup having been consumed for lunch.  I could have eeked another meal with pasta, bacon and tomatoes, but that wasn't necessary.  Before winter comes, I'll stock up on some Spam and corned beef and canned soup.  You never know when a power failure will hit for a few days.  We have a gas stove, and can cook on the stove top, and a Weber kettle for grilling (and baking).  Our parents and grandparents knew how to "make do."  Do you?  

This was a busy summer and I haven't posted.   How do YOU "make do?" 

Pesto Alla Genovese

Pesto alla Genovese

2 cups fresh basil leaves, stripped from their stems, coarsely chopped and tightly packed. 

1 t. salt

½ t. freshly ground black pepper

1-2 t. finely chopped garlic

2 T. finely chopped pine nuts (or walnuts)

1 to 1 1/2 cups olive oil

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a blender or food processer, combine basil, salt, pepper, garlic, nuts and 1 cup of olive oil.  Blend at high speed until the ingredients are smooth, stopping every 5 or 6 second to push herbs down with a rubber spatula.

The sauce should be thin enough to run off the spatula easily.  If too thick, blend in as much as ½ cup more olive oil.

Transfer the sauce to a bowl and stir in the grated cheese.

Poach chicken breasts, cool and cut into bit size pieces.  Add a few spoons of pesto and mix well.  Serve on lettuce or as part of an antipasto. 

You can also mix the chicken and pesto with cooled pasta and fresh tomatoes for a delicious main course.  Serve with French bread.

The Frugal Cook's Garden

Gardening In A Small Spot

Of course you grow your own tomatoes, right?  Even a sunny balcony can grow great patio tomatoes.  A bit of alley, anyplace there's sun and soil or room for a container can be a garden.  I always grow great heaps of herbs.  Parsley, natch, cilantro, mint, oregano, dill, basil, sage, thyme.  All are easily grown.  Mint and oregano always prosper like weeks.  Dill reseeds itself every year.  Thyme keeps faithfully over the winter as does sage, which can be harvested until Christmas.  We also like to grow cukes and sometimes peppers.  I failed to grow tomatillos.  Chives are also reliable and add delicious flavor.  


We grew some nice mesclun this spring, which I always added to the salad.  Unfortunately, the critters ate most of the spinach.  We got a little.  Must have some healthy bunnies.  


Onward, 


The Cheeseparer

Five Minute Desserts

From late spring into the fall,  we are tempted with fresh fruit.  It's hard to beat a good fruit salad with a harmonious selection of fruits.  Add a spot of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice.  We like to macerate a spoonful or two of Apple Jack with the fruit.


Only slightly more ambitious is a compote.  In Germany and Austria in the summer, you can eat a dessert call Rote Grutze  (Red Groats) everywhere.   Red berries and currants thickened with tapioca(?).  Make your own American version with rhubarb, strawberries, cherries, anything red including leftover cranberries you may have in the freezer.  Cook together with a very small amount of liquid (I like orange juice). Thicken with cornstarch or instant tapioca and of course sweeten according to taste.  Served with a bit of cream, this is delicious.


Only slightly more complicated is a country fruit tart.  Take one Pillsbury pie crust from the dairy case (they come two to a box in our area for $2.99 but can often be found on sale.) Put some parchment paper on a large cookie sheet with sides.  Unroll the crust onto the paper.  Pour a mixture of fruits (2-3 cups) sweetened with sugar and lemon juice with a bit of instant tapioca to thicken.  Any kind of fruit will do.  Crimp the sides around the fruit so that the fruit is still mostly visible  in the center of the tart.  Put into a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  Cool on a trivet and eat.  Serves 4 or 6 people on a diet. 


The parchment paper keeps the cookie sheet clean.   Blueberries, strawberries, plums, cherries, peaches--singly or together.  Be creative.  Sprinkle with a tad of cinnamon or nutmeg is you like.  Not too much.  You want to savor the fruit. 


You can make your own crust for about $1.00 less, but that is more than 5 minutes, but not much with a food processor.  Any of these desserts are worthy of company.  Sometimes I sprinkle a few nuts into the fruit salad or over the tart, but make sure no one is allergic.


I hope your garden is planted and thriving and that you have lots of fresh herbs and veggies.   Don't forget to put out plants attractive to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.  It is easy to enjoy life when the weather is good.  Take time to do so.


Yours in frugality, taste and beauty,


The Cheeseparer             

Mary Mary Quite Contrary and also a little bit frugal

I don't know about you, but last year I spent over $200 on annuals, a few perrennials and bedding plants and didn't have a lot to show for my money, although the garden looked good.

Every year it seems we spend more for fewer plants. I've taken to keeping my geraniums from one year to the next and have had luck with that. You just have to be patient when they hit the sun in the spring and cry "uncle!" They do recover.

Here's a garden site with beaucoup good advice about gardening on the cheap. By the way, you get a lot of bang for the buck with nasturtiums and even a screw-up gardening can grow them from seed.

Read on: http://gardenerstips.co.uk/blog/tips/money-saving-tips-in-the-garden/