The Ingredient Trap

An old Bon Apetit had a yummy sounding summer main dish salad using spinach, grilled chicken and tomatoes.

In spite of the blight here in New England, there have been some good tomatoes. We are always more or less on a diet, and main dish salads are a wonderful treat in the summer.

I found the chicken on sale, and the tomatoes on sale, too. So far, so good. I got a shell of baby spinach, a red onion and waltzed over to the cheese department to get some feta in olive oil and herbs. I mean, it was feta. How much could it cost?

The recipe called for 10.5 ounces. 5 ounces were $5.99. Ooops! I bought one container, not two, and poured some of its oil into some plain crumbled feta from the fridge. It occured to me that I could use my own olive oil, herbs from the summer garden, garlic and peppercorns to make the pricey feta in oil.

The salad was delicious, even with half the cheese. Eat it with breadsticks and enjoy. Tonight for dinner, we're having a banana clafouti for two. Guess what? Bananas were on sale.

I find that by careful shopping and planning with the weekly specials, I can save between 20-30 per cent on my trip to the supermarket.

Cucumbers were also on sale, and we have several salads with cukes, tomatoes, dressing and chopped cilantro and parsely. Nothing beats having herbs in the garden. The green beans have been good, too. Cherry tomatoes ripening at last.

I had a disaster last sprint with the cherry tomatoes, and in bringing them home I broke off the plant from the root. Eeek! I rerooted the plant. Tried to grow the old root, too, hoping it would send out shoots. It didn't, but the plant rerooted nicely, just a month or so behind schedule.

Our Joe Pye Weed has been blooming like crazy. It's a tall perennial with purple blossoms that the butterflies and the hummingbirds love. I got a new hummingbird feeder that uses old water bottles, so I've been saving them.

Pretty soon, I'll bring in the geraniums and the rosemary and root some coleus. In the spring? Free plants. My big hanging geranium has been going in and out for six years now.

Cheese paring looks smart when the garden has lush blossoms that didn't cost a dime. The packet of nasturtium seeds also seems like a good buy.

Yours in frugality, beauty and good taste,

The Cheeseparer

23 Houseplants

How did I ever accumulate so many houseplants? I just counted twenty-three. We are wintering the geraniums over, which I've done for five years now. Saves buying new ones in the spring. I started with a beautiful hanging geranium which I couldn't bear to part with when autumn and the frosts came, so I hung it indoors. Cut it back and kept it fed and watered. It even surprised me by blooming a bit. The next year I either rooted cuttings or brought all the geraniums in. To a plant, they lived.

This year a friend told me to take cuttings of his coleus. I now have a great plant to put outdoors this spring, bushy and colorful. I kept the scented geranium indoors for two years. Houseplants attain sentimental value, particularly when one arrives on the heals of illness. I have a sansevaria that came that way and is 27 years old. It even bloomed once.

One Christmas cactus is even older. I rescued plants from offices when people left or were laid off. Maybe you can tell where this is leading. With a little (but not much) work and forethought, you can have lots of cheap plants, free plants. And this blog is all about cheeseparing.

Another thing I do is take some of the plants outdoors in the summer and put them on the porch. They really thrive in the moist New England air with some (not full) sun and frequent waterings.

This week I'll divide my dianthus, and I've already found a home for some of the divisions. A tray of seedlings are growing in the kitchen window. Last year we had the most fantastic heirloom beets. This year the garden will be geared more toward veggies except for a few big pots of flowers. A seed packet of nasturtiums always pays dividends.

It's always interesting to see what reseeds itself from year to year. If you aren't doing some gardening, even indoors in pots or containers, you're missing the boat. Food, flowers, nuturing and relaxation. What could be better?

The Cheeseparer