Frugal Friday

I am not at all sure of the name of this plant, as I got it from my SIL and she didn't know what it was. It grew on a shady side of her house and was a stunningly tall specimen. Unfortunately, when I transplanted it at my house, I put it in a sunnier location. It is easily 7  feet tall, bees love it, but the deeply lobed leaves have burned and dried. Its  leaves are not in this picture. The leaves in this photo belong to a climbing shrub which has wrapped around these tall  almost  black stems. I think the plant likes its location, but it definitely needs more moisture and perhaps a little more shade than what it gets now. My very best guess, after researching on-line, is that this is a Black Cohosh plant. It is lovely as a specimen plant at the back of the flower bed against the fence, but I have very sadly neglected the bed this summer.  

GARDEN: Since returning from the Jersey Shore, I have cut the lawns and brought in several quarts of beans, both green and yellow wax. I also picked and froze a quart of large tomatoes as well as a quart and a half of cherry tomatoes. I harvested a head of broccoli and also some side shoots of broccoli. I was shocked to find this huge head of broccoli as I had already harvested one from this same plant. I cooked it as a side to a meal (with leftovers) and I used some in a home-made beef soup. I also harvested the 3 "funny looking squash" that I planted from a starter in the spring; but, they turned out to be honey dew melons. Surprise! They were small but delicious. I tore out all the "hilled" plants and weeded that half of the garden in preparation for winter. I pulled out all the onions to dry in the sun. They aren't big at all, but I already know they didn't get enough sun where they were. I've been using these onions all week. I am still picking tomatoes, beans, peppers and soon carrots. 

COOKING: I made a large pot of soup with leftovers in the fridge that the boys left in my absence. I also added broccoli, onions, beans and tomato from the garden. I cooked large batches of  both kidney beans and pinto beans in the crockpot which I divvied up into smaller containers for the freezer. We had leftover chicken stew on warm croissants one night. I cooked 3 lbs of frozen hamburger meat with minced onion, celery, pepper and carrot to make 4 portions of cooked meat for future casserole recipes (my stretched out beef mixture). 

SHOPPING: I went to Giant Tiger without a shopping list and I just bought the week's specials. There was an amazing deal on Redpath sugar at $1.44 a bag (I bought 3), 4 rainbow peppers at $2, $3 for a pound of bacon (have you noticed the price on bacon lately?)  $2 for IOGO yogurt, and $.77 per can of Del Monte veggies. Black Diamond cheese bars were $4.97 (I bought cheddar and mozarella), milk was $3.97 and D'Italiano brown bread was only $1.97 (I refuse to pay more that $2 for a loaf of bread.) There are some terrific deals on turkeys and hams  this week, so make sure you stock up if you are able. There are also more deals on cheese bars. If you like cooking with cheese, it is wonderful to buy the cheese on sale, grate it up and put in the freezer for when you need it in a recipe.  Grated cheese freezes very well. Whole cheese freezes but becomes crumbly when thawed. 

MISC: I paid my bills on-line to save postage. I washed my laundry in cold water and hung outside to dry, except for two loads that I used the dryer after 7 P.M. I used my homemade dishwasher detergent only once this week, but I continue to use vinegar as my rinse aid and my laundry softener/rinse instead of dryer sheets. No DIY this week.