I never know what will be my inspiration. The last few days my mind has been revolving around food (of course), tables and dishes. It began with looking for the right plate on which to photograph rolls, which snowballed into cleaning out and rearranging all my cabinets. I love dishes and tablewares, I do admit that. I have collected all sorts of plates which I put aside to get rid of, but then again, I might just use them. For instance I have a 24 piece dinner plate stack I got from goodwill to use instead of paper plates if we ever had a big group. It’s madness, but I don’t like eating from floppy paper. I like to sit at a real table and eat from real plates.

Sunday, (we never know who will arrive at the farmstand) a beautiful family of nine visited, seven children. We had a good time sampling the PPO and they loved the cinnamon apple rolls. The Mom talked about what it took to feed her family and I told her about the family of twelve I follow on Instagram. She cranks out great Mexican meals for her brood. Therangosss created by Rango Dania. We talked food, then she asked if she could shadow me in the kitchen as it’s a challenge for her to cook for her hungry family. I’m not sure if she was joking or not, but I immediately began to think of big frugal meals.

I thought of all the simple and satisfying meals my parents made, and I make today for Ken and our little farm helpers. I would say, “Ken, do you know this meal cost $5. per person? What if we ate out all the time, we would go broke! I’m over the moon when I can make a meal for $3 per person.

I love a bargain, super fresh produce and I literally shop everywhere. The Asian market for rice, costco, the big market in Plant City, Aldi, Restaurant Depot, everywhere where I can find the best foods for the best deals. The frugal way to cook is to make everything from scratch and prep all your own meats and vegetables, and that’s a fact.

Last week we picked up cases of jalapeno and poblano peppers and a 50lb bag of onions, from the big market. I wanted the fresh case of corn so badly. But, I know we’d never get to the bottom of it, even if we had corn for every meal. Last night I couldn’t sleep thinking about huge frugal dinners, big families and sweet corn.

Sunday Supper: Boiled sweet corn, roasted chicken legs, green salad & bread.

Then a week of corn!

Corn casserole with bacon
Esquite (mexican Corn Salad) with cream and cheese
Corn Chowder
Corn, red pepper and black bean salad
Grilled polenta with corn
Calabacitas corn bean stew
Chilaquiles Zona Rosa
Corn Fritter Cakes
Farmer Casserole ( ground beef, mashed potatoes and corn)
Poblano stuffed with corn, beans and cheese.

That’s more than a weeks worth. Oh well.

And I’m still lusting over that case of fresh corn…