Adventures in Frugality

We live a fairly indulgent life, in our own small way. We're vegetarian, but we make terrific food and there's always plenty of it. However, this week--okay--this month--we've overspent a bit. It's in a good cause: we paid for our cruise and our passports. The expense is right at the edge of our ability to pay--very nearly too much. So I find I need to get a little creative in the kitchen, to use what's in the pantry rather than bring home my usual basketfuls of whatever strikes my fancy.
It's not all bad. For breakfast I fried some leftover cheese grits and baked an omelet with sweet potato greens, a red chili, and basil--all from the garden, with a couple eggs courtesy of the ladies.
Tonight I'm using up a bag of spotty marked-down tomatoes, some leftover cheese, and a batch of hoe-cake style cornbread to make tomato pie. Here's the recipe:

Tomato Pie

Make a half recipe of hoe-cakes, and prepare it like southern cornbread. That is: pour the batter into a hot oiled frying pan, and move it to a 450 oven to bake. After 15 minutes, turn down the heat to 350 to complete baking.

While that's going on, slice 2-3 lbs of tomatoes, not too thin; the tomatoes don't need to be pretty--just ripe.
slice one large onion very thin;
grate a cup or two of cheese, and blend 2 (cheese) to 1 (mayo) with mayonnaise for the topping. This sounds dangerously wierd, but Paula Deane says it's okay, and I trust Paul Deane.
Pick some basil and slice it into ribbons.

When the cornbread is done baking, cover it with layers of tomato and onion, sprinkling each layer with sea salt, a grind of pepper,and some basil. You may need to slice away the top to make a flat crust-- if you do, be sure to save the top. You can eat it for breakfast with butter and honey, or save it to make carrot-jalapeno stuffed something. Spread the mayo-cheese topping over all and return the pan to the oven to bake another 1/2 hour or until the top is golden brown.

This cries out for something alongside, and I opted for Savory Carrot and Spinach Salad. Because I have carrots and the last quarter of a bag of baby spinach. I think the flavor contrast is going to be...piquant.
Grate 4 carrots
crush 2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp dijon mustard
balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
Toss in 1 or 2 cups rinsed baby spinach leaves.