1. Stake your space, assess your dirt.
If this is your first time planting a vegetable garden, start small (considering it a test-run year). After weeding the area and removing debris, test your soil’s pH and moisture levels using a pH test (readily available at your hardware store or gardening center).

The results will indicate if you need to correct the acidity levels by adding bonemeal, fertilizer, lime, or sulfur (again, the folks at your garden center will be able to guide you here). To test the moisture level, simply dig a hole and squeeze some of the dirt in your hand. It should be like pie dough that holds together, yet breaks apart easily. If it’s too dry, add water; if it’s too wet, wait a few days for it to dry out a bit before tilling.

2. Prepare the bed.
Before planting vegetables, you need to give your plot a facial. Add a few inches of rich compost (preferably organic) and till it in. If you need to correct your soil’s pH, now is the time to add in the soil boosters mentioned above.

3. Plot your garden: seeds or seedlings?
Besides offering a wider variety of varietals, starting from seeds is much less expensive than using seedlings (you can buy seed packets for an average $2 to $3 per pack versus seedlings for $3 to $4 per plant). That said, many plants, such as tomatoes, eggplants, and parsley, can be tricky to start from seed, so you may be better off buying seedlings.

When you buy your seeds, be sure to check how quickly they germinate—if it’s already August and you want a Cinderella garden of pumpkins, you might be out of luck, as they take several months to germinate. On the other
hand, vegetables such as zucchini, peas, and green beans are quick to germinate. In addition, you may want to plant extra crops of lettuces and carrots throughout the season so you get several harvests.

4. Choose your source.
You have many options when it comes to finding the best place to buy your plants. I’ve purchased plants and seeds from 4-H clubs, school fund-raisers, hardware stores, supermarkets, garden centers, warehouse stores, local businesses, botanical gardens, and even online. Do your research and check prices to see who has the best deal.

5. Watch your garden grow—then eat it!

The 5 easiest veggies and herbs to grow:

• Summer squash (yellow and/or zucchini)
• Herbs (basil, chives, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme)
• Eggplant
• Tomatoes
• Bell peppers

Preserving doesn’t just save you money, it makes you feel smart about being thrifty. I guarantee that when you open up a jar of mixed-berry jam in February, you’ll be thinking more about its amazing flavor than about the pocketful of change you saved making it. From salsas to pickles, relishes, jams, chutneys, and fruit butters, canning food is a great way to preserve peak flavor.

Finding a recipe you like and want to stick with is sometimes an edible game of trial and error. Make a small batch of a new recipe at first, open a jar (after the required curing time, as in the case of pickles), and taste it, and then make notes to the recipe to suit your tastes for the next batch. (Note: There are all kinds of products available for making freezer and refrigerator jams, too. These jams don’t require processing like traditional “canned” jams do.)

While the ingredients change from recipe to recipe, the method for canning—other than the length of time required to process a jar—doesn’t. Here are the essentials.

1. Buy a canner. This is a large, deep pot that can hold many jars—sometimes in two layers—with ample room for water around the jars. Sure, you can use a stock pot or large soup pot, but most hardware stores sell canning sets for $30 or less, and they come with all kinds of handy bonuses, such as magnetic lid lifters (to help pull lids from boiling water), rubber tongs (for pulling jars out of boiling water), a canning rack, a recipe book, and a funnel for getting the jam or salsa into the sterilized jar.

2. Sterilize the jars and lids. Boil the jars in a pot of water (keep the water at a bare simmer until you’re ready to fill the jars so they don’t crack when you fill them with hot fruit or vegetables) and the lids in barely simmering water in a saucepan (boiling lids can cause the seals to fail). Or, you can sterilize both on the top shelf of your dishwasher if yours has a sterilize setting. After washing the bands in hot, soapy water, leave them at room temperature for easy handling. (Note that while you can reuse jars and bands, you should always use new lids to ensure that they seal properly.)

3. Fill the jars with whatever you’re canning, leaving 1⁄2″ of room (called headspace) at the top. Stir to eliminate any air bubbles, and then wipe the jar rims with a clean cloth. Place the lid on and twist on the band to seal. Don’t twist them on too tightly.

4. Process the jars by setting them in the rack in the canner; they should be entirely submerged in boiling water. Boil them according to your recipe. Once the time is up, turn off the heat and let the jars sit in hot water for 5 minutes before removing them from the canner. Let the jars stand at room temperature for at least 1 day before opening.

For more information about canning, see the Ball Web site at www.freshpreserving.com, or check out Preserving the Summer’s Bounty by the Staff of the Rodale Food Center (Rodale Press, 1995).

Cooking big today, whether it’s a slow-roasted pork shoulder or a baked ham, means I’ve already cooked (and paid for) my main-dish protein for another day. When I serve up Chicken and Dumplings or Chicken Udon Soup —both of which are the delectable spinoffs of an original roast chicken meal—I get the rush of feeling I’ve gotten something for nothing. Having some cooked meat or a prepped dish stashed away in the freezer is really like finding a hidden treasure.

These main courses offer up brand-new meals to serve later in the week or stash in the freezer. Cook the Big Bang on day 1, then relay the leftovers into a whole series of main-dish spinoffs. Having an extra freezer in the house comes in handy for this kind of cooking, not just for stashing the leftovers, but also for stocking up when good deals hit your markets on turkeys or roasts.

This brings us back to the “free meals a day” concept. Whether you’re storing an uncooked roast, portioned cooked meat, or a completely prepped dish, you will already have covered the bulk of that meal’s cost. Just add a few veggies, herbs, or sides and you have a real meal deal.

With these essentials at your fingertips, you can always cook something up. It’s a pretty big list, so I’m not suggesting that you go out and buy everything all at once. But if you decide to try some of the recipes on this website or in the book, you’ll build your pantry and before you know it, you’ll have everything on the list!

Just a reminder: Don’t be afraid to make substitutions. So a recipe calls for currants and all you have are raisins. Sub them in. Same goes for beans, oils, and vinegars—nine times out of ten, compliments will come your way.

Beans, bread, flours, grains, pastas
All-purpose flour
Bread** (burger buns, sandwich bread, sliced baguette, or country bread)
Bread crumbs (dried, panko, or fresh**)
Brown lentils
Canned and dried beans (pinto, black, cannellini, and/or chickpeas)
Cornmeal
Crackers (graham, saltines, or wheat crackers)
Leaveners and thickeners (baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch)
Noodles and pasta (egg, no-boil lasagna, orzo, rotini, or spaghetti)
Oats (old fashioned and quick)
Rice (basmati, brown, or long-grain white)
Tortillas*

Quick flavor add-ins
Capers*
Chili sauce or hot sauce
Garlic
Ketchup*
Mustard* (Dijon, grainy, or yellow)
Olives*
Pickles* (cornichon, dill, or relish)
Soy sauce

Dried fruits, nuts, and sweeteners
Chocolate chips
Dried fruit (apples, apricots, cranberries, currants, figs, or raisins)
Nuts and seeds (almonds, peanuts, pecans, sesame seeds, or walnuts)
Peanut butter
Sugar (corn syrup, dark or light brown, granulated white, honey, maple syrup)

Dairy and eggs
Butter*
Cheese (Cheddar* or Monterey Jack*, Parmesan*)
Citrus* (lemons or limes)
Dried buttermilk powder*
Dried milk powder
Eggs*
Mayonnaise*
Milk*

Canned goods
Low-sodium chicken broth
Tomatoes (diced, paste)
Tuna

Herbs, oils, spices, vinegars
Dried spices and spice blends: basil, bay leaves, black peppercorns, cayenne, chili powder, ground ginger, herbes de Provence, oregano, red-pepper flakes, sweet paprika, turmeric)
Oil (vegetable oil such as canola or corn, extra-virgin or pure olive)
Salt (kosher and table)
Vinegar (balsamic, cider, red wine vinegar, rice, or white wine)

* refrigerator item
** freezer item

1. Hit the pantry before you rev your engine.
It’s amazing how much I save just by taking a quick peek in my pantry and fridge before heading to the store. Building meals around what you already have and what should be cooked or eaten before its pull date makes sense and saves money. Don’t forget to check your freezer, too; frozen foods don’t last indefinitely and should be used and rotated regularly.

2. Shop in bulk.
When I see a good deal, or better yet, a sale, you can bet that I’m going to stock up! Warehouse stores offer great deals on bulk-packed items, as do regular grocery stores and even natural food and health food stores. The latter have fantastic prices on items such as grains and beans, so shop ’em all.

3. Cook big.
I often cook a pork shoulder or roast a turkey for dinner and then freeze the leftovers for another day. From big batches of sauces to a meatball mixture that becomes burgers, kebabs, and meatloaf, cooking in bulk saves money and time.

4. Have some switch-hitters in your lineup.
Knowing when you can use a substitute and having a mental list of alternatives makes good common sense. It allows you to take advantage of deals and sales, or to opt out of buying an item on your shopping list if it turns out to be overpriced.  And keep in mind that it is often possible to simply omit an ingredient if you can’t find it or it is simply too costly.

5. Learn to love your leftovers.
I am constantly reinventing my leftovers and turning them into snacks, lunches, or completely new dishes altogether. Leftover roasted vegetables, rice, meat, beans, and even soup can be rehashed in countless ways to create new meals from what you already have in the fridge.

6. Don’t cut out, cut back.
There are few things I enjoy more than a thick, juicy steak. Instead of shelling out big bucks on a pricey porterhouse, I turn to cheaper cuts, such as flank steak, which is incredibly flavorful and satisfying. I also stretch a pound of steak to feed many people by serving it wrapped in lettuce leaves or tortillas, or as an open-faced sandwich. If nothing else will do except for a big, juicy steak , then I’ll budget it in, and plan less-luxe meals for the rest of the week.

7. Try new things.
Opening up your world to new recipes and flavors increases the options you have for dinner while making your kitchen a more exciting place to be. When you make cooking fun, it becomes an activity the whole family will enjoy from start to finish.

During a trip home to visit my mom, fate intervened in the form of an inheritance from my grandmother, who left me 25 acres of Oklahoma property and a darn good reason to reconsider my nomadic existence. When I was given the opportunity to buy the Rock Cafe, a historic 25-seat restaurant on Route 66 in Stroud (just 1 hour west of my hometown), the chance was just too good to pass up. I thought, why not give it a go?

Considered by many to be a national treasure, the Rock was built by Roy Rieves, who began his passion project with an investment of $100 in 1936. Working mostly alone, he hand-built the Rock from the ground up, using giant sandstone rocks excavated during the construction of Route 66 as the façade for the restaurant’s walls. The restaurant officially opened on July 4, 1939. Though Roy owned the restaurant, he didn’t have any interest in running it himself, so he hired a number of local folks to manage and operate the Cafe. Over the years, it became a Greyhound bus depot, the spot where GIs would head off to battle during World War II, and the first place they stopped for a bite when they returned home.

Needless to say, a lot of history went down within those four walls before I got involved in the early 1990s (for more historical information about Stroud and the Rock, see page viii). I took over from owner Ed Smalley, who bought the Rock for sentimental reasons—not only did he work at the Rock when he was a boy, but he also left for war from the Cafe and fell in love with and married a Rock Cafe waitress. Ed couldn’t bear to see the Rock torn down or mishandled, so he bought it and sat on it for a decade, opening it up for special occasions and Route 66 events.

Then I came along. When I took over the restaurant in 1993, I reopened it for 7-days-a-week service. That took a lot of gumption on my part, as I didn’t know the first thing about cooking or running a restaurant, but my hard work and trial-by-error approach paid off. Lucky for me, my customers (not to mention my family) have always let me experiment on them with new dishes. It wasn’t long before the locals and tourists were back. Although throughout the years I’ve made some changes from the original menu—we no longer smoke our barbecue, and we’ve added quiche and spaetzle to the menu—I like to think we’ve never strayed too far from the philosophy of good food, good service, and good prices.

Little did I know that running a restaurant on the Mother Road would introduce me to world famous stars, which is exactly what happened when John Lasseter from Pixar wandered into the Rock while doing research for the animated film Cars. After chatting a while and hearing my life story, he decided to base the character of Sally Carrera on me! What a hoot.

Glitz and glamour aside, the Rock is really more than just a restaurant. It’s a town hall, a community center, and a human refueling station all in one. Whether you’re a superstar musician rolling through town on a tour bus (and we’ve had plenty of them), a tourist far away from home, one of a troop of 300 bikers crisscrossing the country, or just good friends from town, when you walk through the Rock’s door, you’re family. And I hope it’s always like that.

Like most people in the food business, I get inspired by eating in restaurants. Aside from the obvious convenience of having someone else do the shopping, cooking, and cleanup, it’s a great way to discover interesting ingredients and flavorings, and of course there’s the indulgence factor. Even a trip to a “continental” restaurant makes a simple steak, seafood or pasta dinner seem more festive than the everyday.

The obvious downside is the expense: Virtually any food you cook at home is going to cost you less than a meal in a sit-down restaurant, and even ordering takeout food can easily run $30 or more.

So once a week I try to shake up the routine and get a little of that restaurant flavor on the table, even home-made pizza or grilled cheese burgers cook up better at home. Sometimes it just means cooking up something a tad more exotic, or using an unfamiliar flavor or ingredient that’s sure to get everyone’s attention and make dinner seem a little more special than the everyday fare.

And while many of the ethnic foods that I favor aren’t necessarily that expensive, when you make them at home, you control what goes into each dish, how much oil is used, and the quality of ingredients that make it onto the table. It’s also a fun reminder of some of the far-flung spots I’ve been lucky enough to visit.

I must admit, I’m obsessed with getting kids and grown-ups to eat more veggies, and most of the time I’m pretty successful. The secret is to get them as excited about eating veggies as they are about chocolate cake! It’s a challenge that I happily tackle head-on with fierce determination!

At dinnertime I usually set 2 vegetable dishes on the table. That way, if one of the kids doesn’t care for the texture of spoon-tender green beans or the heat of spicy roasted cauliflower, I get peace of mind knowing that they’ll dig into more familiar offerings, such as a leafy green salad with honey- mustard dressing or quickly steamed broccoli sprinkled with Parmesan and lemon juice.

Offering options is a great way to introduce new flavors to your family, and also to guarantee leftovers for future meals. That steamed broccoli is fabulous tossed with pasta, peas, and a creamy Parmesan sauce for lunch, and nothing beats leftover salad (set some aside before you dress it) stuffed into a pita pocket with feta and chopped olives for lunch or a snack.

The price of vegetables varies enormously by season and even week to week, so I pay special attention to prices when I’m in the produce aisle, looking for specials and bargains. When I spot pricey portobello mushrooms or artichokes on sale for 50 to 75 percent less than their regular prices, you better believe I’m doing something with them for dinner in the next few days!

That said, there is nothing wrong with heading to the frozen food aisle for vegetables, especially in winter months when fresh produce is imported, expensive, and often of poor quality. What matters more than frozen or fresh is that my family is eating (and loving) their vegetables every night of the week.

Blue Cheese Dressing
Whisk together 1 cup of mayonnaise with 3 tablespoons of whole milk, the juice of half of a lemon, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped onion or shallot, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1⁄4 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, 1⁄4 teaspoon of salt, and 1⁄4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper in a large bowl. Stir in 4 ounces of crumbled blue cheese. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days (stir before using). Makes 11⁄2 cups.

Honey-Mustard Dressing
Whisk together 1⁄2 cup of mayonnaise with 2 tablespoons of honey, 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard, and 1⁄4 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 1 week (stir before using). Makes 11⁄2 cups.

Greek Vinaigrette
Whisk together 1⁄3 cup of white wine vinegar, the juice from 11⁄2 lemons, 2 finely minced garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons of dried oregano, 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt, and 1⁄4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper in a large bowl. Whisk in 3⁄4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days (stir before using). Makes 11⁄2 cups.

Favorite Salad Combos:
6 cups greens (arugula, baby spinach, butter leaf, iceberg, oak leaf, romaine) plus:

• 1 cup diced ham (baked ham or deli ham) + 1 cup thawed frozen peas + Honey-Mustard Dressing
• Crumbled crispy bacon + 2 chopped tomatoes + 1 chopped cucumber + Blue Cheese Dressing
• 2 grated carrots + 1⁄2 cup chopped black olives + 2 sliced scallions + feta cheese + Greek Vinaigrette