Finally fall and chicken Little was right, the sky IS falling

Like everyone we're shaking in our boots as our government works feverishly to avoid the complete and total meltdown of our economic system ... which would be bad. We're hanging in there, but we're having to cut out more and more. Nightly fires are a thing of the past -- the logs are really expensive. We don't eat fast food any more. We're cutting back at the grocery store. In case you haven't noticed, food prices are soaring and the options are becoming limited for good bargains.

It's becoming an art form to try to figure out the day meat goes on sale -- usually Tuesdays and Wednesdays and swoop in a snag a 69-cent a pound chicken, such as the ones I found for our Labor Day feast. I make ground beef into hearty spaghetti a la Bolognese and I pound out the odd sale-priced pieces of pork, bread them and make them into cutlets, which are tasty served with pasta and veggies from our garden.

I'm finding that I tend to do better when faced with adversity. If there is a crisis brewing, there's no time to be depressed or to wallow in misgivings and self-recriminations. Not that I'm masochistic, I do appreciate it when things are going well, but there's something to be said for a respite from mid-life self-reflection.

As usual, I find solace in the kitchen. We've been able to make some really wonderful Salad Caprese with the tomatoes we've managed to grow. Unfortunately, the tomato plants have been attacked by tomato worms. Rob's found a few, but they did a number on the plants. We still have had a bunch of grape tomatoes that I made into a really delicious topping for our steaks one night.

I'm not going to write out a recipe for salad caprese because it's just tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil drizzled with oil and vinegar or whatever dressing you like.

The cutlets are just pieces of pork pounded out with a meat mallet between two sheets of plastic wrap until about 1/4 in thickness. Mix some bread crumbs with herbs and spices. I use oregano and sometimes a garlic powder, onion powder and light salt (be really careful adding salt because the Parmesan cheese is salty and the cutlets can become too salty easily).

To make the crumbs adhere to the pork use mayonnaise (it's the idea featured on the side of the jar), it works really well and makes the pork a bit more flavorful. This literally stretches the meat out so it can feed twice as many people, and it's really tasty.

Tomato and provolone-topped grilled steak

2 small steaks, use a cheap cut of meat for this -- it really helps a tough cut of round or chuck
2 cloves garlic
Red wine
Worcestershire sauce
1 pint grape tomatoes
4 or 5 sliced to 1/4 inch Anaheim peppers
Three sliced shallots
olive oil
fresh oregano
fresh thyme
salt and pepper
sliced provolone

Take meat out of the refrigerator about an hour before cooking to bring it closer to the temperature of the grill. Let it sit in a marinade of Worcestershire, red wine and garlic cloves that have been cracked by banging them with the side of the knife and the papery skin removed. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss tomatoes, peppers and shallots with olive oil on a high sided baking sheet. Add springs of thyme and oregano and lightly salt and pepper. Place in oven for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Grill the meat according to taste -- about 4 to 5 minutes a side. Remove from heat. Let sit for five minutes. Top with grilled veggies and two slices of provolone and place in oven for five minutes, to melt the cheese. Serve.