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I gave up reading parenting columnist John Rosemond when I realized I lacked the discipline to discipline my kids in the rigid way he promoted.

But his words came to mind a few years ago, when our oldest reached driving age. We rationalized that adding a third car would lift much of the transportation burden from two working parents, who would no longer have to juggle schedules to ferry the kids to games, lessons, practices and Starbucks.

Rosemond had written that a student shouldn't drive a car to high school that's nicer than the worst car in the teacher's lot. We didn't cruise the teacher's lot for the crummiest car, as he suggested, but we did find a practical, used vehicle that would get from Point A to Point B without turning any heads. We call him Joey.

But my last stab at being a good, Rosemond-style parent went out the window when gas prices reached the $3.99 mark.

Joey gets great gas mileage. My car — the family car — is bigger, stronger, better-equipped and drinks enough gas to merit membership in a support group.

Because I put far more miles on a car on any given day than the two-mile round trip to high school, it just makes sense to drive Joey. Maybe not in a John Rosemond sort of way, but it does give my credit card a chance to cool off.

High gas prices have awakened the conserver in me in other areas as well. I have reusable grocery bags, and I'm getting pretty good at remembering to bring them to the store. My favorites are from Trader Joe's, which I bought because they were fashionable and I thought they would be pretty good for toting things in.

But after seeing them hanging lifelessly on a coat hook for months, I realized the things they are good for toting is groceries.

I'm also trying to cut down on trips to the store, which means foraging through the cupboards to make meals with the ingredients on hand.

I've always been skeptical of recipes that say, "You can throw this together with things you already have in your cupboard," because I usually didn't. So I won't say that about Summer Garden Pasta Salad, although it was true for me.

The great thing about this salad is its flexibility. If you don't have one ingredient, you can substitute another.

You probably have the makings for the dressing, and you may have a box of pasta. The salad ingredients are somewhat open-ended. I used kalamata olives, bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts and feta cheese. A variation calls for Asiago cheese and capers. You can toss in diced ham, bacon or salami if you want meat; peas and carrots would work, too.

Here's the original recipe. Consider it a base; you can add or subtract according to your tastes. I have to admit I didn't follow the directions to the letter — I added all the dressing at once, and it turned out fine.

Summer Garden Pasta Salad With Olives and Feta

Makes 12 to 14 servings

Dressing:

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano, or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Salad:

Salt

1 pound farfalle pasta

2 medium carrots, peeled and grated

1 large yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch strips

8 ounces feta, crumbled

1 cup pitted kalamata olives (about 6 ounces), chopped coarse

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered

For the dressing: Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

For the salad: Bring four quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Stir in 2 tablespoons salt and the pasta, and cook until completely tender (not al dente). Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta in a colander. Transfer the hot pasta to a large bowl.

Stir the reserved pasta water into the dressing. Pour half the dressing over the pasta and toss to coat. Stir in the carrots, bell pepper, feta, olives and parsley. Scatter the tomatoes on top.

Refrigerate until slightly chilled, about an hour, before tossing in the reserved dressing. If made in advance, microwave the pasta about one minute on high to remove the chill, then add the remaining dressing.

Contact this writer at carol.rini@gmail.com

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