From Scratch

Partly due to necessity, Bulgarians don’t seem to have the same daily need for hummus as I do, and partly as an effort to use more whole and unprocessed foods I have been hunting down a lot of new recipes lately. Now if you’re into making things from scratch you know that often enough cookbooks don’t have the types of recipes you need. Or if you’re an ex-pat living abroad and can’t seem to get your hands on that Betty Crocker Devil’s Food Cake mix, you know what I mean. So I’ve been thrilled with the site www.recipezaar.com. Regular folks submit their recipes and others who try the recipes out rate them and can leave comments. Now there are thousands of recipes and I can search by ingredient or dish name. There’s also pictures with many recipes which I like and the layout of the site is clean and easy to use. Our latest fav’s from this site have been hummus and falafel, but I have also looked up some great cake and bread recipes and soups as well. There’s a good selection of vegetarian and some vegan recipes as well. So try it out for yourself and leave pre-made mixes behind, you’ll be glad you did.

In the garden…

It’s that time of year, when thoughts turn to new life, and it comes time to start the garden.  At the moment I am relegated to a few small containers on the terrace, but it is enough to get me through until next year when I have a garden of my own again.  I am no expert on gardening, but it is so enjoyable even just to experiment.  My favorite local seed company will be the focus of today’s entry.  Territorial Seed Company of Cottage Grove, Oregon specializes in veggie and flower seeds, in addition to live plants, tools, and books.  They produce very high quality seeds that are not genetically modified.  Their aim is to “…improve people’s self-sufficiency and independence by enabling gardeners to produce an abundance of good tasting fresh-from-the-garden food, twelve months a year.”  Not all of us live in such a mild climate as the maritime Northwest, but we can all certainly enjoy garden fresh produce, and living a bit closer to the earth.  Check out their site: www.TerritorialSeed.com