Greetings!

[Raquelita]

I'm Raquelita and i enjoy cooking . My DH and I enjoy recipes with an international flavor (especially greek and middle eastern) and also healthy/organic foods. This seems like it will be a neat community to be a part of!

[DrPepper]

Welcome to our community. I too try to buy organic foods when possible. I'd love to hear about some of your favorite Greek and Middle Eastern foods. I haven't had too many recipes with those origins. Couscous, and falafel (sp?) come to mind, but couscous might be more Moroccan.

[Raquelita]

Couscous is very popular in Morrocco (when i visited there we ate it every day). Hummus, feta cheese, kalamata olives, baba ganoush (just discovered this and LOVE it!), pita pockets, spinach, and olive oil are some ingredients we love to use whenever possible. Rachael Ray has a couple good greek-style recipes that we enjoy making in her 30 Minute Meals 2 cookbook.

[DrPepper]

What's a baba ganoush? The only things I can think of that are greek are filo dough, and gyros. But are gyros Greek or a crazy American creation like French fries? Kabobs come to mind too but that seems more middle eastern. Lamb?

I'll go looking for that cookbook at Borders. I could use a different taste in my meals.

[Raquelita]

The thing i love about the 30 Minute Meals 2 cookbook is there is one whole section on international-tasting food (not sure how authentic it all is, but it is a nice variety to choose from!)

Baba Ganoush is like hummus (looks almost the same) but it's made with eggplant. It's sooooo good. I like to buy mini pita pockets, rip them in half, and spread the inside of each with hummus or baba ganoush and then put them in the toaster oven. Very easy and healthy snack (especially if you get whole wheat pita pockets).

[DrPepper]

I like eggplant and would love to try this out. Is Baba Ganoush something you can find in any grocery store or is it a specialty item? Would it be in the vegetable dept or frozen? I can't say I've seen anything like it but might not have been looking.

[Raquelita]

You'd find it in the deli section in little plastic containers. I'm not sure if all grocery stores would have it though, but a 'health food' grocery store like Whole Foods or even Trader Joe's would have it.

[DrPepper]

I love Trader Joe's and just wish there was one closer to my home. Now I might have an excuse to go there They have a wonderful Bolivian Blend Fair Trade coffee that I simply love. I usually buy several bags of the coffee when I'm there.

[tinker]

I came across the dish Baba Ganoush from a Tom Robbins book, Skinny Legs and All. All that mention of middle-eastern foods made me want to try them out. I meant to look it up, but it slipped my mind--good thing you mentioned it!

P.S. If you have a tried-and-tested recipe, I would love to try it.

[tinker]

Oh I almost forgot this is a welcome thread so--Welcome to the forums Raquelita! Hope to learn more international-inspired cooking tips and tricks from you. See you around.