Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog, The Bountiful Plate! First of all, I am not one who lists cooking as one of her favorite things to do in life! I'd much rather be doing something along the lines of any kind of needlework, beading, or drawing. Anything artsy craftsy, you know. I do, however, have a very large collection of recipes I have saved over the years, many which were my mother's, so I have decided to start this blog as a place where I can keep track of them all and share with anyone who may be interested.

I am not a registered dietician or expert on cooking, calories, nutrition, etc., so, you won't find that kind of information here. What you will find is good, wholesome, nourishing recipes made from whole foods. I believe each person is free to eat as they choose and I choose to eat as healthy as possible. That's not to say I don't enjoy desserts because I certainly do. I prepare a dessert for my family almost every weekend. I think it's all about balance and moderation. When I prepare my family's meals I try to use only real foods, not packaged prepared foods. I use lots of fresh vegetables, usually from our garden, and when some fresh item I need is not available from the garden or at the market I use frozen. I don't use canned items that often unless I haven't remembered to, for instance, soak beans overnight. Then, I will use canned, but only organic, as I believe it to be better quality. In short, I try to cook as close to nature as possible and use in season produce so as to eat as fresh as possible. Vegetables just happen to be my favorite food so there will be plenty of good veggie recipes here. I also do not follow the low fat diet beliefs and only cook with wholesome, healthy fats such as organic cultured butter and olive and coconut oils. I use only organic whole milk and organic hormone-free eggs from our farmer friend's free roaming healthy chickens. The poultry and meat we eat is also organic and comes from another nearby farm and we have a fair-sized garden of our own where we grow many wonderful organic vegetables.

So, if this kind of cooking appeals to you, I hope you will stop by a couple of times a week to check out the recipes I will be sharing.

 See you soon!
Sandy