Welcome to my virtual kitchen!
My name is Vera Greutink and I live in Hengelo, the Netherlands. I am a gardener and a cook, a writer and a translator, a photographer and a teacher. A wife and a mother of two. I cook and garden mainly because I love good food and after you’ve tasted the homegrown version of anything, there is no going back. But I also want to make sure that what we eat is free of scary substances and that we tread lightly on the earth.
The recipes you will find on this site are always seasonal and mostly inspired by what we pick from the garden or find along the road. No meat, but lots of vegetables, fruits and herbs and some wild food, too. I enjoy baking, so undoubtedly lots of cakes and cookies will find their way into the recipe archive.
In the year 2000 I discovered permaculture and started putting it to use. First growing herbs on a little balcony and later, when we moved to a house with a garden, planting an edible forest. The garden soon became too small for all I wanted to grow, so we got ourselves an allotment and then another one … and now we are growing 400m² of fruit, vegetables and cut flowers.
A couple of years ago I started writing for Dutch and Belgian gardening magazines. I also occasionally write for Permaculture magazine. For Dutch readers: you can find more about our gardens on our Dutch website www.tuinsmakelijk.nl
You can email me at: growntocook [at] gmail [dot] com
9 Comments
Ginger on 24 maart 2012 at 14:39.
I just found your blog and I love all the photos and recipes. I am a chef, but also an inspiring Gardner. I would love to be able to grow as much as you do so I could cook with it in the kitchen. I will be following your blog to learn some tips.
vera@gtc on 26 maart 2012 at 06:35.
Thank you! I hope you’ll be inspired – growing your own ingredients is so rewarding! And delicious, of course…
Kaitlin on 25 maart 2012 at 20:24.
I randomly found your blog through food gawker. I decided to start following it and then I saw that you are in The Netherlands! I just moved to Utrecht in October from the States!
I thought it was cool that I started following you because of your leek and potato soup and you live in the country I just moved to. I like little coincidences. Keep up the good work!
vera@gtc on 26 maart 2012 at 06:38.
Thank you and welcome to the Netherlands! As a matter of fact, I am a transplant myself – born and raised in the Czech Republic.
Valerie {all mussed up} on 14 december 2012 at 15:54.
I’m ever so glad you popped over to my blog so that I could trace you all the way back to yours! I love your sensibility and your values that come through so clearly…and what fun that you’re in the good ole Netherlands too! (:
Margaret@KitchenFrau on 22 april 2013 at 13:49.
I just found your blog and will definitely keep coming back to read. I can’t wait to try the buckwheat crust spinach quiche. I garden in northern Canada and we have a late spring this year, too. The garden is still covered in 60 cm of snow, but the sun is shining and we are hoping for spring soon. I look forward to seeing how your garden grows. Thank you!
vera@gtc on 23 april 2013 at 06:44.
60 cm of snow – I have nothing to complain about!
I hope you like the quiche!
marilynr on 24 april 2013 at 22:26.
I think you should submit your recipe for Quiche with Buckwheat Groat crust to tastykitchen.com. That is a unique and fantastic recipe. It is healthy too. That website is attached to pioneerwoman.com. I understand that pioneerwoman.com has a readership of almost 20 million readers per month. Many bloggers submit recipes to tastykitchen.com.
Living in the US, I find your life to be quite interesting. I think many other Americans would feel the same.
Best regards!
vera@gtc on 25 april 2013 at 06:15.
thank you for the suggestion! I will definitely look into that.