Breaking bread is one of the best ways to get to know other cultures around the world. The above photo is one I found on Flickr of the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul (I could have stayed there the whole trip, back 20 years ago when I went). You could really find yourself enjoying some great food and finding some great deals at the Grand Bazaar!

It may have been over 20 years ago since I went a-backpacking around Europe and the Middle East/North Africa, but I still enjoy a little bit of that trip every time I dig into some delicious Middle Eastern Cuisine. The great thing is, most of this is fairly simple to prepare, extremely frugal to make, and full of good-for-you ingredients. Around the Middle East, falafel stands are found all over the place, usually with a selection of condiments that include hummus and tabouleh.

When we lived in the city, we often ate at Anita's Kitchen, on Maple west of Livernois, in Troy. They have the BEST Lebanese cuisine I have ever tasted. I've worked hard to perfect the art of falefel making, measuring it against the high standard of their super-falefel sandwiches.

I love having a Falefel sandwich with Hummus and Tabouleh, on either pita bread or a flour tortilla, on a hot summer's day. It's just light enough to not make you feel like you over did it, and just filling enough to satisfy. And, if you have a garden, and if you stock up on staple ingredients when they are on sale, it is a dirt cheap dinner.

My favorite Middle Eastern Meal is a good ole Falafel sandwich on pita bread, topped with Hummus and Tabouleh.

For ease printing, I'm going to link to the individual recipes for you on my site.

Falafel is generally a little bit more time consuming than the other two components of this dish, as you need to let your chick peas soak overnight, and after making a dough, you have to either fry or bake the individual falafels.

This can be served with store bought pita bread, store bought flour tortillas (or any other kind of flat bread, such as Chipati), or you can make your own pita bread (recipe forthcoming)

When time is an issue but I still have a hankering for something like this, I will make it without the falafels. Hummus can provide a very quick and easy (not to mention healthy) snack, served with the tabouleh as a wrap with a tortilla, pita bread, or other flat bread. Hummus is also good as a dip with crackers and chips. I also make large batches of falafels when I have time, and freeze the individual falfels on freezer paper, before storing in zipper bags for ease of use.

Garbonzo Beans (also called Chick Peas or Cici Beans), are a very frugal ingredient, especially when bought dried in bulk. To save time, when I see cans of chick peas on sale at the store, I stock up. The chick peas in a can provide a very fast and easy to make snack that my children love. With them all being 11 and up now, they often open and drain a can of chick peas on their own, and whip up some hummus. It's a frequent snack in our home in the summer time. When bought in bulk as a dried bean, time can be saved by cooking a larger-than-needed batch of beans, and storing the extras in the freezer in freezer baggies.

How do you eat it? There's a few options:

• Dip pita bread, pita chips, crackers, or anything else into the hummus.
• Spread hummus on the flat bread, and top with tabouleh.
• Spread on the hummus, add tabouleh, and roll a few falafels into the bread too.
• Dip falafel into the hummus and use them to scoop up some tabouleh too.
• Eat tabouleh just as is, like a salad.

This makes a great picnic food, by the way.

Photo by Ulterior Epicure (Flickr)

Tabouleh is a very refreshing salad made with bulgar (cracked wheat), fresh parsley, and fresh mint. This can be a very frugal meal on its own if you purchase your bulgar in bulk, and grow your own parsley and mint (which, by the way, is easy to do!)

Serve Alone, or With:

• Hummus
• Falafel
• Pita Bread or Tortillas

Hummus can be pretty expensive when you are buying it in those little tubs at the deli counter, but a super healthy and frugal treat when you make it at home, especially with ingredients purchased in bulk or with chick peas found on sale in cans.

Serve Alone, or With:

• Hummus
• Tabouleh
• Pita Bread or Tortillas

As I wrote in my book, Momma's Guide to Growing Your Groceries, my goal when planting my garden is not just to have a productive garden, but to have a beautiful garden. Now, that isn't always possible, because sometimes (like recently) it rains on every free day we have, and suddenly the weeds are overwhelming. But it's a goal.