Spice Barn!

I finally found a reasonably-priced source for dried vegetables! And they carry tomato powder, too! The place is named Spice Barn (link on the right in Relevant Distractions).

I'm as happy as a little girl!

I've been looking for a place to find dried vegetables for use in rice mixes I've designed. Think Zataran's, but a lot better. Fresh vegetables just don't have the concentrated flavor of dried vegetables, and they add too much water to the dish. With dried vegetables I can grind them fine or leave them large as I like, combine them with dried spices and herbs into an easy-to-use dry mix -- it's just so very convenient.

Okay, so I'm kvelling a bit much, so sue me! This is important to me.

By creating a dry mix that contains all the ground dried vegetables, spices, herbs, and chicken bouillon, I can just toss some into a ziplock bag with some parboiled rice, and make it a twenty-minute side dish for just about any protein. Boil some water and a just little butter, dump in the rice mix, stir, cover, and simmer gently for 15 minutes. When done, fluff, cover again, and let sit for five minutes for the flavor to finish developing.

Once I have everything developed I'll probably make some available for sale, but don't hold me to it.

KBO!