I shared the story over on Instagram a few months ago about my own personal journey with plants. From being a complete hazard to them, even managed to kill cactuses, skills, I know. To now having over eighty plants.

But they are so much more than just good looks…

At first, I bought these plants simply as decorating pieces, to warm up my new (and slight empty) home. 

Then I started to notice how my mood started changing. I started to slow down. Felt more present. 

The past couple of years, with the divorce and what I had been through in my marriage, had made me a little bit of a scatterbrain and I couldn’t really recognize myself.

I’ve always been really good with sitting still and being in the moment but after the trauma, my anxiety made all of it hard for me. I was either reliving the past or overwhelmed and freaked out about what was going to happen in the future. Constantly worrying about the uncontrollable and never really in the moment.

...

Over on Instagram today, I started talking about the amount of junk food I used to eat and that I used to think it was the easy way because let's face it, it's very very accessible. 
I've been having conversations with my family and friends lately about this, that we have turned into such an instant gratification and no effort -culture and many of us have stopped appreciating the beauty of simplicity and progress. Or we might appreciate it, but we don't like doing the job ourselves.

Being from Sweden, a land that is known as farmland, and as a land of simplicity and minimalism; I've started to find my way back to my roots again.

I now almost exclusively buy fresh produce and barely anything that comes packaged, and for being someone who hated cooking before, now it's all I do.

And my reason for hating cooking was not for any other reason than the fact that I was lazy/too tired/too busy/it was too messy/too much effort/it doesn't taste good when I do it- excuses I was...

I LOVE this (cold) soup so much. 
It's refreshing and healthy but feels like comfort food even though it's jammed packed with antioxidants. Native to southern Spain's Andalusia, it has a smell that takes me right back to childhood memories of growing up in Europe. 

There are different variations to this specialty, but this is how I've been making it. I think the most important part, is the quality of your produce, especially your tomatoes.
You want to find ripe and firm tomatoes that smell like they came fresh from the vine. 
When you pick out a loaf of bread, pick out one with a crusty exterior and soft juicy inside.

The soup

2 slices of sourdough or country bread, crust removed and soaked in water, then squeezed dry

2 small cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped 

1 small yellow onion, chopped (or half of a regular sized onion)

2 gloves of garlic, minced

2 1/2 lbs of tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
(I peel these tomatoes together with the...