Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Spices

I have a number of things I've been wanting to blog about lately and I thought I'd start with a little series.. that I have no name for. But these next few days of posts will have a common theme. You'll see.

In my quest to simplify my life and my home in particular I've been paying close attention to the things I use a lot of or buy a lot of and rethink them - starting in the kitchen. I believe that buying in bulk and making things yourself usually saves you money and/or is more healthy. Also, ever since the little one was born my cooking has become much more simplified. Dinners are usually thrown together and my flavor combos are pretty regular - I noticed I was using a lot of the 2 spice mixes - mexican and italian. While I like those two flavors a lot I was/am sick of buying them. So I bought some spices in bulk at our health food store and made my own!

Supplies: mixing bowl, bulk spices, spoon, empty jars




obviously both mixes are highly customizable. For my italian seasoning I chose equal parts sage, rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, marjoram


I threw a little crushed red pepper in on a whim. we like our pasta sauce with a little kick to it and that's where a lot of our italian seasoning goes.

for the mexican or taco seasoning I was a little more creative. I used this as a general guide and made ours with equal parts chili powder, cumin and paprika (~8Tbsp each) and equal parts of onion flakes (or powder) and garlic powder (~2Tbsp each) and a pinch or two of cayenne at the end

Now I have what for us is easily a 6 month supply of both seasonings and I can't wait to try them out!

2 comments:

  1. Kent did this when I was pregnant in an effort to avoid MSG....it's amazing how much better the homemade spice mixes taste. He does a really good steak seasoning; we'll have to share!

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  2. Oh yea! I totally need that recipe!! I have a chicken seasoning one I'm gonna make soon, and some seasoned bread crumbs too!

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