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Spice Tips and the Spice Set Giveaway

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Whether I’m roasting vegetables, grilling meat or fish, cooking a stew, baking chicken, or making a salad, I almost always use spices.  There is no better way to enhance flavors of main ingredients than to add a touch of spices.  I enjoy mixing spices and vowed earlier this year to learn to make my own curry powder.  

spices

The best way to decide which spices you like is to experiment. To get you started, here are 5 tips for using dried spices:

  1. Use fresh spices.  (Even spices that are dried can get stale and lose their aroma.)  Check the date on the jar and try not to keep spices longer than 2-3 years.  If you wonder whether a spice is still good, open the jar and smell it.  If the smell is fragrant, go ahead.  If there is little or no pleasing smell, trust your nose and don’t bother using it. 
  2. Make your own easy, spicy vegetable dip.  Add one or more spices to yogurt or yogurt mixed with sour cream. Start with ¼ – ½  teaspoon per 8 ounces (1 cup) of yogurt and add more to taste. Stir and let the mixture rest, refrigerated, for 1-2 hours so the flavors can meld, before serving with cut up veggies and/or pita chips. 
  3. Season chicken cutlets.  Before breading boneless chicken breasts, if your bread crumbs are plain, mix a small amount of basil and oregano into the bread crumbs.
  4. Amp up Roasted Vegetables.  Add rosemary to vegetables before you roast them.
  5. Add spice to your pizza.  Offer red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and oregano in containers or tiny bowls with spoons when you serve pizza.  If anyone asks why, you’ll know they have never had real New Jersey-style pizza.

Spice Set Giveaway

Through an arrangement with Cooking Planit, I’m giving away a 26-spice set that would be a great way to set yourself up for lots of spicy experimentation.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

After you’ve finished dreaming about what you would do with the spices in the set (below), check out the Cooking Planit app.  It can help you plan and shop for custom meals and even provides step-by-step instructions for cooking the meals you have designed – very neat and definitely on my “make it yourself” wavelength!

  • Ground Cumin
  • Cayenne Pepper
  • Basil
  • Ground Cloves
  • Saigon Cinnamon
  • Chinese Five Spice
  • Bay Leaves
  • Turmeric
  • Smoked Paprika
  • Curry Powder
  • Thyme
  • Yellow Mustard
  • Garlic Powder
  • Pennsylvania Pepper
  • Mediterranean Oregano
  • Cardamon Powder
  • Onion Powder
  • Cajun Seasoning
  • Rosemary
  • Allspice Powder
  • Nutmeg Powder
  • Hill Country Chili Powder
  • Red Pepper Flakes
  • Ginger Root Powder
  • Coriander Powder
  • Manzanillo Mexico Seasoning

This giveaway is part of a 50 blogger Giveaway being run by Cooking Planit.  If you want to maximize your chances, enter other participating bloggers’ giveaways.

Comments

  3. Mary Beth Elderton says

    I like Cayenne and Red Pepper Flakes. My favorite spicy foods are TexMex–enchiladas, fajitas

    Reply

  7. Dorothy Teel says

    I like you Fried Green TOmato recipe.

    My favorite spice is Nutmeg, changes things when added to greens, carrots, etc

    Reply

  20. Jenny says

    There's nothing better than authentic New Jersey pizza. I always add red pepper flakes and oregano. If I'm feeling extra spicy, I add a dash of garlic.

    Reply

  28. Jennai says

    My favorite spicy is curry. I use it for Chicken Curry, curried potatoes and lots of other curry dishes.

    Reply

  30. Anne says

    I go through jars of cumin like Kleenex. Your giveaway would be a great way to renew all the rest of my spices!

    Reply

  34. Jill H says

    I love garlic and I love to use it in everything. It adds just that extra bit of zip and spice that I like to all dishes.

    Reply

  35. Joan O says

    It's hard to choose just one favorite since spices make most foods more interesting but cinnamon is great in sweet dishes and smoked paprika helps to jazz up many savory dishes.

    Reply

  37. Donna L says

    I like garlic. I put garlic in most foods I cook. It taste great and its very for you. Thanks for the chance to win this.

    Reply

  40. Blessie Nelson says

    I love to use smoked paprika because it gives a subtle spiciness that brings the soul of the food I cook!

    Reply

  46. Maddie Klingaman says

    I love garlic powder. I use it in a LOT of things that I cook it. It's my go to spice in that I always seem to have it at hand and add it to almost anything I cook.

    Reply

  56. Jesselyn A/Jesstinger says

    I have so many favorites – but for the sake of entering this WONDERFUL and very generous giveaway I will go with Cinnamon.

    Cinnamon is like a universal comforting flavor and I use it all the time for both Sweet AND Savory dishes – it's amazing versatility: beyond all obvious and well known known uses – it's wonderful in Greek (or Middle Eastern savory dishes like Moussaka or Pastasio (sp?) and I always use it in any and every meatball recipe – no one knows what it is – but everyone loves it. It also works magic in my Swedish Fruit Soup and when I can't sleep it makes a marvelous Hot Toddy (with warm milk, honey, cinnamon – ans sometimes maybe a splash of Scotch or Brandy…

    Reply

  61. Robyn H. says

    I like using a special Cajun Seasoning blend with most of my recipes 🙂 it's my husband's favorite. From the list, Ground Cumin and Cayenne Pepper are two favorites because they are in this dip that I just learned to make that my husband loves.

    Reply

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