Need a Spice Rack Makeover?

I received my first set of spices when I bought my first house.  I then took those spices with me the next time I moved years later.  The truth is, my spice rack was more of a decorative counter topper than something that I ever learned how to use.  Since that time I've thrown out those spices and learned some tips worth sharing.

1. Expiration:  Technically speaking, most spices don't go "bad" for 2-3 years.  They do begin losing their flavor and potency as quickly as six months though. The quick signs are: your spice smells less aromatic and more like dust. And it begins to lose color (green spices shade toward brown and red shade toward maroon).
2. Where to buy:  If you're going to begin using your spices and you've abandoned them for a while, or simply can't remember when you purchased them, it's time to cut your losses and toss.  WAIT! Save the containers!  If you try to restock your spices from scratch at a traditional chain grocery store, you can be looking at upwards of $50.  A couple years ago I stumbled on bulk spices at my local Whole Foods (you can also buy in bulk at a co-op grocer near you, there are over 80 in MN).  The great thing about bulk is your spices are the freshest.  All you do is fill a baggy with how much you think you'll use over a 3-6 month period, you pay for just that much, then go home and fill your saved containers.  Just to give you an idea, I fill my jar of Oregano for less than $.90.  Added bonus, if you're making something wacky and you'll never use that spice again, you buy and pay for a teaspoons worth then move on with your life.
3. My favorites:
1. Dried herbs: Oregano (finds its way into everything), Basil (Italian cooking must), Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley, and Dill (great on fish), Coriander (a.k.a. Cilantro).
2. Heat: Red pepper flakes (again, I put this in everything), Cayenne (just a pinch is tasty in hot cocoa and brownies)
3. Vegetables  (for those days you just don't feel like mincing): Garlic powder, Onion powder, and Ginger 
4. Ethnic: Cumin (Mexican and Indian), Curry powder (Indian)
5. Mixes:  Paprika (mix of bell peppers and chili peppers), Chili powder (mix of  Cumin, Garlic, Oregano and Chili peppers), Italian seasoning (mix of Basil, Oregano, Parsley), Cajun Seasoning (Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Red Pepper, Cayenne)
4. Be on the lookout:  I frowned out loud recently when I learned some of the name brand mixes I love are loaded with salt - maybe that's why they were my favorites.  This includes a steak seasoning that I absolutely adore and would use on most everything.  I've been out on the lookout, and found a couple substitutes that I'm taking a liking to. 
1. Lemon Pepper - It's exactly what it sounds like and you can get it at all grocers.
2. 21 Seasoning Salute - This is a magical mix of 21 seasonings excluding salt that you can pick up at any Trader Joe's near you!
5. How to cook with spices:  Ah the beauty of the internet age.  Next time you cook your staple vegetables or meats, just do an online search for what spice goes with your item and you'll get lots of ideas.  By smelling the spice, it'll usually give you an idea of where it fits also.

Whenever possible, I love using fresh herbs. Unfortunately I find it's also the most thrown out item in my refrigerator because I never use it all before it goes bad.  This past summer I thought it would be a great idea to keep a basil plant.  It's not finicky for this black thumb to manage, it smells amazing, and happens to be my favorite herb.  Well, I couldn't keep my cooking up with its production and there was a lot of waste. I'm happy to report, I've found a simple solution to save your herbs and use them when you're ready. 

• Cut herbs from the stems, wash, put in a baggy, add water, label, throw in the freezer, take out the day you're going to cook with it.

One last thing. Here's my Presto Pesto recipe with just 5 ingredients.  Husband tested, cook approved!

• 2.5 oz (standard container) basil
• Handful of slivered/sliced almonds
• 2 garlic cloves
• Handful of grated Parmesan
• Pour Extra Virgin Olive Oil through the top of your food processor while processing until you get desired consistency.
• If you're daring (it's really not that daring) throw in a couple pinches of crushed red pepper for a little kick.
• Taste and modify as you process, you may decide to add more parm, or almonds, a pinch of salt.

This will keep in your refrigerator for the week.  Stir into 8oz whole wheat orzo for a pasta dish. Spread on a slice of bread add some tomatoes and make a fancy grilled cheese.  Recipe for those tasty looking "Baked Red Tomatoes" below to come next week with some of my other favorite unfried things.

Accessorize Your Kitchen

When in a cooking slump,  I have found my passion for the kitchen can simply be reinvigorated by progressing my gadgets.  This is why when my husband bought me a ricer one year for Christmas it felt less like a vacuum and more like a pair of earrings.

• Slow Cooker:  This guy's not just for the office potluck.  Mine means so much to me I even remember the first thing I ever cooked in it (not as good as my mom's Sloppy Joe's).  Over the years my love continues to grow, maybe that's why there are 4 slow cooker's in my house.  
• I've learned any meat cooked in here makes the perfect sandwich. 
• Lower the calories on a pulled BBQ pork sandwich by slow cooking chicken or turkey in the nummy sauce.  
• Make the BEST steak sandwiches using the least expensive cut of beef, 1 green pepper, 1 yellow onion, 1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth, 1/2 tbsp of your favorite seasoning mix.  When you get home from work cut into a whole wheat hoagie, remove some of the insides to make a nice boat for your filling, top with a slice of pepper jack cheese and broil until bubbly (about 3 minutes). Scoop some of the crock pot juice over the top - YUM!
• All soup is easy. Chop the ingredients throw them in and walk away for the rest of the day.  Season as you go. Smile knowing the flavors are going to continue melding into perfect tastiness as the day grows longer.  And CHILI - amp up your favorite recipe on Football Sunday and let the house fill with the delicious aroma.  Your chili will never be the same!
• Meatless Monday Stroganoff: Let 1/2 cup wild rice, 16oz chopped bella mushrooms, 2 cups vegetable broth, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and other favorite seasonings cook on low for the day. When you come home add egg noodles and an extra cup water if necessary - cook on high until soft about 30 minutes. Add 3/4 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
• A good set of knives:  The best ones I've found for a reasonable price are OXO Good Grips Professional.  I bought our set on my husband's first Father's Day almost 3 years ago and they're still going strong. The trick to maintaining your kitchen knives is to always hand wash and NEVER, no matter how tempting, leave them to the devices of your dishwasher.  They will dull in a jiff.
• Food Processor:  After the honeymoon phase of chopping everything with your wonderful knives has worn off, get yourself a food processor.  Works great to fine chop garlic, herbs, veggies just pulse a few times.
• Home made bread crumbs: 1 slice of lightly toasted bread, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese.
• No cook smokey tomato vinaigrette: 1 pint cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup fresh basil, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tbsp honey, 1/4 cup or 2 slices smoked Gouda. Pour over 1lb hot orzo and top with Parmesan cheese and fresh cracked pepper.
• Inspired by Giada De Laurentiis: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/orzo-with-smokey-tomato-vinaigrette-recipe/index.html
• Since I'm talking about cutting things, it's necessary to give a shout out to my new favorite tool, the mandolin:  Get the perfect julienne for stir fry, the perfect dice on onions, shred potatoes for hash browns with 10 swipes.  Looking into making yourself veggie packed sandwiches and wraps for the week, this makes it so easy. I use mine for cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers.  Great for small jobs and easy to clean up.
• Hard Anodized Non Stick Skillet:  Not your mama's non stick.  The new hard anodized technology gives us a stick free surface without the black material flakes of the pan ending up in our food.  Two more bonuses here. The technology has been around long enough that these are now available at a price the common man can afford. Watching your weight? Non stick means your cooking with less butter and oil!
• Perfect for eggs!  There are a lot of smart people out there telling us to EAT BREAKFAST EVERYDAY! Unfortunately for folks on the go, they're not counting most granola bars as breakfast.  We are being urged to eat eggs again. Scramble 3 eggs for two people in a bowl (1 egg + 1 egg white for 1 person), add 1 spoonful of salsa, a splash of skim milk for fluffiness. Throw your mix on a whole wheat tortilla, sprinkle with your favorite cheese.  Wrap in a paper towel and eat on the go if you're in a hurry.
• Cheese tip: To help cut back on the amount of cheese you use, pick the more flavorful options. Sharp cheddar, fresh bagged or shaved Parmesan - not the stuff in the plastic container, Gorgonzola, feta.
• Juicer: O.K. I saved this one for last because it's the one I was most skeptical of.  The other half watched a documentary on juicing (Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/) the choir started  singing, he saw the light, and for a second I thought maybe there was world peace.  So it wasn't that dramatic, but he did get pretty excited.  Within a week we were the proud owners of a Breville Juice Extractor. If you're not "in the know" on juicers, this puppy is the one all the kids are talking about.  The problem with juicers is cleaning them, this one makes that process a bit quicker then the less expensive versions.  The skinny on how juicing works is you put the whole fruit and or vegetable in and its juice comes out.  Here's why I now LOVE this thing.  Every morning my two year old asks for her juice.  This means she starts the day with carrot pear, orange and apple. There is no dilution, no concerns of arsenic or fungicides, and she poops better!  The smart guy in the documentary can tell you more about why juicing is good, so don't just take my word for it.

Falling Asleep at the Shopping Cart

I remember when Ed (he's the husband) first started talking to me about paying better attention to my food and making healthier choices when shopping.  As part of this he brought me to a popular "whole healthier" grocery store.  I learned a lesson very quickly and unfortunately for him, I don't think it was one he was anticipating.  In the first isles we picked up our fruits and veggies, then went to the bulk section for whole grains.  Everything was going as he planned until he tossed a bag of nuclear orange colored cheese puffs in the cart.  I picked it up and asked if he thought these were okay just because of the store we were in.  After looking at the long list of ingredients we both agreed that while they may be a better option then the alternative, they were still by no means on the "good list".


Today's post is about the two things I've learned from that shopping trip.

1. When at the store don't let yourself be bamboozled by fancy pants words like "organic", "natural", "low sodium".  And don't let the ambiance and trust you feel for a store allow you to fall into a comfort zone where you stop reading labels.
2. I believe that part of being able to eat to live healthier is knowing and embracing your level of commitment out of the gate.  If you know a bag of nuclear cheese puffs once every four shopping trips will help you make better choices more frequently, then by all means splurge when you know you can (you're an adult, you've earned that right).

In light of my two lessons I wanted to provide a 'non expert sanctioned' crash course on pre-fabbed foods. Let's begin.


Try as hard as you can to look past the price and the name brand and check out the labels.  I read them in this order: INGREDIENTS, SUGAR, SODIUM, FIBER (higher fiber = happier food in and out process).  Surprisingly enough, calories and fat have kind of become empty words to me. It seems they're easy to game because the system has found ways to extract those two while adding chemically engineered ingredients.  For the sake of this post I went to the store and looked at a few popular items to analyze.

• Yogurt:  There seems to always be a craze in the yogurt world.  100 calories or less, yogurt that tastes like desert, the new super Greek yogurt.  This was enough to make me want to look further.
• Ingredients: "Super" Greek yogurt ranged from 2-6 ingredients while the common "party in my mouth brands" I grew up on had so many they filled up 1/4th of the container.  Many of which I couldn't pronounce.
• Sugar: for plain yogurts across the board the average was 7 grams.  Those with fantastic flavors ranged anywhere from 14 to 29 grams.
• Sodium: pretty standard across the board from 80-90 mg
• My Choice: No or Low fat plain Greek Yogurt.  I'm going Greek because it has 5-6 strains of probiotics (vs. 2 in regular yogurt), it has fewer carbs, and is a good source of protein. I'm going plain because I control the rest of the ingredients. I get to add my preservative free fruit of my choice and a touch of honey or agave nectar as a sweetener. As an added bonus I now use this as a substitute for anything calling for mayo or sour cream (eliminates 2 excess containers in my fridge less likely to be thrown out after expiration).  And because I'm buying it in the large container and flavoring as I go, I'm going to save money by refraining from the single serve more pricey option.
• French Fries/Hash browns:
• The heavy hitter here is ingredients.  I assumed (silly me) there would be one: potatoes.  I was very wrong. With the exception of one brand (Mr. Dell's) at my store the other brands had an added 2-5. The major added ingredients serve the purpose of making sure your potatoes brown pretty and keep their "natural color" while in the bag.
• My Choice:  Real potatoes sliced on my mandolin or Mr. Dell's no added ingredients, sodium, sugar.
• Peanut Butter:  Another victim to "pretty food is food people will buy".  There are added ingredients in many commercial peanut butters to keep the butter from separating from the natural oils in peanuts.  Also, because peanut butter is a kid favorite, what we know peanut butter to be has added sodium and sugar to appeal to that pleasure sensory area in our brain. 
• Fiber:  The peanut butter plus extra stuff version loses the digestive battle with lower fiber than the just peanuts jar.
• My Choice: Any brand with the sole ingredient of DRY ROASTED PEANUTS. Again, if you need to add salt and sugar to adjust, start with a blank canvas and do it on your own terms so you can monitor. Although I really think it's great as is.  As long as you can get over the fact that you will need to stir before using, you're all good.
• Syrup:  How would you feel if I told you the syrup you're used to eating from everyone's favorite aunt doesn't contain maple in any of it's ingredients. In fact the first ingredient in most brands is corn syrup. Wawawaaa!
• My Choice: Real maple syrup.  The only ingredient being maple syrup.  Granted, this is going to cost you extra at the register, but in my opinion a natural splurge well worth it.
• Soup:  I like to call most canned and boxed soups the great "sodium sorcerers".  Be cautious when buying all of these products.  If they're a convenience staple for you take your time and choose your best option.
• My Choice: Lowest sodium and fewest ingredients.  Whenever possible, I like to make soup myself in the crock pot (super low maintenance and easy to portion out and freeze for future meals).
• Spaghetti Sauce and Boxed pasta dinners with a mystery "cheese" packet:  Spaghetti sauces typically don't have unnoticeable ingredients but they do vary heavily by manufacturer in their sugar and sodium content. Also be on the lookout for those "pretty" words.  During my trip the highest sauce in both sugar and sodium content was ORGANIC.  With pasta dinners in the box, check the ingredients and if you still feel comfortable buying them, watch the sodium. I have found on multiple occasions boxes with "low sodium" advertising, actually having higher sodium then other boxes on the shelf.
• My Choice = Low sodium and WHOLE WHEAT pasta.

The Brief Version of How I Got Here

Three years ago I was a food junkie.  By that I mean I ate junk for food.  Much of my early life I spent naive as a consumer, assuming if the grocery store sold it or the restaurant served it, it couldn't be that bad for me.  I cooked what I grew up knowing food to be. Thanks to the fast paced life of the american society and the influence of the middle class need to get a deal on everything (including nutrition), most everything I "cooked" started with me opening a box.  Think of things like potato flakes, frozen dinners, pasta with a mystery packet boasting that all I had to do was "just add meat".  My choices were dependent on the weekend coupons at the grocery store and quick cook times. 


When I became pregnant with our first child, my husband started being very critical of what I put in my body (cheese in the can was heavily frowned upon).  A very protective dad from the beginning that one.  He was stuffing me with flax seed and fish oil, making sure I ate eggs every morning for breakfast and coaxing me into eating fruits and vegetables.  This was a big deal for me at the time being I was a proud card toting member of the meat and potatoes club.  At first there was contention.  I had heard of the whole food movement but for whatever reason was offended by it, didn't understand it, and didn't see myself ever "being that way".


During my pregnancy I put on weight and watched my husband's belly expand as he sympathized with me.  After our little girl came he asked me if I'd start going to the gym with him and I flat out told him "no". I've never been a good exerciser and didn't see myself being able to get into it with a newborn.  I did tell him I would commit to start cooking healthier for us so we could at least begin cutting the poundage that way.


This started my food journey. The first stop was weightwatchers.com where I found a ton of great recipes.  It was a good beginning because the food was simple and allowed me to utilize vegetables in ways I could tolerate them.  I remember skipping over a delicious looking recipe several times because I had no idea how to find actual ginger in the grocery store vs out of the spice rack and I was too embarrassed to ask someone. Eventually I conquered that but it's a story for another day.


Having spent a few months in the kitchen my mind and taste buds began to evolve.  I had a routine down.  Planning our meals for the week each Sunday morning, printing a shopping list and only buying what we needed.  This not only kept us eating from our kitchen every night but we started saving money on food bills (not by using coupons, but by eating what we bought and not throwing our $ in the trash because the food had spoiled). As a bonus we were less likely to buy junk food because it never made the list.  The organization kept the cooking from becoming a daunting task and I was actually having fun (the glass of wine I drank while cooking definitely helped with that).  


I was also getting hungry for more adventurous food and more information about the food I was cooking.  I watched the documentary "food inc", which I definitely recommend.  And read the book "Cook This, Not That".  This book was a game changer for me and really started instilling a passion for food.  Around that time, Jaime Oliver's "Food Revolution" premiered on TV and there was no looking back from there. I officially became "one of those people", and darn proud of it.


The bottom line is there are a lot of people making a lot of money off of the american society eating food from boxes.  As we continue to eat this type of diet we see increases in cancer, autism, diabetes, etc.  I am not saying food in boxes is the cause to all of this (I definitely don't have the credentials for that) I am just connecting the dots for myself, which is that I know it definitely can't hurt my family to refrain from that type of food.  I've started this blog because I want to get in front of people letting them know it's time to stop eating the loads of crap we're being fed and start doing what common sense tells us.  Common sense says it makes sense to buy carrots, peas, potatoes, flour, salt, and pepper and make a pot pie instead of eating one made for you who knows when, or where, loaded with those ingredients only those with credentials can pronounce.


On this site you'll find links to the expert's information so you can make your own informed decisions.  I'll post my families weekly menus with recipes and shopping lists.  I'll have my favorite kitchen supplies that have made my cooking life easier. As well as more.