...and everything nice

I need to make this quick…My week has just made a turn for the unexpected. Got up at 3:30 to drive Benny to the airport. I swear if/when we move, we will live closer that 2hrs away from an airport. Four hours in the car wasted. Also sad to say based on the time frame nothing was open yet in Denver so I wasn’t able to “make the most of it”… And that’s probably for the best.

I’ve been meaning to mention this for awhile and it keeps slipping my mind but I’ve found a real recipe gem. It and variations of it have been on my Pinterst for awhile but I’m finally getting around to it. This might be old news and I’m the last to know but I needed to share, ‘cause us girls need to stick together!

When I got married I registered for a spice rack. It kind of seemed like the thing to do. Imagining I’d be whipping up gourmet meals ala Martha Stewart but I wasn’t well trained in culinary endeavors. My mom didn’t have time to cook and probably wouldn’t know what to do if she did. I loved the idea of the spice rack and there were obvious things like oregano and cinnamon and I totally can work with those but others were alluding me…Coriander? Celery Seed? Hmmm? Unfortunately, many a spice were wasted in the early years. 

Now that I’ve come along in my cooking my palette and knowledge have evolved and I’m proud to say I have figured out how to properly use spices, even the obscure ones. The problem is that unless I’m actually following directions I kinda forget to incorporate a variety in my everyday dishes. Which means things get overlooked and we miss out. For awhile I was buying pre-made/mixed spices like “chicken seasoning” or “seafood seasoning”. Sketchy, right? And overpriced too.

Well I finally dug up my pins for these homemade spice mixes and they are incredible. I like using up spices I sometimes “forget” about. It’s also convenient to have them on hand to so you already now quantities of each. I’ve basically been using these as dry mixes while cooking meat and I swear I have never had more compliments. Seriously, you’d think I’d been feeding the man goulash. Here I was thinking I was Top Chef and all.

I used these…Check’em out and play around with them, for instance I put extra garlic in ours since that suits our taste. I also double, even triple some of these to have on hand and they’re stored in mason jars by my cook top. 

http://www.weedemandreap.com/2013/07/3-awesome-homemade-seasoning-mixes.html

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/

http://www.food.com/recipe/seafood-seasoning-mix-368939