Monday, July 25, 2011

Spice girl

I have to say, I'm pretty happy with kicking my food rut to the curb.  I was able to come up with some awesome new dishes that you will of course get the recipes for with nutritional info.  I hope to do the same this week though I don't know if I could do quite as many but I'd love to do at least 2 new ones.  I had to get more Italian seasoning since I was almost out.  I also got some dried orange peel since I think that would've been a nice touch to an Asian dish I did last week.  Of course the place I saw it was totally out of it (like it had been discontinued).  So as I'm walking out this employee is like "are you finding everything okay?"  I said yes to be nice and then I said "actually I couldn't find the orange peel back in the spice section, do you guys still carry it?"  She froze.  It was like the female lizard in Rango that would stop mid-sentence and not say a word for a full minute and then resume her conversation when she snapped out of it.  She says no they don't then she says "let me go ask Joe, he's a vegetarian, he would know!" HA!  Yep, cuz you know those vegetarians, they know all of the secret spice places that have to do with fruits and veggies!  Turns out Joe gave some suggestions but none really panned out so there goes your vegetarian theory.

What is the most exotic or out of the ordinary spice in your kitchen?  What dish do you use it for the most?

====================
Thanks for helping me get to 100 members/subscribers! Let's keep the upward trend! Subscribe by email or RSS feed!

8 comments:

  1. I have orange peel and lemon peel that I use every so often. I also have saffron that I'll use to make saffron rice. I make it very rarely, but when I do, it's outstanding!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nothing truly exotic in my cupboard. I did have a really great hot seasoning called "Slap Yo Mama" that I picked up in New Orleans a while back, but it's long gone now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am a spice whore. Can I be called "Whorey Spice? HAHAHA. I use spices in everything. Mostly organic (if I can find them) from all cultures. I would say that Berbere (an Ethiopian spice blend) is probably one of the more exotic ones. I use it to make a vegetarian potato and vegetable "stew". It's more like sauteed mashed potatoes? I don't know how to describe it but it is fabulous. Food rut? Definitely try some Eastern foods. Cavender's greek seasoning is a super all purpose seasoning too. They make two versions, one is gluten free and I think salt free. Excellent on everything.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nothing exotic really. Saffron for my rice with toasted pine nuts and I have a variety of curries since I'm on a curry kick at the moment. I'm always game to try a new one, though!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'll join Jinxmebaby for being the proud owner of an overflowing and varied spice cabinet.

    The most exotic thing in my spice cabinet right now is either the amchoor (dried sour mango) for the curries or zatar (sumac, sesame & spices) for the quintisential middle eastern grilled flavor.

    My favorite cookbook right now is Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World which includes a lot of Middle Eastern spiced items. But it may soon be replaced by 660 curries, which I just took out of the library

    ReplyDelete
  6. MMMMMM I love zatar!! There is this egg dish where the egg (typically fried..I get mine poached) is sprinkled with it and served on top of cut up sauteed bell peppers, onions, garlic, jalapenos and tomatoes. Shakshuka. MMM Heavenly. Now I want Shakshuka!

    I am going to check out that cookbook now!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. we have some kind of pepper from the pepper people (a little vendor that travels around and is at our Herb Fest) that has 5 different types of peppers in it...I wish I could remember what its called. We also have jamaican jerk seasoning from them that is da bomb! Looks like next time we need it we are going to have to travel to terre haute IN for it ~ last year they didn't make it to our herb fest but luckily I got 3 jars of each the year before :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have to many spices to even come close to listing them all from memory - we joke my husband married me for my spices, my business cards even say "let me help you spice up your meals". Why? NOT A PLUG HERE I SWEAR, I sell Epicure spices - so yes I have Saffron, Berbere, Jamaican Jerk, Cuban, Cajun, Harrisa, Star Anise, plus several dozen other - they really help - I keep the taste not the fat when I cook and it has been a big help with getting on the right track for my eating plan AnitaWpg from Sparks

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment! I appreciate your time! (Heads up though...disrespectful or spam comments will be deleted.)