Spice Up Your Plate

I love recipes. There was a time when I used to be so committed to recipes to guide, or shall I say dictate, my cooking that I was lost without one. Now that I have spent more time in the kitchen learning what works for my palate and my patience, I feel confident taking more liberties with my recipes. Recipes still play a very important role for me, however they are now more of a guide or inspiration than a instruction manual.
I've pretty much got the 'food' part down when orchestrating a meal. I know I want to have some greens, some plant based fiber, some healthy fats, and protein (either plant or animal derived). I want to limit the processed elements, and most importantly I want it to be lip smacking delicious. You can't really go wrong with this formula, but whole foods with limited chemical flavors and extra ingredients can be 'bland' to the Standard American Palate. That's why the Universe has given us SPICES.
Using spices effectively continues to be an area of growth for me, as it is for many people. But the more I experiment the more confidence I drum up.

It's not just decoration! We use our spice rack everyday. We've even customized it with the spices that we use most often. I mean, who actually uses "Pizza Seasoning" and "Crushed Mint" in everyday cooking?

My Tips for Spicing Up Your Plate:
1. Do your research: Google search a few different versions of the recipe that you are attempting. If you are making chicken and rice soup, see what spice combos and ratios come up most often in different cook's renditions.
2. Stick with the same spice 'family': think about recipes you've used before. You will often see bay leaves, thyme, and basil together. Where there is chili powder there is often cumin. Indian dishes (some of the most spice-tastic of all) like curry, cardamom, ginger, turmeric etc...
3. Steer clear of seasoning mixes: they often have lots of salt. And don't get me wrong, salt is a beautiful thing, but you can add that at the end.
4. Don't be shy! if you skimp on your amounts, you may not taste it at all. Also, keep your spice supply fresh because as they age spices lose some potency.

And if you needed more reasons to spice up your plate, check out this review of a new study out of Penn State which demonstrated that meals rich in antioxidant spices resulted in significantly lower presence of triglycerides and insulin levels in the body after a meal. This is an important finding because it could lower heart disease and diabetes risk. That's some delicious science!