Spice Up Your Spice Cabinet

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. It's summer and I'm trying to savor every day I can with Zachary. I've been working hard trying to get into culinary school. I must say, it's been a very frustrating process. But more on that on a later post.

Recently, I cleaned out my spice cabinet. It's amazing what I had in there.... many of the spices were "one time use" purchases. That's sad. I'm gonna work hard to make sure when I clean things out next year, I won't throw out as much. By the way, did you know that ground spices are really only good for a year or so after opening? Seriously... go clean out all the stuff that's been open for a few years. It's not nearly as flavorful anymore. How many of you have a tin of ground nutmeg that only gets love during the holidays? Throw it out already!

This post is going to be a shameless plug for my absolute favorite website: www.thespicehouse.com. I'm completely obsessed with my spice vendor! Whether you like to cook or not, the information alone will keep you busy for hours. They have hundreds of different spices, extracts, salts, spice blends, gifts, and more. Not only can you purchase these spices, but you can read all about them, where they come from, and recipes that make the spices stand out. I can't get enough!

For me, few things are more exciting that high quality food/spices. Now, don't get me wrong... nothing's wrong with good old McCormick cinnamon when you want to make some oatmeal raisin cookies, but what about those cinnamon rolls? Cinnamon deserves to be the star in cinnamon rolls! So how about some organic Saigon Cassia Cinnamon from Vietnam? The Spice House is getting these spices directly from the country they are harvested from. You've never tasted cinnamon quite like this! The color is rich and the smell/taste is sweet and spicy at the same time.

A few weeks ago, I wanted to make my homemade almond poppy seed muffins for breakfast. As I was retrieving my ingredients, I realized I was too low on almond extract. Well, clearly, I needed to get some if I wanted them to be "almond" poppy seed muffins! So I threw my hair in a ponytail and grabbed my shoes. I drove to the nearest grocery store and walked to the aisle I am all-too-familiar with. I almost fell over when I saw that a 1 oz. bottle of almond extract was $4.50! My stomach sunk as I paid for it. I had never paid this much for almond extract before! I quickly ordered almond extract from The Spice House. When it arrived a few days later, I opened my new 4 oz. bottle to take a sniff. I immediately felt a sense of happiness. I had never smelled almond extract to strong, so sweet, and so wonderful. Now, if you know me well, you know one of my favorite smells in the world is almond extract. I would bathe in it if I could! But the quality of this extract was unlike anything else I had ever experienced. I knew I'd never run out of this stuff! Oh, and get this: I paid $6.69 for 4 ounces! That's about $1.67 per ounce! Remember I had just paid $4.50 for ONE ounce of much lower quality extract.

I could go on and on about all the different spices I have from www.thespicehouse.com but I'll spare you! I'll just give you my list of things I don't think I'd like to live without:

Mexican Pure Vanilla Extract: It comes with a real Mexican vanilla bean in the bottle so the flavor improves with age.

Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste: This gel-like extract is the equivalent of using vanilla extract but has a special "wow factor" when added to light cookie doughs or cakes because of the real vanilla beans.

Pure Almond Extract

Whole European Style Peppercorns

Ground Organic Saigon Cassia Cinnamon: The only cinnamon I use!

Chipotle Chili Powder: This stuff is incredible! Add heat and smoky flavor anywhere you would add red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper.

Smoked Sweet Spanish Paprika: Add all the smoky flavor of above-mentioned Chipotle Powder without any heat.

Now, I'm not about to tell you that all of my spices come from www.thespicehouse.com. I choose to order spices I know I use often and won't throw away after about a year and a half. I don't use a lot of dried oregano, so it makes no sense for me to order any. I use kosher salt in most (if not all) of my cooking, so I would never pay a lot of money for French or Hawaiian salt.

Ok, a few more things about The Spice House: You frequently have the option of quantity and container. You can choose to order spices that come in a glass shaker jar or in a resealable plastic bag. I almost always get the zip-top bag because it's cheaper and you get more of the spice. They are very good about getting you your order within 2 or 3 days (even when choosing the cheapest shipping option!). There is always a little hand-written note from the person who packs your spices. How sweet! And their prices are extremely reasonable because they have eliminated the "middle man." (i.e. our major super market chains)

Please check out the website. You won't be disappointed. I have used them for a few years and plan to use them for many years to come.

I believe that any good recipe can be great with higher quality ingredients. So spice up your spice cabinet and let me know what you think!