Healthy Cooking Tips with your Kitchen Seasonings

Learn how you can spice up your meals and give them lots of great flavor without all the added calories. Be sure to check out our homemade taco seasoning mix recipe that is delicious and so much better than the store bought packages of taco seasoning.

Kitchen Seasonings:

Herbs, spices and other seasonings are a natural and healthy way to add a lot of flavor to your recipes without adding a lot of extra calories. With a little practice, you can create an endless variety of delicious recipes, such as Mediterranean-inspired favorites bursting with the fresh flavors of lemon, garlic and rosemary and spicy Mexican dishes featuring cilantro, cumin and chili powder.

With a little creativity, you can put a fresh spin on some of your favorite tried-and-true recipes by simply swapping out the herbs, spices and seasonings you use. For example, if you add fresh or dried basil or oregano to diced tomatoes, chopped onion and finely minced garlic, you have the makings of a wonderful red Italian pasta sauce. On the other hand, if you replace the basil and oregano with cilantro and lime juice, those same ingredients become the foundation for a fabulous homemade salsa recipe.

Check out this list of popular herbs, spices and seasonings based on different regions in the world:

• French: thyme, French tarragon, rosemary, basil, sage, mint, marjoram
• German: mustard, rye, caraway seeds, borage
• Italian: basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, parsley
• Greek: dill, lemon, oregano, fennel
• Spanish: saffron, smoked and regular paprika, rosemary, thyme
• Mexican: cilantro, chili powder, cumin, Mexican oregano
• Indian: curry powder, coriander, cumin, turmeric
• Thai: Thai basil, cumin, turmeric, lemon grass, cinnamon
• Chinese: five-spice powder, star anise, fennel seed, cloves, cinnamon, ginger

My favorite “flavors” are Italian, Mexican and Chinese!

I’m sure you are wondering about salt, black pepper and garlic. These usually have a universal appeal and should be kept with an adequate supply in your pantry.

How to Set Yourself up for Success:

While setting up your pantry or spice rack, remember you can save money by growing your own. Fresh herbs are super easy to grow from seed or from cuttings in your own garden and many can be brought indoors for year-round enjoyment. However, if growing fresh herbs isn’t your thing, many popular fresh and dried varieties are readily available.

I recently did a review on Daregal Gourmet Herbs. Daregal Fresh Frozen Chopped Herbs.They are washed, chopped and ready to add from your freezer to any meal. Simply remove the container from the freezer, give a little shake to loosen the chopped herbs, and sprinkle out the desired amount. No need to defrost. PLUS it has a 36 month shelf life! These are perfect for those of you that don’t want to grow your own herbs and find that they always go bad when you buy them fresh at the store.

Stay tuned for our post on Making Homemade Salad Dressing! Once you have Homemade Salad Dressing, you will never want store bought again!

Now Try It!

Don’t forget to try my delicious Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix Recipe that will last up to 6 months when stored in an airtight container! Let me know if you like it!

Enjoy!