The top photo is a kitty who utterly charmed me from the other side of the window of an antique/junk store the other day.
This is the round-up for The Spice is Right VII: Seasons of Love, where I asked you to write about recipes including spice mixes commonly used in your families. As the entries started pouring in, I realized the mistake I made in setting this spice mix challenge. My pantry is going to collapse under the weight of all the spice mixes I want to blend and have easily available from now on. Thank you to everyone for playing along and coming up with some custom blends!
The entries below are posted in the order in which they were received. I’ll post the November challenge soon.
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Alanna from A Veggie Venture worked hard to convert her old family recipe for Swedish Rye Bread flavored with a blend of fennel (or caraway!) and orange zest into something that can be made with a bread machine. After a lot of trial and error, Alanna developed modern techniques for making this Old World bread, which she explains along with the more traditional hand-made and oven-baked process. I really appreciate all the detail she always puts into her tips section at the end of her recipes! |
Rosie from Bitchin’ in the Kitchen with Rosie made fried pork chops, greens, corn, and buttered rice, and confessed that those Appalachian treats become comfort food when she adds the spice mix that her mother always used in her cooking that Rosie’s food tastes wrong without – Lowry’s Seasoned Salt, cayenne, and black pepper. She says that her comfort food just isn’t the same without it, and boy is she prepared to defend that assertion! I wouldn’t argue with her; Appalachian food is just a yummy mystery to me.
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Meeta from What’s For Lunch Honey shared her Italian Herb Mixture. It breaks all the rules – it’s an older post, and more about herbs than spices – but it looks so pretty and useful that (just as she suspected) I just couldn’t bring myself to leave it out. Thanks for breaking the rules to share this with us, Meeta! I know I’ll be using it. |
Shaheen from Malabar Spices explained how to make her mother’s Biryani Garam Masala, and shared a few recipes which use it – Calicut Mutton Biryani, Grilled Beef Gyros, and sometimes she even uses it to spice up her Banana Nut Muffins. Shaheen says that she still prefers to have her mother grind up the mix for her, and if she doesn’t have any around, she feels like her kitchen is incomplete. Garam Masala is such a useful mix for such a wide range of curries that I’m sure I’ll be keeping a jar of this on hand from now on, too.
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Kevin from Seriously Good doesn’t like commercial chili powder, which contains a lot ingredients other than chiles, so he makes his own chile powder by grinding together ancho, pasillo, and chipotle chiles. And for those who like it hot, he adds in some cayenne as well. In case you were wondering how to use this fabulous blend, he included his recipe for chili in the post. Perfect for the oncoming cold winter nights.
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For my entry, I made Nutmeg Chipotle Tuiles with Chocolate Mousse. Dave and I have been using nutmeg and chipotle together in a lot of different sorts of dishes since we moved in together, and the warm heat of those spices work very well together for us. Blended here into crisp tuiles served with dark chocolate mousse, they make a spectacularly tasty and beautiful dessert.
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Caryn from Reality Bites made a cinnamon-laden Apple Pie. Her thoughts on the spice blends that would represent different members of her family are very sweet, and I really loved the quote she presented on how cumin keeps husbands from straying.
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Caryn didn’t have time to take a photo, but my mental image of her Apple Pie is mouth-watering enough.
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T and EJM from blog from OUR kitchen have created what they call Spice Rub #4, which contains fennel, thyme, paprika, demerara sugar, and chili flakes, among other things. They assure us that it is fantastic on grilled pork tenderloin, and you should definitely go give that a try.
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Kathryn from Limes & Lycopene made some very intriguing Plums in Spiced Custard, where she blended the more common American pie spices (cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves) with cardamom and coriander to spice things up. The thought of coriander in that sort of warm dessert sounds absolutely incredible to me. I’ve never thought about using it that way, and now I can’t wait to find out how it works. Thank you so much for the idea, Kathryn!
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Danielle, thanks for setting this challenge. I was pretty much stumped at first, but it’s sparked off a series of interesting conversations between my mum and I. Conversations about our shared cooking history, what we ate when I was a child and the differences between how we approach things now – it’s been personally very rewarding.
Good round-up too.
kathryn – This comment made my day. I’m so glad to hear that the challenge helped you connect with your mother! How wonderful to be able to talk with her like that.
I love these spices round up!! I missed it myself but I am glad to look at all these wonderful mixes!! Surely try some of them!! Thanks for your hard work ronding them up!!:))
Danielle, wow! amazing spice mixtures. They are all so interesting. This was a great choice and thank you for allowing me to take part ;-)
Thanks for putting up my entry and I fel humbled to be part of such a wonderful assortment of spices..Really beautiful roundup.Thanks.
Hi Danielle. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to contribute a late post, but I think the moment has passed for me. Great round-up and great contribution. You have made Barbara proud, I’m sure.
I will definitely be there for the next event. I’m already thinking about what I’m going to do!
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