Spices in cooking

Well I don't use spices in my regular food. But I do bake and use spices there. My all time favorite is cinnamon and use this on rolls and in my pumpkin pies along with allspice and cloves.

I like fresh, if possible. I use fresh garlic and fresh onion in most foods with sauses, or flavoring to marinate. Fresh parsley on top of potatoes. Salt, pepper, and hot red pepper. And a cajun spice we love onto of anything and everything.

In our kitchen we have laurel leafs, rosemary, tarragon powder, peppercorns (crushed, whole, powder), turmeric, and some star anise. I love spices, and I always use them on our everyday dishes because it makes our foods taste better. Every one of them have many different specific uses, may vary for fishes, meat, pork and chicken..

I have a few different spices that I use on a regular basis. I like to use black pepper as well as garlic powder to season anything I end up cooking for me & my other half each night. I think both of the seasonings add a distinctive flavor that doesn't overpower the meat. I enjoy using these seasonings because they are relatively easy to use and easy to find if you end up running out of them. I don't like seasoning food with more than just those spices. I also don't care for using weird spices or seasonings or even a lot of herbs because they can bring really strange flavors to the meal we make. I like garlic powder and pepper because they are so simple and you can use them on anything. I know that I also use fresh garlic in the foods I prepare as well. I love the smell of fresh garlic & I sometimes love using fresh garlic more than just using garlic powder. I find it's a lot stronger & so much easier to recognize the taste as soon as you take a bite out of the food you had prepared.. That has fresh garlic in it. I love how it blends in with a lot of the different flavors from the meat or even some of the other ingredients I decide to use in my cooking as well. I also love cajun spice on some of the meats I end up cooking as well. I must say that also.. I find when the ingredients I use blend in together that it tends to always make for a rather tasty dish in thee end! I find that depending on how much seasoning you put on something you are preparing for dinner that it can actually wreck the meal you are cooking or preparing for you & your family. I know that I try to keep the sprinkles of spices to a minimum and that leads to the food to not being over seasoned and really salty. I know that there is one seasoning that I will never EVER use again because I had found it makes food taste absolutely horrible. The spice is lemon pepper seasoning. I find the taste of lemon pepper seasoning not to be all to pleasant quite honestly. I know that I had used it one time I made pork chops for me & my other half & I had found that it had tasted really terrible. I don't know if I used to much or what.. But I found even when I use a little that it can be still be overly salty overall. I find that adding seasoning to ones food is one simple thing that will lend a good flavor to the food. If it involves more than one or two different spices, I find that you can sometimes end up with a really strange flavor to your food. I know that I do have other spices within the house in our cupboard.. But I don't find I use them quite as often as some of the spices I had mentioned already.. I know that I am quite a fan of using pepper and garlic powder because they are so simple to use and taste & I also have found that the are best out of all the spices I've ever tried. There's nothing that match them for versatility and flavor for me quite honestly. In conclusion, the spices I know that my other half & me have.. Would have to be the ones that I find I use for almost everything I end up preparing or cooking for me & my other half. I find that garlic powder and pepper are the most versatile of any seasoning out there and I am glad that I can use it for a variety of different foods that I end up preparing. I know that I would not dare trade them for any other spice or seasoning out there! . . Thanks for allowing me to share! xx

Spices that are a must are: cinammon, garlic powder, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and celery salt. The spices I never want on my shelf are cumin and rosemary.

Cumin is amazing. I also love cilantro, basil, sage, rosemary and dill. My husband also cooks with Saffron, tamarind, and pesto. We have 2 entire shelves in our kitchen just for spices. I also love ginger. And for breakfast foods, cinnamon and nutmeg!