Spice Up Your Home Cooking

Are you cooking at home A LOT during COVID-19? You're certainly not alone! At this point in the pandemic, it can be hard to come up with new ideas, and I don't know about you, but some things are just feeling stale.That's where herbs and spices come in!Exploring herbs and spices is a great way to breathe new life into all the cooking you're doing at home. Plus, these flavor elements offer a great way to help your food taste better without adding less healthful ingredients, like salt or butter.Of course there are hundreds of spices out there, and the same is true for herbs. And herbs have an added dimension because many are available fresh or dried, and one is not always similar to the other.So, where to start? Check out the post Top 5 Herbs and Spices by Lisa Andrews MEd, RD, LD for a great starter guide to herbs and spices that are easy to find and fun to use! Plus, this post includes a free PDF handout that you can distribute as you see fit!Next, let's dive deeper into herbs. To learn all about when and whether you should use fresh or dried herbs, visit Using Aromatics: A Guide to Your Favorite Herbs. This post also offers a bunch of different ideas about which herbs are easiest to try for the first time, so you can pick the herb that most interests you.If you'd like to take your herbs and spices knowledge to the next level, don't miss our Flavor Exploration Series. In Flavor Exploration: Herbs, you'll find a guide to the flavor profiles of common herbs, their health impact, and their role as flavor boosters. Flavor Exploration: Spices does the same thing for the newest spices in your life.Now if you're like me, odds are good that you already have lots of herbs and spices to play with, but they need a little organizational boost. That's why I wrote Kitchen Hack: Herbs and Spices. Take a closer look to find everything you need to set yourself up for success! Once you have your spice cabinet cleaned and organized, it will be a lot easier to know whether you have the ingredients you need in order to experiment in the kitchen or simply try a new recipe.I hope this comes in handy as you continue in your kitchen adventures!