I LOOOOOOOOOVE spice drawers. I mean, that’s my Pinterest porn flavor if you know what I mean. A well organized, well stocked spiced drawer makes my heart go pitter-pat.
My spice drawer, while well stocked, had gotten to epic levels of DIS-organization and it was making me want to pull my hair out. Wanna see it? I thought you would so I took a picture.
This is like THE OPPOSITE of pinterest porn. Now imagine having to find something with which to cook? ARGH. Such a mess! By the way, Garrett walked in on me taking a picture of my spice drawer and just mumbled, “I’m not even going to ask…”
I had reached my wits end last weekend and left the house to find a solution. I ended up finding it at World Market in the form of adorable little 99 cent jars. Can’t beat a deal like that with a stick! Now my drawer looks like this:
It sings to me when I walk by now, actually.
I repackaged all of my spices and slapped a handwritten label on them except for the ones from Penzey’s since those have recipes on the side and already come in pretty nice, non hideous containers. No need to print out anything fancy!
Anyway, this got me thinking that I should share 4 of my favorite herb blends/spice rubs with you. The ones that I use ALL THE TIME and are so easy to mix up yourself. So the next time you want to spice up your life a little, perhaps try one of these?
Homemade Taco Seasoning
I make this all the time because it is delicious, the recipe is for a huge batch and it works for a million different things. I brown meat for salads and mix it in. I add it to vegetables as a side dish with spicy food. I sprinkle it on taco salads when I want it a little extra flavor. So versatile!
Original Source: Food Renegade
Mix all of the following:
1/4 C. plus 1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
1 1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 1/4 tsp. Onion Powder
1/4 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 1/4 tsp. Dried Oregano
2 1/2 tsp. Paprika
2 Tbsp. plus 1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. Sea Salt
1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. Black Pepper
Herbs de Provence
This is such a delicious mix and my absolute secret ingredient for the best tasting caramelized onions on the planet. Remember this recipe? Herbs de Provence is a MUST! It’s also really delicious and in eggs a fancy way to zshush up chicken. The lavender makes it interesting without being weird!
Original Source: The Herb Gardener
Mix all of the following:
5 tablespoons dried thyme
3 tablespoons dried savory
2 tablespoon dried marjoram
5 tablespoons dried rosemary
1 ½ tablespoons dried lavender flowers
Paleo Friendly Mesquite Seasoning
I love the smokey sweet combo of mesquite but most blends have lots of added sugar. This one has great flavor, but only incorporates a bit of palm sugar. Truth be told, I have made it without and it’s completely delicious!
Original Source: Cooking with Cory
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. ground chipotle pepper
1/2 tsp. dried, crushed rosemary leaves
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram leaves
1/4 tsp. dried sage leaves
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. ground dry mustard
1 tsp. palm sugar (optional)
And last but not least,
The Best Chicken Rub Ever.
I am totally obsessed with this recipe. It’s such an interesting combination of warmth and flavor and it makes grilled chicken breasts seem like the most interesting dish in the world. And if you know me at all, you know I am much more partial to the chicken thigh…so if I’m saying that, you know it’s a must try!
Original Source: The Clothes Make the Girl
Mix all of the following:
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Mel’s cookbook Well Fed is actually a pretty awesome repository of great spice blends. It’s one of my favorite things about it!
******
So do you have any MUST-TRY spice recipes that you use regularly in your kitchen? Leave them in the comments, I’d love to try them out!
LOVE your new and improved spice drawer! Beautiful! I did something similar about a year ago, and it brings me joy every time I reach for a jar. YAY!
Thanks for the Well Fed love XO.
I love your spice drawer – I only have one question: how do you get the spices out of the jars? I mean, do you pour, use a spoon, or what?
What I like about most of the (ugly) containers is that they have this opening with a few holes for easy portioning.
One simple, but yummy spice recipe that I use for chicken and pork is (sorry no measurements – I just eyeball it :)) :
pepper
salt
paprika
italian herbs
Hey San!
I definitely go to the Rachael Ray school of measuring by palmfuls (of half a palmful), so I generally just pour into my hand and sprinkle by feel. I’m a very kiniesthetic cook. It’s funny that was Garrett’s main concern — “but what about the sprinkle tops?” but since he doesn’t do the cooking, we went with my version 🙂 I did get a couple new sprinkle jars though for the things he does use often, like cayenne pepper, which he PUTS ON EVERYTHING no matter how hot it already is. 🙂
I have a similar set up but have yet to find nice labels. I like yours. Are they something special or just short labels from an office store?
Thanks!
Maura,
They are actually just small labels from Office Depot. We happened to have them lying around and they fit! I was going to just cut bigger labels down, but this made it a little easier.
Very nice spice drawer! I like the sprinkle tops, but in all honesty I think I tend to under-season things and those sprinkle tops probably contribute to that. Usually I make my husband be my taster and he often adds more seasoning.
GORGEOUS spice drawer – I covet it! I can’t wait to try out these rub recipes. Thanks for sharing!
Also, you have pretty handwriting.
YUM!!! Thanks for the recipes!
I just re-organized mine into a drawer from their previous home in SHOEBOXES and did a nice alphabet thing, but I’m thinking I need the fancy glass jars + labels on the tops!
Also, I totally bought Beau Monde the other day thanks to you. 😀
Also, do those glass jars hold a good amount? I have a hard time coming to grips with throwing away half of a bottle of some spice that cost me $6ish in the name of having it fit into one jar. :-/
I’ve been using more spices in my cooking lately and our spice cabinet became kind of insane. I ended up putting everything into a drawer with the labels showing. It has made my life so much easier!
Those jars are a great buy and a great way to organize, too. I love ideas like that.
I wish my handwriting was so legible and pretty!
Really like this solution, although I am way too cheap to buy new jars, so I’ll probably just label the tops of the jars I already have and move them to a lower shelf so that I can look down on ’em. I’d quite like a pull-out/roller shelf to make things even easier, but labels on the tops of the jars will be a damn good start.
(Yesterday I spent 10 minutes looking for a jar of ground coriander before giving up and angrily bashing at some coriander seeds :P)
Oh, this is totally getting saved to my harddrive! 🙂