Spice It Up!

Healthy food does not have to be bland or boring! Give it some love and add seasoning of any sort. I like using fresh herbs because of the quality of flavor it adds to my food. Think of things such as grilled chicken breast, but with fresh thyme, pepper, salt, and a squeeze of lemon. Mmmmm, sounds a little more exciting than good ole grilled chicken. What about making baked chicken parmesan and adding oregano, basil, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Mmmmmm even better.

Now let’s think about some smoky sautéed shrimp with cayenne pepper, paprika, oregano, onion powder and garlic powder. And maybe a pinch of salt, nothing bland about that combo is there.

Give your food the love it needs for you to love it back! Using various spices and herbs can make a huge difference in your typical healthy steamed vegetables. Making a brown rice pilaf, could be jazzed up with scallions, onion powder, fresh thyme and a little salt and pepper. Using a mixture of fresh and dried is always okay. Remember the benefit of using fresh over dry is the quality of flavor. Make sure that you add dry ingredients at the beginning of cooking and fresh toward the end. Things such as thyme, rosemary and sage, can be added in the earlier stages as they are slightly tougher herbs.

So go ahead and give your food some love and spice it up a bit. Here are some of my favorite seasonings!
Fresh: Sage, thyme, rosemary, dill, basil and cilantro
Dried: Onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne powder, paprika, cumin, coriander, basil, oregano, sage powder, lavender, chili powder and nutmeg

The best way to learn is to try, so give it a shot and write down what you do every time, you might become a seasoning master!
Have fun and give that healthy food some love!