10 Spices You Can't Live Without

I was perusing one of my new favorite foodie websites today - www.seriouseats.com - when I came across this interesting article: The 10 Spices That Should Be In Your Pantry Right Now. An interesting thought, right? Especially for those of us who depend on the power of these spices to make healthy food, in order to nix the fat, sugar, or salt content.

And given that my spice drawer looks like this, needless to say I'd have a hard time picking only 10. (I love the writer describing this as "trying to decide which child to abandon". I feel the same way.)

Reading this article helped me see just how different people's culinary personalities are. The writer listed several spices I'd never even heard of - a feat, considering the size of the spice drawer. I mean, I'll go out of my way to try something new any day of the week. (Grains of Paradise are used for something other than beer? Who knew?) But to say those exotic, unknown powders are your all-time favorite top ten??

Maybe this list says a little about MY culinary personality.... A little basic, maybe a little boring.. But enough spice and pizzazz to make something tasty, homey, and comforting. :)

It's a good thing the article differentiates between "spices" and "herbs". Because that gives me a teensy bit of wiggle room and a whole other list. :)

My Top 10 Herbs:

This list was easier, and therefore a little more basic. I think it points to my European cooking background. :)

1. Parsley (what do I cook that this doesn't go on?)
2. Thyme
3. Basil
4. Cilantro
5. Sage
6. Oregano
7. Rosemary
8. Dill
9. Bay Leaves
10. Mint

My Top 10 Spices:

Way, way, way harder.

1. Crushed red pepper.
LOVE it. how it can heat up anything just enough. Whenever what I'm eating is just missing *something*, I throw a little of this on there.

2. Cumin.
I go through this like water.

3. Fleur de Sel.
Generally I think salt is so basic, that like it's counterpart whole black peppercorn, it doesn't belong here. But the crunch of fleur de sel on pasta, on potatoes, on.. pretty much anything - that's something special.

4. Curry powder.
Yeah, yeah, I know there's really no such thing in real Indian cooking as "curry powder" and it was created by/ mass produced for the British, blah, blah, blah. I don't care. It makes things YUM.

5. Whole Cardamom.
Cardamom is one of those really cool things you can do almost anything with, sweet or savory. Throw a pod in a curry dish. Bake pear bread. No Norwegian baked good is complete without it. (Apparently the India and Scandinavia are the world's largest consumers of cardamom. Random tidbit.) I happen to especially love cardamom because a really cool friend of mine taught me how to make homemade chai tea using cardamom pods. Before her divine intervention, I had no idea that you had to peel the cardamom pod to get to the piece you actually grind and use. (Sorry to the coworkers who ate that pear cardamom cake and probably found it a little chewy in spots....)

6. Vanilla bean.
The real stuff, not the extract. Pure goodness. Perfect just in vanilla sugar. Or vanilla Splenda, depending on your personal pancreatic workings.

7. Vietnamese cinnamon.
I know what you're thinking. Now I'm really getting snobby. First with the salt, now with cinnamon? Believe me, I would have thought cinnamon was all the same too - until that same nice friend dragged me into a Penzey's and forced me to try the Vietnamese cinnamon. I promise you there is a big difference.

8. Chili powder.
Ahh, back to earth. I don't care which kind of chili powder I have. Basic, smoky, whatever. As long as it makes a pot of meat, beans, and veggies delectable, I'm in.

9. Ginger.
Another one of those multidimensional spices. I use it fresh and powdered. Cakes, my favorite Christmas time ginger cookies, Thai dishes, Indian dishes, drinks, even pickled or candied. Nothing is quite so refreshing.

10. Asafoetida.
This one is a relatively new one to my list. Also known as hing, it's another addition to my list from my wise friend. (She has apparently had a great impact on my spice leanings..) I use this spice in Indian food, and it's really hard to describe. I always think of it as the kind of extra punch in food you wouldn't realize was there until it was missing. I think it's a really deep and savory flavor, kind of like garlic and onion powder.


So, on that note, happy eating, kids!

Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake

Confession #1 - I am not a baker.

And that is not due to the crazy blood sugar thing. I love to eat sweet stuff - I have a theory that a rogue pancreas makes you crave sugar more. But making it? Lets just say when the annual cookie swap comes around every year, my pals prepare themselves for some epic whining from my corner. "Cookies??!!!! I have to make four dozen COOKIES??!!!! Can't I just provide the app and come to taste test?"

The thing is, I am completely, utterly, totally without any kind of patience whatsoever. (Another genetic defect, I'm afraid. Add it to the pile.) I usually start the cooking process after I'm already starving, and I'll pull things straight out of the pan and into my mouth, burning the crap out of my tongue. (It's all worth it in the end.) Baking takes a large chunk of time. And attention to details. And things like exactness in measuring, and following directions.

So again, back to the irony. The first recipe on my diabetic blog is for CAKE!!! ::giggle, giggle:: But since we're talking about me here, it's actually a really simple cake. The hardest part is cutting out a circle of parchment paper. (Another reason I avoid baking - so many extra steps.)




I've wanted to find something to do with meyer lemons for a very long time. I was looking for some kind of coffee cake like option, but this is better. It's not super sweet, except for the glaze, and the sage adds some interest.

(making sure I can eat the finished product.)

Oh, and unlike me, pay attention to the part that orders you to spoon the lemon syrup over the cake slowly and meditatively. Because apparently if you get impatient and just spoon it all on at once, the syrup runs down the sides of your cabinets and only a fraction actually ends up in your cake.

The recipe is originally from blue-kitchen.com. It makes eight pieces that are 60 grams of carb apiece or ten that are 48 grams of carb, according to my calculations (no guarantees there!)

Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake

1-1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons Meyer lemon zest, divided
1/2 cup plain kefir or buttermilk (Note - I never keep buttermilk in my house. I just put a tablespoon of white vinegar in a cup of milk and go from there.)
1 scant cup white sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup olive oil (not extra virgin) (Note #2 - I'm not sure why this recipe insists on NOT extra-virgin olive oil. It's all I keep in my house, so that's what I used and it tasted good to me.)
2 teaspoons fresh sage, finely minced

For syrup:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice

For icing:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons Meyer lemon juice (Note #3 - My icing needed way, way more lemon juice than this to come together - like 5 teaspoons. I thought it odd the originally recipe said this would be runny, because with the original 2 1/2 teaspoons it was one big lump.)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Oil a 9-inch springform pan using the same olive oil you use in the cake. Cut a round of parchment paper for the bottom of the pan, place it in the pan, then oil that too. Sprinkle a little flour on the bottom of the pan. Bang the side of the pan with the heel of your hand to evenly distribute the loose flour.

Put into a medium bowl the flour, baking powder, salt and 4 teaspoon of the zest. Mix well with a fork.

In a large bowl, mix the buttermilk or kefir, eggs, sugar, olive oil and sage. Whisk thoroughly.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk everything together. Pour into the springform pan. Place in the center of the hot oven.

Baking usually takes about 28 to 30 minutes, but set a timer for 24 minutes to be on the safe side. The cake is ready when a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Take the cake out of the oven and put it on a rack to cool. After 10 minutes, take off the sides of the pan.

In another ten minutes, poke the cake all over with a heavy fork. Then mix together the syrup ingredients. If the sugar won’t entirely dissolve, heat it gently in a saucepan over low heat while stirring, just for 30 seconds or so. Carefully spoon the syrup on top of the cake, a little at a time. The idea is that the syrup will ooze into the cake through all those holes. Slowly pouring a spoonful of syrup onto the cake and then spreading it around with the back of the spoon helps and also is very meditative.

After you’ve spread all the syrup on the cake, go away for about 45 minutes. Then come back and mix together the icing ingredients. Coat the top of the cake with the icing—it will be a bit runny. While the icing is still wet, sprinkle the remaining teaspoon of zest on top.

I have a what I call a great irony in my life.

I am a type 1 diabetic. And I love food.

I don't just love food. I love talking about food. I love cooking. I love driving 3 hours to find some weird, unknown ingredient. I love new, unique restaurants. I go to farmers markets and grocery stores for fun. I revel in the colors, the textures, the tastes, the beauty of in season produce.

As you can probably guess, or know by experience yourself, "food as entertainment" doesn't always go real well with diabetes. Have you ever tried to guesstimate the carbs in a family shared dish in an Ethiopian restaurant? Or tried a delicious looking new recipe out of the new popular cookbook and discovered it offers no nutrition information? Or tried to tell yourself that right this very instant is not the best time to try that polish paczki because your blood sugar is already in the 250's? (I'm really, really bad at that last one. Instant gratification gets me every time.)

That being said, I'm kind of "type A" personality when it comes to my diabetes management. (Ok, except for that last instant gratification comment.) I get nervous when I'm not wearing my CGM. I've been a pumper since one of the very first minimed models, and literally from the day I was diagnosed. My fingers have dead spots and bruising from multiple fingersticks daily.

I'm no where near perfect in the diabetes realm, as none of us are. Some days it kicks my ass. Some days I go from 45-350 with no explanation. One day my basal setting works. The next I'm low all day. When I change it, I skyrocket back again on that fun ride known as the glucoaster.

What I'm striving for is some kind of balance. Balance in the daily ups and downs, balance between my love for food and cooking and the response of my pancreatically-challenged body. I hope to chronicle those challenges here.

I want to use this blog to talk about both sides of my life. So, there will be some posts about diabetes and the challenges those with type 1 face while living with a chronic disease, and the frustrations associated with it. And there will be posts about what I'm eating, what I'm cooking, and what is interesting me in foodie land. Hopefully I'll be posting some recipes as well. (FYI - they won't always be "diabetic" recipes. I don't tend to cook or eat low carb.)

Here's to a delicious journey!