Homemade Spice Blends

In keeping with my promotion for homemade gifts, here are some great spice blends you can put together in under an hour: chili powder, pie spice, curry powder, ranch dressing mix, jerk spice, Moroccan spice.

Most "Whole Foods" type grocery stores sell herbs and spices in bulk, they may even have the decorative containers to put them in. Or try Cost Plus or Ross for containers.

Make your own label, add a simple recipe and you have a great gift you made yourself !
















Make your own label, add a simple recipe and you have a great gift you made yourself !

Three more spice mixes...

Here are three more mixes that I made and bottled for gifts this year.

Moroccan Spice

A friend sent me a mixture like this last year. I loved using it in place of curry powder in soups, stews or stir fries. Pair this with some couscous and a tagine recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons ground cumin
• 3 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice or mace

Jerk Spice

A few years ago Genna got into making jerked chicken, inspired by a trip to the Caribbean. I made her a jerk spice mix for her birthday that year. You mix it with oil and rub it on whatever meat you are cooking !!

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons dried minced onion 
• 5 teaspoons dried thyme 
• 4 teaspoons ground allspice 
• 4 teaspoons ground black pepper 

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon each smoked paprika and regular paprika

Ranch Dressing Mix

One year someone gave me a dry Ranch Dressing mix from a fancy spice store. You moisten a tablespoon of the mix with water, let sit for 5 minutes then mix with 1/2 cup mayonnaise and a 1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt. It made the best salad dressing, I am guessing that adding it to sour cream would make a great dip too. Here is my attempt at reproducing that mix :-)

Ingredients

1/2 cup dried parsley

2 tsp dried thyme

4 tsp garlic powder

4 tsp onion flakes

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp pepper

2 tablespoon Kosher salt.

I did put this mixture in the spice grinder for a few pulses to mix and make it smoother.

Curry Spice, another gift idea

As promised I am posting the other spice mixes I made as gifts this season. 
One of my favorites is this curry spice made from whole seeds. 
You can pair it with some fancy rice or lentils, your favorite curry recipe or some homemade chutney.

You can easily double or triple this recipe. 

Most natural food grocery stores like Whole Foods have a bulk section for herbs and spices, that the best place to get the raw ingredients.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds, toasted
• 2 tablespoons whole cardamom seeds, toasted
• 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds, toasted
• 1/4 cup ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon cayenne

1) Place the whole seeds in a cast iron or other heavy bottom pan, one that will allow the seeds to be in a thin layer.

2) Toast the seeds over medium low heat, shaking the pan often until they turn color and smell good, 10 to 12 minutes.

3) Allow the seeds to cool.

4) Using a small coffee grinder or mini food processor, grind the seeds into a fine powder.

5) In a bowl add the ground seeds to the turmeric, dry mustard and cayenne, mix well.

6) Make cute labels and bottle. 

If you don't want to bother with the whole seeds, here another recipe that uses all ground spices.

 Curry Powder Blend

Ingredients

4 parts ground coriander

2 parts turmeric

2 parts yellow mustard powder

1 parts cayenne powder

1 parts ground cumin

1/2 parts ground cardamom

Still to come: Jerk Spice and Ranch Dressing Mix

Holiday gift ideas...

Homemade gifts are the best in so many ways. While they may take a little extra time, they are certainly less stressful than spending time in a shopping mall !! And if you don't have the time or inspiration to make your own gifts you can support local businesses during the holiday season. I mentioned to a friend that I was buying some charcuterie from our local butcher for some of the folks on my list. She thought that was a great idea :-)

This year I decided to experiment with different spice mixes: curry powder, chili spice, jerk spice, ranch dressing, moroccan spice and pie spices.

They are all blends of a number of herbs and spices. I would recommend going to a natural food grocery store, food coop or herb store to get the raw ingredients.

The one in the photo above is chili powder before mixing.

Here's what I put in it.

Laurie's Chili Powder

6 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons dried oregano

4 teaspoons cumin powder

4 teaspoons garlic granules

3 teaspoons powdered chipotle peppers ( or cayenne peppers)

3 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1) Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix.

2) Find all the little bottles you have been saving for years...

3) Using a funnel ( I made one out of paper), pour the mixture into a jar. 

4) Make a cute label.

5) You could pair it with some interesting dried or canned beans  and my chili recipe.

      Easy homemade gift !!

Here's my pie spice combination, great in apple dessert, pumpkin pie, sweet loaves, cupcakes, cookies...

Ingredients

1/2 cup ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons ground ginger

2 tablespoons mace or nutmeg

4 teaspoons ground allspice

2 teaspoons ground cloves or cardamom

1) Same as above mix together, bottle, label and give !!

Pair the spice with a pie pumpkin or apples from your local farmer's market or some homemade brown sugar and a favorite cookie or cake recipe.

Or

You can add 4 tablespoons of sugar to 2 teaspoons of this mixture for a gourmet version of cinnamon toast topping. It's also great to sprinkle on top of pies, cookies, hot cereal, or stir into coffee or hot chocolate.

Next up my curries, jerk spice and ranch dressing !!