Flavor, Spice, and everything Nice!

I love food, especially flavorful food! I don't like food that tastes bland or "healthy" or like a diet food. Over the past couple of years as I've tried to learn to cook in a way that is glorifying God, and therefore honoring Him with my body, I've learned a few "tricks". These tricks can add some bold or subtle taste (depending on your mood) to your food and the best part is they are a healthy way to do it!
Spices:
Something I've learned to do when I'm cooking is to not rely so heavily on a recipe to tell me what spices to use. Instead I use my nose. :) As you're cooking I encourage you to smell the spices in your drawer and see what scents you think would accompany your recipe well.  It won't take long for you to learn what flavors compliment each other well. Here are a few to get you started-
Cumin-great with spicy or Mexican food
Oregano, sage, or parsley-Italian food
Lemon Pepper-meats such as fish or chicken, pasta
Other favorites are paprika, and celery salt (use that sniffer to figure out what to add them to! )

Juice/Sauces:
There are many things you can use that will add flavor to salads or veggies-without adding all the fat. In general we try to eat things that aren't creamy....creamy doesn't always mean fat but a lot of times it does. A few things we enjoy are:
Basalmic Vinegar-delicious mixed with olive oil on salad, or recently we've discovered it's even great by itself!
Lemon/lime juice: Both are great for adding flavor to water, veggies, salad, fish, etc.
Honey-God's sweetener. :) Use on bread, or cook with it in many things such as granola or for making a sauce, particularly Asian sauces. (think sweet and sour)

Produce:
Lastly, there are some things found on the produce aisle that instantly add flavor. The great thing about these is that they can be diced and set to the side for whomever wishes to add it to their dish. That's a great option because then your kids (or hubby!) don't have to eat it if they don't want to but can still enjoy dinner.
Cilantro-Yum! One of my top favorite flavors! Great on tacos and burritoes, soup (such as taco soup), nachos, etc.
Onions-Red tend to be a bit "sweeter" in my opinion, white onions go great with garlic which also instantly adds flavor! Try green onions (scallions) for a quick flavor fix too!

Start eating and enjoy!! (and by all means-glorify God with a treat this week too) ;) -Sara