It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me well is that I got really sick after Eric died. Had a lot of different surgeries and have had a very bumpy ride on the road to recovery. Because of that I have not been doing as much cooking as I would like. My kitchen and pots have become lonely.
Today I was experimenting with a sugar free, grain free zucchini breakfast bar. Both my cinnamon and baking powder were expired. I went ahead and tried my experiment anyway. Yes, it does need both cinnamon and baking powder. Those are now on my shopping list.
That is not where I was going with this blog post. I decided to look at all the spices in jars and bottles in my spice rack. Any thing from a store no longer in business is leaving. Any store that I have not shopped at for 2 years is going. Anything past its expiration date is going. So all totaled I have 49 jars and bottles leaving the kitchen this morning.
The liquids have to be emptied and the bottles rinsed out, then sorted between recycling and trash. The jars have to opened and emptied, the jars being sorted between recycling and trash. I figured it will take me an hour to do all of this. I will only add more spices as needed. Not everything will be replaced. For instance, take spices that are used for beef, since I no longer eat beef, except for the occasional bite, the spices will not be replaced. Since we are not using the barbecue anymore, those spices will not be replaced. Yes, the barbecue died while I was sick and since we don’t grill steaks anymore, it is not high on the shopping list.
My challenge to you my readers is to check your spice racks before the holidays. Check for all those expiration dates. Spices don’t last forever. Fresh spices mean a better quality product.
The bonus is that I have 1/2 of an empty shelf in the highly prized prime kitchen area open. I am sure that if will be filled up in no time.
These are all the jars and bottles leaving the house today.
