What Spices Are You Cooking with Often? What Is Your Favorite Kitchen Utensil?

Chicken broth! I love cooking with chicken broth, it really flavors everything nicely. I use it when I cook veggies, pasta, rice. And if I am sick of plain old grilled chicken I will make a sauce with chicken broth, lemon and white wine. YUMMY

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herbes de provence or fines herbes......yum, it goes great with things that have egg, or tomatoes as the main source, I make my own chili powder, buy the expensive paprika(totally worth it) and i LOVE love love garam masala and coriander together.

My favorite tool is always changing, i really like my emulsifier, makes making hot sauce,soup, pie, you name it, a cinch. I recently ordered a mandolin slicer, i am looking forward to the ways im going to use it. It slices VERY thin, im thinking i will put paper thin slices of zucchini on my veggie burger, paper thin carrots on my salad, and paper thin potatoes baked onto pizza.

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I love power tools for the kitchen (I love them in the garden too - love my small electric chain saw!!!). Love my food processor - does stuff so much more quickly than I can by hand, love my electric carving knife too. coffee grinder can grind up spices easily.

Spices: - more herbs really - I like fresh basil from the garden - it grows like a weed then I'l make pesto (in my food processor) and freeze it to have over the winter - yumm. I love fresh cilantro (freeze what you don't use - it loses it's flavor when dried) - you can chop up a few onions, tomatoes and mango, peaches, any other kind of fruit and instantly have something to put on grilled fish or chicken. And I love dill to add to asparagus, potato salad, grilled veggies.

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Fresh basil and thyme (dried or fresh). As for what I couldn't live without...hmmm. I love my butcher block: http://www.amazon.com/Paula-Deen-Signature-Chopping-Natur... I use mine only for foods that are ok eaten raw. Squirt with white vinegar and wipe when done and that's it for clean up. I put a safe wood oil on it when I remember to keep it looking good.

I leave it out all the time. It's really heavy so you can't lift it to put the ingredients into the pot/bowl so you'll need one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Rachael-Ray-Scrape-Shovel-Orange/dp...

I also love love love my food processor. I no longer buy shredded cheeses. Did you know that it has a wax coating on it so it won't stick together? eeeew. I make my own marinara in it and I've even made a few doughs and potato gratin. Hubby has a veg. garden so I'm sure I'll use it even more once we need to process vegs for the winter. I had a cheap one before that broke and decided to get a better one with a good motor this time and I'm happy that I spent a little more to get something that really works well.

And of course a good knife and knife sharpener :)

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The trick is to keep it simple if you don't really enjoy cooking. I love to cook, but for a long time I didn't have a good kitchen workspace so cooking was more frustrating than productive. I totally understand your pain! :)

Have you seen the McCormick Recipe Inspirations? It's a recipe card sold with the spices you need for that dish. It's a great way to get introduced to new spices.
http://www.mccormick.com/Products/Recipe-Inspirations.aspx

I love using cumin, curry, cayenne, coriander, garlic (minced or powdered), sea salt, and I also love using dried and fresh herbs. Herbs are a great way to make a dish something special without much fuss.

As for gadgets, I really, really want a mini food chopper! I make fresh salsa all summer long and a food chopper would make it so much easier.

My favorite kitchen gadgets are my KitchenAid mixer and my garlic press.

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I love Dried/Fresh Basil and Thyme and Parsley and Garlic Powder (Not salt). All of those are so easy to grow on a windowsill in your house too. I also sell Pampered Chef so I use a lot of their pantry spices and I love their tools. My favorite 'tool' is my big batter bowl - may sound silly but of all the bowls I have that is the one I grab. Mrs. Dash is excellent because they are salt free. #1 though - You must have a great knife that you are comfortable with because it's essential. Message me if you're interested. Good luck - I would cook constantly if someone would clean up for me :)

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I am in love with garlic, and my my favorite kitchen utensil are my mini food processor and also my garlic press. I use my food processor to chop onions for my meat loaf to save my hands and eyes because I am super sensitive. I also use it to whip up quick guacamole and fresh salsa in the summer. One of my favorite spices is tarragon, it is Heavenly on asparagus.

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Lemon pepper is great on chicken, green beans, asparagus. Celery salt is good on eggs.

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A Butterfuly,

I know you're already received a lot of great responses, but I wanted to add my two cents as well.

My favorite utensil is my new chef's knife made by Wusthof. A good knife makes chopping, dicing, and general cutting so much faster and easier in the kitchen.

There is a great kitchen supply store at the Summerset Collections and I was able to try a large assortment of knives to see which worked best for me. The staff was very helpful and the prices were not too expensive.

As for spices, in the winter I use a lot of: basil, oregano, thyme, cumin, and curry.
In the summer I use a lot of: basil, thyme, rosemary, and tarragon.

C. J.

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My spice cabinet is full of things I use regularly, but most often, hands down, is kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

My favorite kitchen utensil is our Rosle garlic press.

Love to keep it simple!

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I love Trader Joe's 21-Seasoning Salute as well as cinnamon & nutmeg. Along with fresh-ground pepper, I use those things the most.

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I use cumin a lot as well, it goes well in hummus, chili, all sorts of soups such as carrot or butternut squash soups), enchiladas etc. I also like curry powder. My mother in law makes chicken salad with curry powder mixed in and it is really good. Sometimes I will mix it in with tuna and add some chopped onion, celery and apples to put in salad or sandwiches.
I could not live without my food processor! You can use it for: chopping fruits and veggies, pureeing soups, mixing cookie dough, bread dough, pie crust, making smoothies... Good luck!

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Where do I begin!?

Cumin, Curry, Oregano, Red Pepper, Fresh Garlic, Fresh Rosemary, Fennel, it goes on and on!

I love my whisk to make gravies and sauces. I love my food processor, micro-plain, silicone cutting board, and I couldn't live without my coffee pot!

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I use a lot of cumin in my cooking. We favor the SW flavors quite a bit and cumin is good for that. My favorite kitchen utensil would be...maybe my stick blender. I've been making salad dressing and also hummus lately with that. Have fun cooking!

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Big mid to heavy bottom stock pot amd a mesh seive. I make all my own stock. Freeze in different size containers. Large ones for soups, small cups size ones when I just need a bit. I rarely need to get stock.

For me I use alot of garlic and I love cilantro.

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Ok as far as spices, I honestly can't think of one that I don't use. My favorites are garlic, italian seasoning,Parsley (a must in almost everything), thyme, oregano, and McCormicks has a few new spice blend they are to die for. My son ( he loves to cook too) takes a lot of spices out of the cabinet things you wouldn't normally put together puts them in his spice jar and makes his own thing. We aren't real good at following recipes we cook to our taste. Basically it is trail and error, start with a little and taste and go from there.

Kitchen gadget by far is the coffee pot but as far as tools, I love my wooden spoons and crock pots.

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I love the Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic! I also use parsley, italian seasoning mix, dill, and garlic salt on a regular basis.

I love my rubber coated wisk and kitchen scissors. I use them both daily.

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