Welcome to baking season everyone! Get your kitchens ready and check to see if your spice rack is fresh and ready for Christmas cookie afternoons and gingerbread house making. I recently was given a fresh set of seasonal spices from Simply Organic in connection to my partnership with Stonyfield Clean Plate Club and you can win your own set too!
Did you know the shelf life of spices is around six months? Buying your spices in bulk is not a great investment as they will lose their pungency if they are sitting on a shelf. Did you also know you should keep your spices away from the stove? While convenient, the heat will make your spices break down even faster.
We keep our spices in a drawer, organized in small plastic trays. One is specifically for baking spices (nutmeg, ginger, ground cloves) and others are specific to green herbs (parsley, basil, sage, rosemary) and the others end up in two other trays depending on the season. Grilling ones are in back now and the slow cooking spices are in front. If you need some other spice organization ideas you can check out my Pinterest board.
With all the holiday parties we are attending lately, it’s a healthy idea to offer to bring a fruit appetizer. Young kids often will nosh on fruit just as much as the cookies. For a recent party, I shared a apple Christmas tree platter along with a sweet yogurt dip. I used the Simply Organic Ground Cinnamon in the dip. Mix it in and then sprinkle another dash on top. {Our “dash” was a little heavy handed as Madison did the honors.}
RECIPE
1 cup Stonyfield Greek Yogurt (vanilla or plain)
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix all ingredients together and serve with fruit. The star is made from cheddar cheese and this star cookie cutter. I also have some lemon juice in a mister bottle and give the fruit a light spray to avoid browning.
Ready to update your spice assortment?! Here’s a giveaway from Simply Organic and you can win this entire set of seasonal organic spices. There is a great mix of both savory and sweet spices for dessert or dinner. One other favorite detail I like in their product is the spices are stored in glass. (I read awhile back that their is BPA in some plastic spice jars and it leaches into your spices. yuck!) Contest is open to US residents only and ends 12/13 at midnight. Enter through the Rafflecopter below.
Disclosure: I am a Stonyfield Clean Plate club member and receive samples of yogurt and the spices to help facilitate writing this post. Otherwise it’s not a compensated post. All opinions shared here are my own.
