Spice Up your Life! - Guest Post

Oh, do I have a treat for you today!  Karla Walsh from Healthful Bites is stopping by.  Karla is hands-down my favorite Twitter friend.  We first bonded over our love for all things Bob Harper and our shared commitment to VCRs in a post-DVR world. On paper, it may seem like I wouldn’t have much in common with this cool city girl with a cool city journalist job in the coolest city ever (NYC), but that’s where NSYNC, Clueless, and The Help come in.  Oh!  And of course nutrition and healthful living.  Karla studied kinesiology and really knows her fitness stuff.  Her blog features informative easy-to-follow fitness videos as well as helpful nutrition tips and reviews on yummy nutritious products. 

Today she is sharing her tips for a tasty spice mix. {Jill Marie}

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Hi OrderUpOrg fans! First of all, thanks so much to Jill for the opportunity to guest post while she’s globetrotting. I’ve been a longtime reader and have learned countless tricks for making my first “grown up” apartment more organized and homey.

Today’s topic is inspired by my attempts to use that apartment (especially the kitchen) more.  As a young professional in New York City, it is all too easy to convince myself that I’m too busy to cook, groceries are just as pricey as dining out, etc. In an effort to make my homemade meals more exciting, I decided to dust off my favorite kitchen staple: my “house spice blend!”

Since my work and home life often revolves heavily around wellness, I have to point out a couple of the health-promoting properties of spices:

• Red chili pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper and other “hot” spices contain capsaicin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has been shown to lower cancer risk.
• Including some spice in a fatty dish can help counteract the usual post-meal spike in triglycerides (a fat found in blood that can increase your heart attack risk if too high), according to a recent study.

And since I’m a sucker for holidays—the wackier the better—“More Herbs, Less Salt” day falls on August 29. So why not celebrate the late August event by adding some herbs or spices to your meals?

My house mix:
    •    1 tsp. paprika
    •    1 tsp. cumin
    •    1 tsp. chili powder
    •    ½ tsp. black pepper
    •    ½ tsp. sea salt

This tastes amazing sprinkled on baked sweet potato fries, roasted veggies and grilled meat. I also just tried it on some basic veggie kebabs and the results were fantastic!

So I’d love to know: If you like it hot, what are the mainstays on your spice rack? And what are your go-to spicy recipes?