Time Saving Tip: Home Made Spice Blends

I like to keep my meals simple, healthy, and tasty.  Therefore, I keep a well stocked freezer and pantry filled with wholesome foods: salmon, lean meats and chicken, frozen veggies, and healthy grains such as quinoa, brown rice, and whole wheat breads.  I also cut down meal prep time by creating my own home made spice blends for often cooked meals: grilled chicken with seasoned veggies, chicken fajitas, and lean, slow cooked burrito bowls. 

Two things happened that led me to creating these blends.  First, I compulsively buy spices when I'm at the store "just in case" I'm running out, and ended up with an oversupply of my most often used spices (basil, parsley, thyme, garlic, oregano, cumin). 

Second, I let small things, like taking time to put together a chicken rub or veggie seasoning, become an obstacle from putting together yummy tasting meals.  (Does that make me lazy, or just busy?)  As you probably know, a little seasoning goes a long way with chicken and veggies.  

Thus, the idea of pre-blending my often made spice mixes, was born:

 

The above mix is the veggie seasoning I use most often for green beans but also for peas.  It is equal parts basil, parsley, and thyme.  I add it after sauteing my veggies with olive oil, onion, and garlic: 

 

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I of course prefer fresh herbs whenever possible, especially on veggies.  But when I'm in a pinch to pull together a quick meal and I'm grabbing green beans out of the freezer (my favorite is Trader Joe's frozen haricot vert), I always opt to add seasoning - even if it is dried. 

 

 

 

The spice jars I used here are leftover Market Pantry Target brand jars that I saved when I was done with the spices.  I used leftover chalkboard contact paper to mark each spice blend.  I'm stocking up now on these spice jars because I have big plans to do a little of this after harvesting herbs from my garden this summer:

 

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...and this:

 

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The above herbs - rosemary, thyme, marjoram, savory, basil and lavender - are used to create my FAVORITE blend: Herbs de Provence.  It smells wonderful slow cooking all day with chicken, carrots, red potatoes, pearl onions, and mushrooms.  Just coat chicken breasts with the Herbs de Provence and garlic powder or garlic salt, dredge in flour, and saute until golden brown:

 

 

Then add to the slow cooker with a cup of chicken broth and veggies:

 

 

Cook on low 6 - 8 hours and season with fresh thyme.  So easy and it tastes so good.

 

I created blends for veggies (equal parts basil, parsley, and thyme), chicken (equal parts garlic and paprika),  slow cooked Santa Fe Chicken (via Skinny Taste) burrito bowls (equal parts cumin, garlic and onion powder - I use this one for chili as well and add an equal part of chili powder), fajitas, and taco's.  Stop back by later this week and I will share my fajita recipe (here).  The spice blend for this fajita recipe, which I got from my mom, is honestly the best fajita blend I've ever tasted!

Do you have any spice blends that you think would work well with this idea? Share them here!

 

Also, I'm sharing this little time saving tip with Shauna and her readers over at Satori Design for Living.  She is compiling a post of household time saving tips from several bloggers to share later this week.  You can read the post here.  Be sure to stop by and check it out for more time saving ideas!

 

For those of you reading my blog over email subscription, my feedburner link had some troubles last week and my last post was never sent out.  Check it out here, if you care to see my new mudroom coat hooks and my ideas for my own mudroom makeover:

 

 

If you click on over, you will see that I've updated my blog to include new social media links (more ways to follow me than you will EVER need, but I'm just covering my bases here!!!!!): I've created a Facebook page for Inspired Living as well as links to my Pinterest Boards, Bloglovin, and Google + profile.  I will begin sharing my posts through these pages making it easier to follow along.

 

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Linking at: Clever Chicks Blog Hop / Nifty Thrifty Tuesday / Give me the Goods / Home Stories A to Z / Savvy Southern Style /  Clean and Scentscible / DIY by Design / Stone Gable / The Inspiration Gallery / Inspire Me Please / It's Overflowing