Homemade Condiments

Today I've been taking the time to make my own spice mixtures. Why, you ask? Because I am tired of the commercial products that typically have salt and sugar added to them. I like the convenience of having spice mixs right on hand but I want to control what goes in them. I have a lot of whole spices so it was just a matter of grinding them a bit. I did an Italian, Greek, Mexican, Grilling, Asian Curry, Fish and Poultry and, last but not least, an all purpose blend. Tonight we're going to try the italian blend with Broccoli and cheese on polenta. We'll see how they turn out. It was a lot of fun to create these blends. I hope they taste good!

I'm also making my own Ketchup, Dijon Mustard and BBQ Sauce. It really allows me to control the sodium levels in our diet. I've already made the Dijon Mustard and it tastes way better than the bottled stuff I had in the fridge. So I dumped out my bottled stuff and will use the same jar for my homemade stuff. I'll label it as homemade and date it so I'll know when to toss it if we haven't used it all. It's good for about 6 weeks. I had to make it to go into the BBQ sauce, which I'm doing next. The dijon was easy, just mustard powder, white wine, olive oil, cider vinegar and sugar. Everything but the mustard powder was just small quantities. Very healthy!

So this is what The Gourmet Goddess does on her weekends...