Atkins, South Beach Diet...
How many steaks or flaccid, boneless chicken breasts can one eat?!?
Same old protein, and your food is becoming a bore. You come home from work, stare at that slab of beef and wonder what can be done to brighten the flavor of your food - without adding volumes of carbohydrates.
Voila, spice blends!
Voila, spice blends!
These little wonders of mother nature are at hand and contain little, if any, carbohydrates. Just shake them on to your hackneyed chicken breast or limp fish fillet. And yes Virginia, it is that simple, shake and bake.
Along with the natural health benefits that so many spices and herbs offer (like cinnamon helping out your blood sugar level or turmeric's use as a mild digestive) you can note that the carbohydrate count is miniscule.
Consider that 1 Tablespoon of:
Chili Powder has 24 calories,
1 g fat, 4 g carbohydrates, 0 cholesterol.
Dried Basil has 11 calories, trace fat, 3 g carbohydrates, 0 cholesterol.
Ground Cinnamon has 18 calories, trace fat, 5 g carbohydrates, 0 cholesterol.
Garlic Powder has 28 calories, trace fat, 6 g carbohydrates, 0 cholesterol.
Ground Turmeric has 24 calories, 1 g fat, 4 g carbohydrates, 0 cholesterol.
Creative, unusual spice and herb blends are now available in every cuisine profile that you can think of - from Mc Cormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning and Old Bay to Vanns Spices' Cancun Rub, Caribbe Rub or Sonoma Seasoning.
There is such a selection of spice blends on the market, that the consumer can have a different flavor for each day of the month, and all-in-all, a spice blend is a tiny investment for a new taste sensation.
Be daring; blend blends. In a recent gustatory experiment the Thai Rub, Peking Rub, Garlic Powder and Fleur de Sel Sea Salt were rubbed on a pork loin roast. The result was titillating the olfactory senses before the roast hit the dinner plates. Proof was my husband who was up and out of the basement prancing back and forth waiting for the roast to exit the oven.
The additional 10 minutes for the roast to rest had him with fork and knife in hand like a race car driver waiting for the starter flag to come down.
Once you have purchased your rubs, open them and smell them - then taste them straight, experiment. And while you're at it, check your old stock of ground spices, if there is no aroma, throw them out and get a fresh bottle.
Don't fool yourself by thinking that the aroma is a small part of the satisfaction of a meal - it is a large portion of how and why we savor our food.
Remember how bland your food tastes when you have a head cold? That's because you can't smell it. The tongue alone can only distinguish the flavors of salt, bitter, sweet, sour and umami.
So when you get ready to serve meat, pork, seafood or poultry - sprinkle a little more of the rub on at the very end to heighten the olfactory enjoyment.
Using spice blends is certainly not rocket science. They'll work wonders whether you're cooking in your conventional oven or playing BBQ maven at the outdoor grill.
Don't be timid; have fun with them. Mix the blends with fresh herbs for a double whammy.
Spices, spice and herb blends are the light at the end of the Low-Carb tunnel.
- Dara Bunjon
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