Do you have a favorite spice, herb, or salt you like to cook with? I think I would consider onions and garlic my two favorite seasonings after real salt. When Cory and I were first married, I used highly processed salt, pepper, bay leaves, and cinnamon. That was it. Now my large spice cupboard is overflowing. It has been so fun to learn more about adding these natural flavors to regenerative, pasture raised meats, nutrient dense vegetables and fruits, sprouted nuts, and ancient grains.  I still have a lot to learn, but I look forward to sharing the little bit that I have learned with you.

When we started cutting out our processed foods, I thought that we were going to have to give up the foods that we really enjoyed. I had no idea how to add the right seasonings to make ranch dressing, homemade pizza sauce, Lawry’s season salt, and so on. While I could buy similar products with the “organic” label, I didn’t like most of the seasoning mixes that were on the market at that time, and they all had a few questionable ingredients. Artificial ingredients get added to certified organic products too. It’s important to read the labels. After a little research and a lot of experimenting, (thankfully I have a very forgiving family) we now have several recipes that we enjoy as much or a lot more than our old fake foods.

We started using organic seasonings in our kitchen mainly for the health benefits, but I soon discovered how much more flavor they had. Wow! Have you noticed that too? Organic seasonings are grown more sustainably (which tends to make them higher in vitamins and minerals), not sprayed with chemicals, and never irradiated.

I use fresh or dried garlic and onions daily. Not only can they be used as medicine, they add so much flavor to many dishes. We grow a lot of our own garlic and onions in our wood chip garden, and I still buy a lot of packages of organic onion and garlic powder each year. I used to buy the little organic bottles at the store, until I figured out that I could buy them by the pound and save a lot of money.

I grow walking onions (more about these here) and a few other varieties of onions that we can store. Our garlic is planted in the fall and harvested the following summer. During the garlic harvest I set aside a large amount of my best-looking garlic to plant the next fall. We have a fresh supply of garlic for almost a year. I have found that chopping up fresh onions, laying them on a tray in the freezer for about 30 minutes, then breaking them up and storing them in the freezer works well for storing them. I hope to do some experimenting this year with storing onions in a cool dry place. Have you tried that?

Now that I’m better at counting the cost, I have realized that single use seasoning packets (like taco seasoning) are a lot more expensive than purchasing single spices and herbs in bulk and creating our own truly natural flavors. Buying or raising basic ingredients like high quality meat, milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains, then adding my own touch with seasonings has saved us a lot of money compared to what we used to spend eating out or buying ready-made products. That’s not even taking into account the savings on medical bills and the added energy we have experienced.

Our family has learned to slow down, make careful observations of what heals/damages, decrease modern distractions, take a little more time preparing our food, and most importantly to seek the Lord’s wisdom. It’s a daily struggle, and it never goes perfectly, but we just keep trying to do the best we can. I share these weekly posts to answer so many questions that I have received over the years. It took us many years to get where we are today. If you are wondering how we got to a more traditional, clean, whole foods diet and lifestyle, and would like to take small steps to get there, then you are at the right place. Week one was How We Got Our Salt Better, week 2 was The Power of Water and we learned about removing toxins from our water in week 3, week 4 was Get Your Sleep Better, 5, 6, and 7 were How We Got Our Fats Better, we got our eggs better, we talked about how we got our meats better, and this week I’m sharing how we got our seasonings better. Join us next week for How We Got Our . . . Better.