Best Scoop of the Week-A Little Spice is Nice

Happy Friday!! Today puts me one day closer to the blog party!! Woot! woot!! I hope you brought your appetites today. You are gonna need it.

Today's featured blogger spends a lot of time in the kitchen. She is the Rachael Raye of blogland. She has Roasted Lemon Tarragon Chicken to make you drool. She has a salmon dip that is company worthy. She's got a yummy healthy Chicken Stir-fry that will make your tastebuds get up and ask the chef for more. She's got everything from potato soup to Dump. (Dump sounds like something that belongs on a blog called The Scoop on Poop, doesn't it?). Meet Julie from



I'm so excited to have Julie visiting my blog. I love to cook, even have a side cooking blog I haven't updated in awhile (shame shame!), so I'm always game to create something new in the kitchen, and Julie definitely does NOT disappoint.  I just had to ask her "If you could only use one spice for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?"

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When Drama Mama asked me this question, my first thought was, "I really have to pick just one?" How in Hades am I going to do that? Salt seemed like the obvious answer to me, but that kind of felt like a cop out. I mean, is salt even technically a spice?

So I decided to dig a bit deeper into my culinary psyche and think about another spice that always seems to be in my repertoire when I prepare for the daily ritual of stirring, cooking, and tasting. Garlic came to mind (love, love, love the stuff), but when I read up on it, I learned that it's only considered a spice if it's dried; if it's fresh it's a vegetable, and while I do use dried forms of garlic on occasion, I'm much bigger into the fresh variety. Ixnay on the arlicgay.

I was about at the end of my spice rope when it hit me over the head like Bam Bam's club on the Flintstones; Ginger!

Yep, that's right, ginger. I love this stuff. I do use fresh quite a bit, but dry is equally as enticing. You can use it in sweet dishes as well as savory, Asian inspired as well as American. The stuff is versatile, inexpensive and delicious to boot. I've marinated meat with it, created salad dressings using it, eaten it along side sushi (yum!) and made oh so many delicious cakes, breads and cookies with it. I even used ginger when I was pregnant to help with morning sickness. It's also helpful in treating motion sickness and as a cleanser for the body. The stuff has uses for everything.

So if you haven't added ginger to your repertoire of spices yet, be sure to try it out. I promise you won't be disappointed. Thanks so much, Drama Mama, for letting me inhabit your blog for a day. I'm looking forward to guest blogging on Monday and getting to know all you Scoop on Poop ladies and gentlemen a bit better!

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I promise your tastebuds will not be disappointed. Go now and tease your palate with her deliciousness. Come back and tell me what new dish you are dying to fix from her blog. You know you want to.

I participate in Friday Follow. Link up with Tami at Hearts Make Families, Harriet at Harriet and Friends, and Ian at The Daily Dose of Reality  and let the blog hopping begin.