Another Edition of Recipe Substitutions

There always seems to be a time when I want to make something and what I need is not in the house. I have had 2 other posts with common substitutions, I want to do another one with spices and herbs. I hope it helps you sometime when you don't feel like going out to the store.

Spices:

Aniseed~~~Fennel seed or a few drops anise extract
Cardamom~~~Ginger
Chili Powder~~~dash bottled hot pepper sauce plus a combination of oregano and cumin

Cinnamon~~~Nutmeg or allspice(use only 1/4 of the amount)
Cloves~~~Allspice, cinnamon or nutmeg
Cumin~~~chili powder
Ginger~~~allspice, cinnamon, mace or nutmeg
Nutmeg~~~cinnamon, ginger or mace
Saffron~~~dash turmeric(for color)

Herbs:

Basil~~~Oregano or Thyme

Chervil~~~Tarragon or Parsley

Chive~~~green onion, onion or leek

Cilantro~~~Parsley

Marjoram~~~Basil, Thyme or Savory

Oregano~~~Thyme or Basil

Rosemary~~~Thyme, Taragon or Savory

Tarragon~~~Chervil, dash fennilseed or dash aniseseed

Thyme~~~Basil, Oregano, Marjoram or Savory

Have a great week. Anne

Grilled Potatoes Greek Style

This is a great recipe to go with the Pork Souvlaki recipe I recently posted. I know that there are many versions of grilled potato packets for the grill. My daughter and I love greek food and love feta cheese. If you do also, please give this a try.
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Serves 4
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8 or 10 small red skinned potatoes, washed and cut into thick slices, leaving the skin on
1 small onion, sliced thin
3 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
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Mix together all the ingredients and set aside. Take a large piece of foil and put the mixture right down the middle. Carefully seal all sides and then I take another sheet of foil and wrap it again, so that nothing leaks out to flare up the grill. You can place the packet on the grates or right into a campfire or charcoal grill. It takes about 30-45 minutes, you can, with an oven mitt on, pinch the potato and tell if it is soft. Be sure to turn the packet over about every 10 minutes while its cooking so that it cooks evenly. It is very hot and steamed when you open it, be careful.

Spice Garden

I decided to try growing a spice garden on my kitchen window, it gets some good sun. I am a big fan of Gordon Ramsay and he inspired me to use fresh spices. I started about a week ago with seeds for basil, oregano, parsley, also a tomato plant and strawberries. Target has a great dollar section and I found a lot of what I needed there. I haven't always had a green thumb in the past so I didn't want to spend too much to start. The basil came up fast and is doing well followed by the parsley and oregano. I have a nice tomato plant going but the strawberries are just barely there. So the race is on, in first place, basil, oregano, parsley, tomato, strawberry. I will update weekly. I hope they don't crap out on me lol. Wish me luck.

Does anyone have a spice garden?