Thank you, Annie, for that tip ... my kid loves almond-cookie, so I will get the almond extract. Thank you, Cloud_Swift, for the info. on Spice House to save money. Thank you, pkramer, for that tip on Rosemary indoor. It died on me last winter. I grew up near Grand Rapids MI. Now I'm in Chicago's suburb, zone 5a, much colder than zone 5b in MI. What I grew in the summer was probably Russian Tarragon ... no smell whatsoever. The right thyme also makes a big difference ... so I make sure that pinch off a leaf to sniff before buying the herb. I'm lucky to have a sage brush that survived zone 5a winters for the past decade. I sun-dried the sage leaves in the fall ... great flavor, no sage-spice can beat. One year I used Organic Spice's Hunter Herbes de Province, that gave good flavor to all my soups. Then I bought some cheap brand recently, and it stank up my entire pot. I bought "Imitation Vanilla" last year, and it had a weird & odd chemical smell, so I threw the whole bottle away. The real vanilla is what matters. A friend gave me Organic Extra virgin Coconut oil Nutiva brand. I used 2 tablespoon of that in making granola. The fresh coconut smell perfumed the entire house, and the granola was absolutely delicious. In contrast, the coconut milk I bought from Trader's Joe, or Oriental Market has this "soapy" flavor from stale coconut, or else it's so loaded with sulfites or potassium sorbate(chemical preservatives) ... that I break out in rash. I quit using coconut milk a long time ago ... so glad to find Nutiva's extra-virgin coconut oil with the most intense, delightful fresh coconut essence. This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Fri, Jan 10, 14 at 23:33

Oh, thanks guys! These are exactly the sorts of ideas I need. Generally, I open my spice cabinet and just get creative, but there are those nights when I'd just as soon eat a PBJ than cook, but have to cook dinner anyway. Then I revert to my mother's typical meal during my childhood, some kind of meat thrown on the broiler or in a pan, boiled potatoes/rice and frozen veggies. Not exciting, but at least decently healthy. An herb-spice mix ready to sprinkle injects at least a bit of flavor. I forgot about Penzey's spice mixes, I'll have to check out a couple. Also forgot all about Bell's Seasoning, which was a staple spice mix in my kitchen when I first moved out as a teen and didn't know much about cooking...I remember it was a great addition to Chicken. And, oddly enough, though I wouldn't think about making a bbq sauce without sugar or some other sweetener, it never occurred to me to add it in a spice rub. Funny the things you just don't think of! Y'all have got me inspired, I think I'll make up a couple of jars of "sprinkles" this afternoon!

I can't say I've never sniffed them, but I do look at them and the label each time they are used. Many of my dried herbs are from my garden, so I check to see if the color has faded (a sign they may need replenished) and the date they were dried, but I don't sniff them each time the container is used. For herbs from my garden, I find the first of the season, as soon as the herbs start to develop in the late winter/early spring, is the best time to harvest them for drying, so many of mine are nearly a year old now. I save the end of the growing season herbs for making herbed vinegars and some I dry and use as teas. And when I have large amounts of them dried, I freeze the bulk amount in vacuum-sealed bags and keep a user-friendly amount in a shaker in the pantry. Penzeys say spices have a much longer shelf-life than the generally touted 6-12-months, especially if you store them in a cool, dark, area, rather than where it's hot. Mine are in a cool, dark pantry, not next to or on top of the stove. And as Penzeys also point out, the intensity of the flavors may diminish over time, and you may need to use more the older they are, but they certainly don't need to be replenished each month!!! Especially the hard seeds like whole nutmegs, allspice, nigella, peppercorns, whole cloves, mustard seed, coriander, etc., which I grind fresh, as needed. Commercial herb blends (Mrs. Dash, Spike, McCormick Salad Supreme, etc.), I'll use, or replace, every year or two. The folks at McCormick offer “to toss or not to toss” guidelines that are more generous as well: •Ground spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric): 2 to 3 years •Herbs (basil, oregano, parsley): 1 to 3 years •Seasoning blends: 1 to 2 years •Whole spices (cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks): 4 years •Seeds: 4 years (except for poppy and sesame seeds, which should be discarded after 2 years) •Extracts: 4 years (except for vanilla, which will last forever) -Grainlady

So, I didn't have enough pecans to do CindyMac's recipe. I found one along the same idea for almonds (which need more toasting) which also had cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, smoked paprika and sesame seeds. I love them, but I think they were too spicy for many of the guests because less of them went. Either that, or they were too dark or something. More than half were left. More for us! I was going to do P_M's cashews but I couldn't find any garam masala and either was blind to it, or forgot to replace after using it up. I loved the idea of Indian with cashews since they're grown there (though they're from Brazil). My eyes hit a giftie bottle of curry powder from Penzey's (for actual curry, I like to toast and grind my own, but do use it in things like chicken salad), and thought of the curry powder that needed using up. So I used the directions, but just the curry powder. It made for a tasty but not pow flavor and those went. So did the dry roasted macadamias. So in the pan with the honey dregs left from the almonds, with a little more oil, I toasted pepitas with a blend of Mexican herbs plus a spoon of epazote. The leftover honey was just enough to make the herbs stick and kind of moisten them. People like those too. I'll do the rosemary another time. I was too tired to go out and pick some. Thanks to all of you for the guidance and recipes and courage! I haven't made any kind of spiced nuts (or seeds) in years and had forgotten all about them. All in all they were a hit!