Over my years in the cooking classroom, however, I noticed that many people are a little intimidated by seasoning. And indeed, it can seem really mysterious (“I have no idea what herbs and spices to add”) or even scary (“What if I put in too much or the wrong ones and ruin a dish?”)<\/p>\n
Humans and Flavor<\/strong>\u00a0 But here’s the thing: We humans crave food with flavor and when it’s missing from healthy food we assume that healthy eating is bland and boring. And so we search for flavor in less-than-healthy places (ice cream, cookies, chips and crackers, pizza, etc.<\/p>\n If you’re stuck in bland and boring land, here’s a quick, easy and pretty foolproof flavor solution: spice blends and sauces. They are pre-mixed by flavor experts so you don’t have to worry about creating a good combo.<\/p>\n Case in Point<\/strong> One recent evening I was stumped in the flavor department and was scanning the spice drawer and fridge for inspiration. That’s when I spotted a jar of Jerk Seasoning that my son-in-law had given me at Christmas, and I hadn’t even opened it. Turned out it was a perfect addition to a skillet with onions, garlic, kale and hamburger. But note a couple cautions:<\/p>\n CAUTION 1: Go Slow<\/strong>\u00a0 Oops, I got so excited about this new seasoning that I went a little overboard the first time and had to add some rice to help absorb the extra heat! Moral of the story: When using a new seasoning, go slow the first couple times, until you know how much is right for your tastes.<\/p>\n CAUTION 2:\u00a0 Read the Ingredient Listing<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Unfortunately, as magical as they are, prepared spice blends and sauces can also be repositories for all manner of odd colorings, preservatives, artificial flavors, gums, emulsifiers and other additives. So protect yourself: READ THE INGREDIENT LISTINGS, ALWAYS. Don’t assume that a “natural looking” label ensures the healthfulness of what’s inside.<\/p>\n Here is the listing for my Jerk Seasoning: Scallion, Hot Pepper, Salt, Pimento, Onion, Black Pepper, Nutmeg, Brown Sugar, Citric Acid, Thyme Leaves<\/p>\n Assessing an Ingredient Listing<\/strong>\u00a0 For a packaged product, these ingredients are pretty good. I have all but the citric acid in my pantry. While I would prefer a product without citric acid, it is added as a preservative which is helpful since that means the sauce will last a long time in the fridge. And as preservatives go, citric acid doesn’t trouble me too much after reading this post<\/a>.<\/p>\n When I see sugar in the listing, I check the Nutrition Facts label to see how much has been added. In this case, it is less than 1\/4 tsp. in 1 Tbsp. of sauce, so that doesn\u2019t worry me too much, especially given that very little sauce is needed to fully flavor a dish.<\/p>\n So share with me: How do you feel about seasoning? Leave a comment and share your experiences. Maybe we can devise a solution!<\/em><\/p>\n More Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n The Skillet Method<\/strong>\u00a0 Can I encourage you to experiment with the skillet solution for tasty + healthy meals. Here is the video<\/a> from a class I taught on the Skillet Method. Contact me<\/a> and I can send you the recipe and shopping list, too.<\/p>\n Ingredient Listings<\/strong>\u00a0 For a quick reminder, here is my post on reading ingredient listings, “What Is an Ingredient Listing? How Do You Read One?<\/a>“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People learn I’m in the healthy eating field and assume I must cook all sorts of fabulous meals, all the time. Hardly the case at all! Fully 50% of my meals are simple skillets: Saute an onion and garlic, add some veggies and a protein and serve soup style with broth or atop a whole … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,12],"tags":[871,870],"class_list":["post-6790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipes","category-herbs-spices","tag-healthy-and-delicious-meals","tag-how-to-make-healthy-meals-wtih-flavor","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6790"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6799,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6790\/revisions\/6799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Wyoming-Open-Screen-300x213.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n