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Lemon-Fennel Seed Bread and More Spice Remixes

Lemon-Fennel Seed Bread and More Spice Remixes

Description

(On sale this week marked down from $10 to $5 - so your total cost for this week's meals will be even cheaper than stated below!)

Do you often find yourself well past mealtime with no real food in the house, or no idea what to make? Even those of us who cook regularly can fall into not-so-healthy ruts. For everyone who wants to save money on groceries, expand their repertoire, or is simply too busy to plan meals ahead, I create weekly Menu Planning Kits with meal plans, exciting recipes, fun activities or stories, and grocery lists organized by aisle.

This week concludes our month-long exploration of different spices! I think it's really fun to think about how different herbs and spices are similar, and trade them out in unexpected ways. Like, if lemon-poppyseed muffins are great, why not lemon-fennel seed? Fans of previous spice-themed kits will learn even more herein about how different spices influenced these dishes and how they change when we use berbere instead of caraway, za'atar instead of nigella, and asafoetida instead of garlic.

The groceries you will need for this kit cost about $20-$30, depending on your area and season and whether you buy organic - which makes your total food cost for a week's worth of meals (for one person) $30-$40.

Along with your grocery list organized by aisle, and fun activity or story, this kit contains the following recipes:

Lemon-Fennel Seed Bread

I was thinking, if poppyseeds - tiny and kind of tasteless - are so popular in this, what else might we put in to increase the flavor? Fennel seed is naturally sweet and brings a nice minty-anisey taste with it to contest the lemony tartness.

Red Cabbage with Berbere

Berbere is a great North African spice blend with plenty of different flavors going on, from sweet to hot. It kicks this tangy cabbage dish up to match its vibrant color!

Flatbreads with Za'atar

Za'atar, by contrast, is a fabulous and much simpler Middle Eastern spice blend, fusing flavors like sesame seed and oregano to tease your tastebuds. Cheese is optional.

Asafoetida Boxty

"Boxty on the griddle, Boxty in the pan, If you can't make boxty, You'll never get your man...." This rhyme reflects the popularity of this Irish dish. It's a twist on potato pancakes, now flavored with a twist on garlic.

Popcorn with Curry Powder

If you haven't tried it, this golden and savory snack might just knock your socks off! Make your own curry powder, or buy it pre-made - or have a taste-off between different kinds for a real spicexploration.

The photo of fabulous lemon zest is by Dave Lytle on flickr; curry popcorn by Supafly; and lemon bread by Micah Sittig.

Added on Sep 24, 2009