Herbs and Spices are a Girl’s Best Friend

I love fettuccine alfredo; it’s one of my favorite foods. Unfortunately, I’m also too lazy to make it myself most of the time, which leaves me with 3 options when I’m really craving it: (1) go out to eat; (2) beg, plead, cajole or otherwise talk my dearie husband into making some for me (he does a fantastic alfredo); or (3) buy a jar of ready-made alfredo sauce. But each of these options comes with these corresponding problems: (1) (a) eating out can get rather expensive rather quickly; (1)(b) we often stay in fairly small towns with a limited selection of eateries, and it can be difficult to find one that serves alfredo; (2) my dearie is as lazy as I am and is usually busier than I am, so it is not easy to convince him to cook (and I feel guilty afterwards); and (3) I don’t like the flavor of the ready-made alfredo-in-a-jar. So what’s a girl to do?

Say hello to the spice rack. Once you’ve become well acquainted with your spice rack and the seasonings contained therein, you can make most grocery store sauces taste far better. My alfredo “recipe” now consists of one small bag of pasta (any kind, we usually do shells, spirals or penne pasta because they hold sauce so well), one jar of sauce purchased at the nearest grocery store, and generous additions of grated parmesan (usually not fresh, but rather the kind in a shaker can), basil and oregano. If I’m feeling particularly ambitious, I’ll add in some cooked chicken or broccoli too. Straight from the jar (with all of the brands I’ve found), the sauce always seems to me to be too bland and too salty at the same time. With additional parmesan, it loses the excess salty taste, and the basil and oregano add the flavor it is missing. Perfection!
This “trick” can also be used to fancy up spaghetti sauce when you don’t have much time or money to spare (and these days, who has either?). I usually buy whatever spaghetti sauce is the cheapest, add in some minced onion (dried), garlic salt -or- garlic powder (not both), and Italian seasoning, then simmer on the stove for about 10 minutes. If you prefer a meat sauce, simply brown some ground beef, turkey, or sausage, drain the grease off of it, add the sauce, and simmer a bit longer, maybe 20 minutes. And if you want to get really fancy with your spaghetti sauce (and have a bit of time), you could also add a can of diced tomatoes (drained) and add a little more time on the simmer. And voila! I have served spaghetti to several finicky (and snobbish) people, and no one has ever guessed that it was sauce from a can!

A few words of caution, however: remember that these herbs and spices are seasonings. Do not add so much that they turn into flavorings. The goal of these additions is to enhance and bring out the flavors of the main ingredients, not to mask them. Also, some seasonings work better with some dishes than others. Use your nose when selecting which herbs and spices to use; if you hold the seasoning near the sauce, you can usually tell by smell whether they will work well together. And if you have a cold or are otherwise in doubt, there are many spice guides online and in cookbooks to give you an idea of which seasonings work well with different types of foods.
Happy experimenting!