Confession: I never throw my spices out. I've been told again and again that spices have a shelf life and that I should dump them after a while, but I am willing to risk it.

If you like your spices fresh and you don't use them very often, you may consider buying single-serving organic spices from TSP Spices. They come in teaspoon sized packets that stay fresh until you open them.

Single serving spices would make a great gift for someone who doesn't cook very often, but wants to get started trying a few different flavors. I'd also love to see some of these make an appearance at restaurants and coffee shops. It would be great to be able to easily add some cinnamon and nutmeg to my hot beverage instead of just pink, blue, or white sweeteners.

Would single serving spices be useful to you? Which ones would you use the most?

The recipes are relatively uncomplicated and primarily use ingredients that can be found at the regular grocery store, as opposed to at specialty markets. Roast Lamb with Mint–Black Pepper Sauce, Curry Leaf Lime Vinaigrette, Pan-fried Black Pepper Shrimp and Mahi mahi Stuffed With Coconut Coriander Chutney are just a few examples of recipes that incorporate Indian ingredients and condiments (which play a big role in Indian food) into more familiar dishes. Author Floyd Cardoz doesn't rely on the food to speak for itself, and takes the time to explain the inspirations for his flavor combinations and the history associated with ingredients at every possible opportunity.

Functional flavors - Beyond green tea and pomegranate there is a whole world of functional food that will become more widely used. Açaí, acerola cherry, red wine and red tea will all step more into the limelight.

More Latin flavors - Chipotle is still popular, as is regional Mexican (from Oaxaca and Jalisco), but new flavors will step up, with more influences from Central and South America.

Sweet and savory- The pairing of salty and sweet (or savory and sweet) really hit a home run with packaged foods last year, but more mainstream restaurants will be offering salted caramels or herb-infused ice creams than in the past.

Expected flavors, unexpected fruits- Why stick with orange when you can use blood orange? The same goes for choosing Meyer lemons, Buddha's hand or other citrus over plan lemon. Twists on popular flavors will make the food seem more exotic, without taking a big risk by radically changing the flavor.

More Spice, Less Heat - Instead of the overt heat of chipotle, ancho, and jalapeño, there will be more Indian and Moroccan spices added to menus, including curry, cumin and cardamom.

Not all appetite suppressants come in pill form. After all, food itself is an appetite suppressant. The trick is not to used hamburgers and macaroni and cheese, but to opt for more filling and less fattening alternatives. Fortunately, it is actually easy to incorporate some of these filling foods into your regular diet without totally changing the way you eat and without giving in to temptation too often.

Registered dietitians recommend high fiber, low fat foods as the best ways to fill up without filling out. Some top choices are:

• Pine nuts -- fatty acids in pine nuts trigger the release cholecystokinin (CKK), a hormone that could help suppress appetite.
• Spicy foods -- can boost your metabolism and "dull your taste buds so you're apt to eat less." On the positive side, the spices will taste great even if whatever you're tempted to eat after doesn't.
• Apples -- high fiber, low calorie. They have more fiber per bite than other fruits and one before a meal can help speed satiety.
• Milk -- the research is still up in the air, but some scientists think that the calcium in dairy can help break down fat.
• Light greens -- cabbage, celery and lettuce (as well as cucumbers) are very low in calories and can be added to most meals or salads to bulk them up.

Gingersnaps are snappy in both name and flavor, even though they are not always as crispy as the name seems to promise that they will be. To honor both types of cookies in our ongoing Christmas Cookie of the Week feature, I have two recipes for gingersnaps: one crisp and one soft.

The crisp cookie is from a recipe that has been circulating around the blogs for about 2 years now and it comes from Chez Panisse, though it was originally posted by Renee of feeding dexygus seconds. The cookies are very thin and each piece of dough is sliced off a frozen brick, so the cookies turn out in an unusual rectangular shape. They are buttery, flavorful and, due to the fact that they are extremely light, they are very addictive.

The second recipe is for chewy, soft gingersnap cookies. I spotted this recipe and was immediately attracted to its simplicity and the fact that it uses part whole wheat flour, since it never hurts to get a couple extra nutrients in during the holidays. The cookies are moist and surprisingly satisfying. I used pearl sugar to finish them off, but you can use any coarse sugar to create a nice, crisp top.

Measuring out spices isn't always easy. Some jars only have little perforations in the lid, allowing you to sprinkle, not pour, and if they are removable, the perforated caps are often so difficult to take off that you end up spilling the spice anyway. Other jars simply have unusually shaped openings that don't allow anything other than the very smallest measuring spoons to get inside to scoop up the desired spice. This neat Auto-measure spice rack fits 8 different spices (they must be transferred into the included bottles) and it automatically dispenses them 1/4 tsp at a time, so you can simply add your spices directly to your mixing bowl without bothering to get out measuring spoons at all. The bottles still do have "pop tops for shaking and pouring," if you feel the need to sprinkle your spices, however. The unit can be easily mounted underneath a cabinet or simply set on the countertop, depending on how your kitchen is set up.

Since the two main elements of Halloween are candy and pumpkins, what could be a better way to start the day off that with a batch of sweet, fall-flavored pumpkin muffins? The only thing that could top these Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Molasses Glaze from What We're Eating would be a batch that was emerging from your oven - as opposed to your computer screen - right now. Fortunately for anyone who wants to get into the seasonal spirit by doing a little baking, Amada included her recipe along with the oh-so-tempting photograph.

The muffins have typical pumpkin muffin/bread ingredients - flour, pumpkin, molasses - with one exception: fresh ginger juice. Instead of simply mincing the ginger or adding candied/crystallised ginger. It seems that the advantage of using the juice is that you get all the flavor from the ginger and it is more evenly distributed throughout the muffin, with no risk of biting down into an unminced bit and disturbing the balance of the pastry. Although, if you're a ginger fan, as I am, it probably wouldn't hurt to toss in a handful of crystallised ginger for good measure.

I have quite a collection of different salts in my spice cabinet due, in no small part, to the general popularity of flaked salts, sea salts and other, more exotic salts from all over the world. At first, I was just following the trend, but as I tried more salts I found that I bought them for their different textures, many of which still come through in a finished dish. I regularly use only a small portion of the salts: Maldon or a pink Australian salt for finishing dishes, kosher or sea salt for cooking and any more finely ground salt, including ordinary table salt, for baking.

The reason I don't use the rest of the salts is that they rarely differ significantly where flavor is concerned. If you're looking for flavor, I'd suggest opting for a salt that is has been purposely flavored. This set from NapaStyle has three different varieties: Sundried Tomato Garlic Gray Salt, Roasted Garlic Gray Salt and Citrus Rosemary Gray Salt. All will add a very impressive flavor-boost to a dish before serving, along with the look and texture of a coarser salt. The grey salt used as a base for the flavors is a sea salt from France that has a light purple-grey color and a slightly moistness to it, which many feel contributes to an increase of flavor during cooking.

Perhaps the best use for these salts, especially if you don't feel like cooking, is as a popcorn seasoning, turning a bag of plain microwave corn into a gourmet snack.

One of the best features of Trader Joe's is that they have a large display promoting their new products. They ususally introduce a few products at a time at intervals of three to four weeks, a small number that would disappear unnoticed into the regular shelves. But thanks to the displays, a regular shopper can tell at a glance if there are any new things that need to be added to the shopping list. This Crushed Ginger is one of their newest products and it only took a second before I decided to put it in my cart.

Typically, when a recipe calls for fresh ginger, it asks for a teaspoon or a tablespoon of minced ginger. With this pre-crushed ginger, I can just measure out exactly how much I need and continue with the recipe, without bothering to peel, mince (with my microplane grater) and then store the leftover portion of a piece of fresh ginger. The jarred stuff will keep for at least several weeks in the fridge once it has been opened.

The drink of choice for curry fans is beer. The mild flavors complement the complex spices and the cold bubbles are refreshing and palate-cleansing, especially if you happen to be eating a spicy dish. Why aren't wines paired with curries, though? One reason is that there is no cultural tradition of wine-drinking in India. The popular line is that they are too heavy-tasting with curries, and either the wine or the dish itself ends up being too acidic to make a pleasurable combination.

The truth of the matter is that some wines don't go with curries and the reason turns out to be tannins. High tannin wines taste harsh and bitter with chilies and some spices, so selecting light, low-tannin wines will help you to make a better match with a curry. Suggestions include gewürztraminer, zinfandel, merlot and rosé, opting for fruitier flavors to counteract any potential bitterness. Choose a sparkling wine if you crave the palate-cleansing sensation of carbonation.

I love to use vanilla when I bake. It mellows some flavors and brings others out, not to mention that it adds a wonderful flavor of its own. I have many kinds of vanilla, including extracts, beans, powders and sugars.

One of my favorite types of vanilla is vanilla bean paste, which is a mixture of vanilla beans with a little sugar, water and a thickening agent. It can be used interchangeably with vanilla extract, but it gives the look of having used a real vanilla bean and seems to add an even stronger flavor. It is perfect for custards, puddings, ice cream and even plain vanilla cakes, where you really get to showcase the little flecks of vanilla bean.

I have had difficulty finding vanilla paste in nearby stores lately, but I came across a similar product: Sonoma Syrup Co.'s Vanilla Bean Crush. This is vanilla extract that has the vanilla seeds reserved and added back into the finished product. With a quick shake of the bottle before using, you get some of those tiny, lovely seeds into whatever you're making. It isn't quite as strong as vanilla paste, but it is much nicer than some generic vanillas that I have had recently. Unfortunately, it's not much easier to find than the vanilla paste, but since the bottle is quite large, it will probably last for some time.

The vanilla crush is $17 for 8-oz. and the vanilla paste is $12 for 4-oz. Both are worth every penny.

Chipotle chiles are not a unique chile, but are actually dried, smoked jalapeno chiles. They are dark brown and wrinkly, in sharp contrast to the glossy look of fresh chiles, but have a wonderfully rich flavor. Most of the heat of the jalapeno is retained when the chile is dried, so chipotles are fairly spicy, falling in the middle ranges of the heat scale. They have smoky overtones, but the real flavor of the chiles is complex and earthy. Instead of causing a sharp and immediate heat, the heat grows gradually as you eat it and takes time to fade away.

In truth, most kinds of chilies can be smoke-dried and sometimes they are all called "chipotle" no matter what they started out as, but the vast majority of the chipotle chiles on the market were originally jalapenos.

We love salt and pepper shakers of all kinds here - after all, what would food be without seasonings? It would be boring. And while it doesn't hurt to have an interesting set of shakers on the table, there is such a thing as having ones that are too interesting. Creepy, even. These chicken feet salt and pepper shakers let you "shake a leg" in seasoning your food, but they still look like chicken feet and they might be disconcerting to see on the table. They're also $50 per pair, and at that price, I'd rather spend the money on some expensive salt than ceramic feet.