Wellness Monday: Turmeric

Today's wellness tip is all about Turmeric.  

Found in the spice aisle and it is full of SO many benefits:

You can make a special turmeric tea or even turmeric milk but we just use it in our every day cooking. We have put it in our scrambled eggs before cooking them, added it to rice or our favorite couscous, added it to chicken noodle soup, added it to baked chicken and I could go on and on and on. 

It has a pretty mild flavor when used sparingly (I just sprinkle it in while cooking, I rarely measure, and we have hardly noticed much a flavor from it) and be prepared because it does have a distinct yellow color that will turn your food yellow. That is why we use it in things that tend to have a yellow color. Here is a recipe for baked chicken that was AMAZING and it has turmeric in it: 

Spice Rub for 4 pieces of chicken thighs 

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder (can go down to 1/2)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

2 tablespoons olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a skillet and a 9x5 baking dish)

Directions:

In a shallow dish, stir together all spices and 1 teaspoon salt. Coat chicken thighs with spice mix.

Warm the oil in a skillet and pan-fry chicken thighs, making sure each side is nicely browned.

Transfer chicken thighs to a greased (butter or olive oil) 9x5 baking dish. If you have any remaining spice mix, feel free to sprinkle it over the thighs, as this will reduce to a nice gravy. Put in pre-heated oven at 375 for 45 minutes, or until juices run clear.

Serve with basmati rice or couscous.

Of course I made changes to this recipe. We doubled this recipe, put our chicken thighs in a baking dish. Sprinkled all the seasonings on the chicken and then baked it until the chicken was done all the way through. This was SO yummy!! 

Turmeric is not a basic spice I would keep in my cabinet but after learning about all the benefits you can bet I won't be without it an more. 

If you would like a few more recipes for turmeric click here and check out this link.