How It Began

Thanks to my parents, I learned it was okay to draw outside of the lines once in a while. My mom carried this philosophy into the kitchen; she rarely followed recipes exactly. I discovered how fun and healthy it is to cook creatively. A friend once said, "You were organic when organic wasn't cool." Yes, we were. Back in the '70s, I ate honey instead of sugar, carob instead of chocolate, wheat flour instead of white. My mom was a full-time teacher, raised three kids and still found the time, somehow, to feed us healthy foods and teach us how to care for the environment.

When I grew up and went out on my own, I liked replacing regular salt with garlic seasoning in many recipes. I searched for a garlic seasoning that had more than just parsley or oregano added; I came up empty handed. In the late '90s, my best friend and her husband gave me an awesome herb encyclopedia that contained directions on making homemade garlic seasoning. With my Missouri Ozark-made mortar and pestle, I made my first batch of Italian Garlic Seasoning, adding Italian herbs and vegetables.

I gave my salt away every Christmas to my friends and family. One year a friend told me she used her Italian Garlic Seasoning in her homemade salsa recipe. I screamed, "Italian in salsa? No! I should make a batch of Southwestern Garlic Seasoning!" And that's how that flavor began.

As for the other flavors, I took note of the vegetables and spices that are common to certain recipes and then I make garlic seasoning from that information. My German Garlic Seasoning has actual bits of sauerkraut and apples in it -- it makes one heck of a vegetarian (or bacon-filled) red cabbage! I strive to only include organic ingredients -- I am happy to report that all of my garlic seasonings are approaching 100% organic!