The 2018 Spice Calendar

By Kicking Back the Pebbles & Kouzounas Kitchen.

If you have been around a while, you know Kicking Back the Pebbles loves to come together with fellow foodies and companions in blogger-mischief once in a while for all sorts of fun! After the latest cahoots with Krystina Kalapothakos, pastry chef of Kouzounas Kitchen, we’re excited to bring to you our 2018 Spice Calendar. You don’t have to be a foodie (even though it does make the perfect gift for the foodie in your life), nor an expert cook, to appreciate it.

There’s something in it for everyone—for the millennial who lives on pumpkin spice lattes from September to May, for the basic home cook who wants an “oomph” to the typical vegetable soup, for the passionate culinary enthusiast who wants to tweak crème brûlée to oblivion, for the tired student looking to zap a mug-cake in less than 2‘, for your clean-eating obsessed friend in quest of the perfect salad dressing, for the wine connoisseur in search of the perfect shrimp dish for pairings, for your BBQ-loving partner—you name it!!

A unique concept

An 8.5″ X 5.5″ wall calendar that opens up to an 8.5″ X 11″. The actual monthly view is a 2-page spread. We give you one spice-mix or herb-blend recipe per month—seasonally coordinated—and share our “secret” ingredients that will make your homemade blends far more interesting than their store-bought alternatives. Think of some of the most commonly used and loved ones (Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Curry, BBQ, Greek and Italian Seasoning, Herbes de Provence, etc.), jazzed up with ingredients like mace, cardamom, and dried lavender flowers. The spices are featured on the top page, along with a simple date grid. Then, on the bottom page, we provide you with a fun, quick, and easy recipe that utilizes your monthly mix or blend. Keep in mind that most of the (food) recipes are already vegan-vegetarian, low-sodium, cholesterol-free, or they can be easily adapted, with a minimal number of ingredient swaps!

Product details

• Wall calendar
• Covers 12 months, January-December (one month displayed per 2-page spread)
• 24 recipes total (12 unique recipes for spice mixes & herb blends and 12 complementary recipes that utilize them)
• Gregorian dates – Simple grid (no holidays included)
• Size: 8.5″ x 5.5″ (opens to 8.5″ X 11″) – 21.5 x 14 cm (opens to 21.5 X 28 cm)
• Pages: 28 pages (4 cover, 24 inside)
• Saddle-stitched & pre-drilled

All photos are our own (© NestorZ Photography, Kouzounas Kitchen & Kicking Back the Pebbles).

Why make your own spice mixes & herb blends?

Spice mixes and herb blends are an easy and yet fantastic way to add that “oomph” to all your home cooking & baking. By DIYing them in your own kitchen:

✔ You have better control over the quality of your spices and their freshness.
✔ Commercially ground and processed spices—even when in airtight packaging—can lose their pizzazz.
✔ You make sure they don’t contain any hidden ingredients like flavor or aroma additives and preservatives.
✔ You control if and/or how much salt you add.
✔ You get to combine far more interesting ingredients—like mace—than the ones you’d find in a common store-bought blend.