Last year, I organized my pantry.  In order to enable my organizing addiction even further, my sweet husband bought me this wonderful new spice rack from the Container Store for Christmas.  It goes into a drawer in the kitchen, making it more accessible when I’m cooking.

So, I picked my favorite 12 spices.  Surprisingly, the pre-made labels that came in the box didn’t include Cayenne, which I use in almost all of my favorite recipes.  However, they did include some blank ones, so it was an easy fix.  As I looked at all the spices I chose, I couldn’t help but wonder what those spices said about me.  Perhaps that I really love a nice spicy dinner with a cinnamon treat afterwards?  Or the fact that I love soups (since most of these spices would go into any soup pretty well).  Both are pretty accurate statements.

The rack fit perfectly in my drawer.  From what I’ve read, spices aren’t supposed to be stored next to the oven, so I put them two drawers over from the oven with my Ziploc bags, aluminum foil and parchment paper.

Since I now have 12 of my spices in my actual kitchen, it made more room in the pantry for the random spices Michael or I use during different seasons.  They used to be on a rack made for cans on their sides, where I couldn’t tell what I had or what I needed.  Now, I’m one step closer to a more organized kitchen/pantry!

How do you store your spices?  What do your top twelve spices say about you?