Chronicling the Virtual Food Travels of Alex, Part One

Welcome to another installment of the Eat Your Mailbox Blog! We recently had the good fortune to sample some of the offerings from Just Simply Good Stuff. Their seasonings include the Original Rub, Beyond the Border, Smoky Mesquite Salt, Smoky Jalapeño, and Mediterranean Medley, as well as their signature Chile Chili mixes (available in regular and hot).

JSGS mixes and grinds the blends according to their own recipes to save you the trouble of having to track down individual herbs and spices to combine yourself. Not only are they delicious, but they're also a great time saver when preparing your meals. For the health conscious, many of their products are low salt. They also promise to use all natural herbs, seasonings, and chile powders grown without any pesticides, genetic modification, added coloring or artificial preservatives. Just Simply Good Stuff also offers a number of salt free blends, and none of the products we tried had MSG.

The first dish we decided to make were Hot Wings, using Robin’s Chile Chili Mix Recipe available on the Just Simply Good Stuff website. I took her advice and mixed half of the hot chile chili mix with the regular to make a nice blend of heat that wasn’t too overpowering. The Chile mix comes vacuum sealed, so you don't have to worry about it not being fresh.

The flavor on the wings was fantastic! You’ve probably seen at the supermarket how much of a markup there is comparing fresh chicken wings to frozen buffalo wings. With these mixes you can use fresh poultry of your choice, spice to taste, save money and enjoy a truly superior wing!

Next up was a California favorite, a Beef Tri-Tip roast. For this beast, we decided to go with the Original Rub. Of the many flavors in the rub, the most prominent are onion, garlic, sugar and soy. Together they combined to create an absolutely delicious taste. The unique blend of seasonings perfectly complemented the beef and never seemed salty. We'll definitely be doing this one again!

For our last dish, we slow cooked a pork loin. In this case, we selected Beyond the Border. This rub has a more Southwestern feel to it than the Original Rub, and includes a healthy dose of chile powder. It should be noted the chile powder complements the other flavors very well; it is not so spicy as to overwhelm any of the other ingredients. After many hours on the grill, we were treated to one great pork loin. The rub had combined with the outer layer of pork to form a crispy layer bursting with flavor. We mixed in a little bit of barbeque sauce and found ourselves in Hog Heaven!

While it looks like a lot of seasoning in the photo, we should point out that this was before rubbing it into the loin. It's tough to hold the camera with your hands covered in rub! The Beyond The Border rub can also be used to make a great snack with cheese crackers; follow this link for the recipe.

Just Simply Good Stuff not only lives up to its name, it actually surpasses it. We'd go so far as to call this great stuff! The care that goes into their products is obvious, and combined with the recipes on their website, even a novice can create true culinary delights!

Visit the Just Simply Good Stuff website to see their full selection of outstanding rubs, herbs and spices.