I used to eat a lot of bagels.  Like a lot.  In high school, our cafeteria was mostly a la carte and you could go in and choose from a variety of things.  There were the hot food entrees that would rotate each day but you could also get things like candy, chips, soda, snacks, cookies, and bagels.  Oh, the bagels.  They were huge and fluffy and a perfect vehicle for cramming more cream cheese into my mouth.  Because I didn’t spread my cream cheese onto my bagel like a normal person.  Oh no.  I would rip chunks off my bagel and dip them into my tub of cream cheese and eat it that way.

I have no idea how I didn’t weigh over 500 lbs in high school.

Anyways, I mostly stuck to plain bagels and got fancy with my cream cheese.  Strawberry one day, veggie the next, and sometimes they had a sour cream and chive version that was to die for.  Plus the cafeteria didn’t really have a ton of choices when it came to the bagels.  And then one of my friends introduced me to Panera bagels and it was game on.  Asiago cheese, cinnamon crunch, french toast…. and just as many amazing cream cheese spreads to go along.  But the one bagel that won my heart was the everything bagel.  I could almost (almost) eat that one without any cream cheese.

I can’t remember that last time I had a bagel or cream cheese for that matter, but I love the flavor of those everything bagels so I make my own spice mix and put it on everything (see what I did there?).  You can put it on homemade bread (it tastes great pressed onto the top of rolls), sprinkle it over vegetables or stir-fry, and chicken and pork taste great if you use it as a crust while pan-searing.

So if you’re an everything bagel fanatic and want to add more of that flavor to your life or you don’t eat bagels anymore but still want that flavor try this simple everything bagel spice mix!

Everything Bagel Spice Mix

• 2 tbsp poppyseeds
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (place in a pan over medium heat and shake until golden)
• 2 tbsp dried minced onion
• 2 tbsp dried minced garlic
• 2 tsp course sea salt (use less if you have a finer grain salt)

1. Place everything into a small bowl or mason jar and shake to combine.  Make sure to keep it stored in a sealed container so it doesn’t go stale