You guys know my love for subscription services, and it seems like these days there's a subscription service for everything so it's hard to reign myself in when I want to order one for my craft-beer-loving boyfriend, one for my dog, and approximately 26 for me. Anyway, I recently got the opportunity to try out the subscription from RawSpiceBar, which is a service that sends you 3 packets of unique, small batch spice blends every month as well as recipes to use them in. Each month has a different theme, with spice blends from various different regions or styles of cuisine. Sounds pretty cool, right?

I was so excited to try this, and eager to start cooking as soon as the RawSpiceBar Nordic Spice Box for December 2015* arrived. I mean, I am Scandinavian in heritage, so this was kind of perfect!

Keep reading to take a look at the different spice blends and recipes in this box!

Like I said above, RawSpiceBar is a subscription service that sends subscribers 3 spice blends with accompanying recipes based on a theme every month! This subscription came in a really heavy envelope that included the pamphlet with information about the box as well as the three recipes that accompany the spice blends. One thing to note is that if the recipe that is included in the box isn't to your liking, you can visit their blog for alternate recipes! Each packet contains the correct volume of spices for the recipe, so there's no guesswork involved.

The first spice blend in the box was the Gravlax Spices* and the accompanying recipe is for Nordic Caraway Gravlax, which is a cured salmon. I have to admit that I'm a little intimidated at the thought of making this, so I haven't done this one yet and am considering going with the alternate - Cauliflower Caraway Potato Soup, YUMMY!

Next we have the Winter Herbs* spice blend and the recipe for Potato Herb Gratin. You can bet your ass that I made this one the day after this subscription arrived, because this looked too insanely delicious and winter comforting that I couldn't resist. I followed the recipe to the letter (as I always do the first time I try a recipe, before making some tweaks on the second pass) and I found it was a little bit too heavy on rosemary for me, but still ultimately DELICIOUS.

I mean... Granted, mine doesn't look as good as the picture - but this is why I'm not a food blogger! It tasted pretty damn good though!

The final spice blend is Gingerbread Spices*, which pretty much makes me salivate, and the recipe is for Pepparkakor, or Nordic Ginger Cookies. I also haven't made this recipe yet, but I'm actually planning on whipping up a batch this weekend. (Follow me on Instagram if you'd like to see how they turn out!)

Overall, I think this is an absolutely great idea for a subscription and one that I'm definitely going to keep my eye on. It's $6USD for American customers and there's an added shipping charge for those of us in Canada. Well worth it, I'd say!

If you're interested in signing up, head over to RawSpiceBar! You can check out previous boxes to see some of their previous themes and spice blends and then sign up to try the box out for yourself. Use code SPICEFLAVOR FOR 50% OFF your first box. (Not an affiliate code, just one I found online!)

Thanks for reading!