Dieting secret. And I'm not even going to charge you for this knowledge.

I have a secret to share with all of you dieting people. If you're like me, you have certain foods that are your enemy. Carbs are my enemy. Salty crunchy foods are my enemy. And sweets. Not sweets as in candy, but sweets as in donuts, pastries, pie...anything that can be fruity and flaky and chocolaty and overall tasty as all get go.

Mateo goes on fruit kicks where he likes something and then decides he doesn't. I'm sure all kids do this with food. He was on a banana kick months ago, so like a good mom, I always have bananas around for him. And because he's not on a banana kick right now, the bananas usually go to the wayside and I end up throwing them away. I do attempt to eat the bananas myself, but usually, by the time I get one to work, the banana is all bruised up and smooshed. I need a better lunch bag.

So yesterday I decided I would make banana bread, a bread I've made more times than I can count. We had six bananas almost ready to be chucked, so I decided to make two loaves: one for now, one for later. Brilliant!

I was following a very simple recipe that only called for flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, bananas and eggs. I decided to wing it and mix some cinnamon in the batter as well.

Being the super "let's not waste time gathering one item at a time" type of gal, I grabbed all the things I needed and brought them to the counter. Trader Joe's has a very distinctive bottle and label for their spices, so I grabbed the bottle of cinnamon without really looking along with the baking soda and salt.

I put all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, grabbed the cinnamon, which was the last thing I needed to put in. Since I was putting it in myself and it wasn't part of the recipe, I just took off the top and poured in some. Cinnamon is usually pretty dry and loose, but the stuff I was putting in the bowl was sort of moist. Then a weird smell hit my nose. I grabbed the bottle and read the label.

Cumin.

Now, I like cumin. I'm a big fan of cumin. I think it makes meals quite tasty when called for. But in banana bread? I just wasn't sure about that.

I tried to get as much out as I could and then dumped in a whole mess of cinnamon.

And hoped for the best.

I actually forgot what I did when I cut slices of the bread for my husband and I, but then the distinct smell of cumin hit my nose. And if I could smell it when I was simply cutting the bread? Yeah, that meant I was going to taste it as well.

I tried some, found it wasn't that bad (but not that great), and thought, well, I'll see what the husband has to say about this.

"How do you like the bread?" I asked.

"Oh, I haven't had it yet - just the ice cream," he told me.

"Oh, okay," I said.

He took a bite.

"So? What do you think? Does it taste normal?" I asked.

"No, not really. What'd you put in it? Peanut butter?" he replied.

"No," I said. "I thought I was grabbing cinnamon, but I grabbed cumin instead."

"Oh," my husband said.

And I think it was then that he probably decided he didn't care for the bread, just like I did when after every bite all I tasted was a slight hint of cumin.

So that's my diet secret. If you make baked goods, add some random savory spice to whatever you're making and then you won't want to eat all of what you made. In fact, after tasting what you made with the savory spice, it may turn you off from that particular item forever. Because now, every time I think of banana bread, I think of tacos.