Janet Johnston makes it on the Food Network with new spice show

Janet Johnston had a typical suburban upbringing.

She grew up on tree-lined Nottingham Lane in Hoffman Estates with her parents and three siblings. Her mother worked as a substitute teacher at the school they attended and put a hot meal on the table every night with spaghetti and meatballs and meatloaf in heavy rotation.

Janet (Chambers back then) tinkered in the kitchen with baking - chocolate chip cookies were her fave - and pursued art and photography after graduating from Hoffman Estates High School. After getting a degree at Columbia College in Chicago she landed a job in Internet marketing.

Yet somehow Janet landed a show on the Food Network. You may have spotted her last week on the premier episode of "Spicy & Easy." The show airs at 8:30 a.m. Saturdays.

Janet credits her husband, Mike, for awakening her love of cooking and her passion for spices.

"I distinctly remember the first time he cooked for me. He made stuffed peppers with this rice mixture in them and made this thing (the pepper shell) look like a bird," Janet says. "It was our second or third real date."

Turns out Mike worked in a local spice shop and had a dream to open his own. A few years later the newlyweds headed to Denver and in 2004 they opened the Savory Spice Shop in Denver's trendy LoDo neighborhood.

"I was very happy putting on my apron and being a little shop keeper," Janet says, "but I knew Mike had higher aspirations."

After the second shop opened it attracted the attention of Gina and Patrick Neely and was featured on their "Road Tasted" show on Food Network.

"Gordon Elliot (another Food Network host) happened to be on the shoot that day; we were making our spice blends, working in the grinding room," Janet says, "and Gordon asked if I'd ever done TV. We were flattered, but never thought they would call."

The network did call and a short time later the Johnstons appeared with Paula Deen on "Paula's Best Dishes" and with the Neelys on "Down Home with the Neelys."

And then they started talked about their own show, a show designed to "take the intimidation out of spices," Janet says. "Showing people how to infuse spices into everyday cooking.

"Even now I can't believe it is happening."

Janet say video crews capture her (Mike stays behind the scenes) in the Boulder, Colo. shop and in her home kitchen as she introduces cooks to a world of spices and shares recipes for using spices in daily meals.

"I feel like I'm hanging with my friends in the kitchen chatting it up," she says.

She wants "Spice and Easy" will encourage cooks to discover new ways to change up their meals.

"The biggest mistake people make is to count out certain spices before they even start cooking," she says.

Juniper berries, for example, are more widely available than they were 10 years ago and add wonderful flavor to glazes for game and other hearty meats.

Her current favorite spice is a highly aromatic blend called Chinese Five-Spice Powder.

"When he blend it in the grinding room my toes don't touch the ground," she says. "It can go sweet or savory. It's great on fatty meats like duck and gives a twist to baked goods."

The future of Savory Spice Shop looks bright; they've recently opened a fourth location and franchised another in California. The future of "Spice & Easy" is less clear.

"We need people to watch; we need great feedback," she says. "I hope to do more. I have to much more to share."