1) Garlic Powder - No, not in the spice mix, but yes in the tomato puree mix.
solarsplace,
the yes and no can often be quite interesting. i add all "spice & related stuff" at the same time and intially could see no difference in the 2 approaches.
on refelection i'm not so sure. i've tried adding garlic in a few ways to tom puree without success. i've not tried dry - hence i will give it a go.
the reason for the extra thought is that i've been working on my tom sauce for pizza and now make it approx 3 days in advance. it's quite surprising how much taste the tom puree can take on in this time. i've tried it with herbs and garlic.
i know it's probably "fine" tuning but as i'm sure we are all aware those little bits or tweaks can collectively make quite a difference.