Taco Seasoning

When we own a home, I hope it has NO flourescent light fixtures. You know, the kind on the ceilings of office buildings and grocery store? They have the WORST light for photos, I swear.

My camera cannot white balance with these for anything.

Tonight I made chicken tacos and I used my own taco seasoning mix on them. It's such a waste of money to buy the little packets, and if you buy the big containers of it at Costco it's usually stale and old by the time you get to the end. The shelf life for spices is six months! If you mix your own, you can make small batches and you know the ingredients are fresher. It's a bit more economical too, I bet.

Taco Seasoning

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper

Directions
In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.

To season 1 lb of ground meat:

Cook one cup chopped onion and one cup chopped bell pepper over medium heat with a couple teaspoons of oil. Add meat and brown. Sprinkle a tablespoon of taco seasoning (more or less to taste) over browned meat; add 1/4-1/2 cup water and allow to simmer a few minutes. I used this on shredded chicken breasts tonight using this method and it was really good!

Check out my Leaning Tower of 'Tillas:

I made 44 flour tortillas today! Five were eaten with dinner and the remaining ones were separated with pieces of parchment paper into stacks of six then frozen for other meals. Tomorrow I'm going to get on making that bread. :)