Taco Seasoning

Have you ever been in the middle of cooking Tacos for dinner then realize you forgot the taco seasonings packet? Or your little one accidentally grabbed the packet and spilled the contents everywhere? Well the other day I was cooking dinner while waiting for my husband to come home and I had everything basically ready: the meat browned, the beans warm, the rice cooked (white rice with Cilantro Lime Rotel) and all I needed was my seasonings packet.  I looked in my spice cabinet and low and behold as I flip through all of my packets they are ALL gravy mixes!  That's when I began to freak out and called my husband who was finishing up a job for work and told him he may need to stop at the store, however by that time the meat would probably be overcooked and the rice and beans cold; so I thought let's look online and see if I cannot find a recipe quickly online and get lucky enough to have all the spices needed.  Sure enough I found one at allrecipes.com, and it was a complete lifesaver.  I scrambled through my spice cabinet and found everything I needed:

Ingredients:

• 1 TB Chili Powder
• 1/4 ts Garlic Powder
• 1/4 ts Onion Powder
• 1/4 ts Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/4 ts Dried Oregano
• 1/2 ts Paprika
• 1 1/2 ts Ground Cumin
• 1 ts Sea Salt
• 1 ts Ground Black Pepper

*After reading some of the comments made I decided to add 2 TB of flour in with the rest of the ingredients

Directions (I added the last 4 step; similar to what you find on a package because that made most sense to me):

• Combine all ingredients into a bowl and store in an airtight container (or use)
• Brown, Drain and Rinse 1 Lb Chop Meat
• In the pan add seasoning mixture with 2/3 Cup Water (according to a comment), mix well then add meat
• Bring mixture to boil then reduce heat and simmer for approximately 4 minutes
• Serve

I have used this recipe twice now, once in tacos and the next time in a Velveeta Nacho Bake.  The first time my husband LOVED it, however it was a little too spicy for myself and my 2 year old daughter.  Therefore the second time I decided to decrease the Chili powder, Paprika and Cumin (only slightly) and left out the Crush Red Pepper flakes, even with these changes it still had great flavor. 

I hope that this helps you as much as it helped me. Chances are I will never spend the money on a package of taco seasoning again, and it's a great way to reuse those old baby food jars!
Enjoy!

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog!  Here you will find stories about my life, tutorials for sewing/quilting and fun activities for kiddos. 

My daughter, Brianna, has just turned 2 and she is as fun as can be!  Currenlty we are in the process of Potty Training so I may have a post regarding the trials and tribulations of the Potty Training experience (with managing the TMI, of course).  Some fun activities that I will post tutorials about are things like yesterday we made homemade finger paints together.  I have found some really incredible and fun projects to do with her so I plan of documenting them to share.   

In 2004, I moved to Greeley, Colorado and I graduated from UNC with a Bachelors of Science in Exercise Science: with emphasis in Athletic Training.  After graduating I did sit for the National Certification test, therefore I am nationally certified for Athletic Training.  During the summer I get to spend all week with my wonderful daughter, while over the weekends I work various sports tournaments as an Athletic Trainer. An awesome part of my summer is that I do get to work with my Dad, who is a soccer referee, which I think is pretty cool.  When schooltime hits I work as an Athletic Trainer at a high school, where I still get to spend the better part of my day raising my daughter. 

While living in Greeley, I graduated from UNC, got married (2007), had a little girl and found a great job.  I also picked up sewing/quilting this past year and have loved it!  It started by wanting to find a unique Christmas gift for my daughter, I stumbled across a blanket that was made of old recieving blankets and thought it was amazing. Over the summertime I found lots of old recieving blankets at garage sales so that I could practice before I decided to cut up all of Brianna's blankets.  Then last October my parents purchased a simple sewing machine and I have been on a mission to create wonderful pieces and find new things!  

My whole life I have loved to create things!  Everything from childhood bracelet making, decorating my entire wedding and painting my daughters room.  Sewing and quilting has fit perfectly into my life as well as creating fun projects with my 2 year old daughter.  Getting to create with my daughter, as well as for my daughter, is definitely the most rewarding part of my life, then comes creating gifts for my family including my new nephew and second cousins.   

I hope that you enjoy my blog and come back soon for some fun stuff, tutorials and more!