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!