Cooking Baking Eating

I’ve been “bad” lately. We haven’t been eating at home as often as I want to, instead we go out to eat or just eat food that isn’t all that good for us. So as you can expect I haven’t been feeling all that awesome. My system feels all out of sorts and like it needs to be “recharged” or at least take it easy on my digestive tract.

One of my biggest downfalls is Mexican food. I love it. I love the spices, the hot and melty cheese, and salsa. I love salsa. Plus a Mexican restaurant is the best place to have a margarita! Those are also a downfall, but I don’t indulge in those too often.

Since my body needs to be given a little break from all the bad for me food, I’ll have to get my Mexican food fix at home. But the only problem is that I hate bagged spices and that’s what I would use for my spices when cooking at home.

No more!

After I started buying spices in bulk, I would buy a whole bunch of different types of spices and just throw it in a pan with my meat or beans. Each time it would end up different since I wouldn’t use a recipe, I like to just wing it and throw everything in a pan.

I finally wrote it down one day, and I think that now I’ve finally been able to get the recipe figured out to so that it can finally be consistent! (Which is a big deal since the only thing constant about me is my inconsistency, according to mom)

Surprisingly, my little spice jars actually hold a whole bunch! They will actually hold 2/3 of a cup! It is very deceiving. This little mix of spices will just fit in my jars, I have to pack it down a little with a teaspoon but it’ll all fit.

Plus, another benefit to making your own taco seasoning blend is that you can control the salt as well as the heat. This recipe I add salt but mostly because I’m too lazy to salt my meat later, but it is completely optional. It is also very mild, it’s spicey in flavor but not in heat since I didn’t add any cayenne pepper or hot chili powder. Feel free to add some though!

Mexican/Taco Spice Blend
Makes 2/3 cup of spice blend, use 1-2 Tbs per pound of meat. I like it strong on my meat so I’ll use up to 2 Tbs depending on how I’m feeling that night.

• 4 Tbs Chili Powder (I used medium heat, feel free to use hot)
• 2 Tbs Paprika (sweet not smoked, but that could be interesting)
• 2 tsp Granulated Onion
• 2 tsp Granulated Garlic
• 2 tsp Salt (optional)
• 2 tsp Cumin
• 2 tsp Ground Pepper

1. Mix together and store in an air tight container. Use liberally. Add cayenne or other hot pepper to it if you want more heat!