Homemade Taco Seasoning

I hope every one had a safe and happy Halloween!

Now that it has passed, I can start gearing up for the Holidays! ( Or I can publicly start gearing up for the holidays without getting strange looks from people 😀 )

Last few days,  have been stressful enough, without throwing in the holidays! Ha!

One such stressful event happened on Saturday morning. Mr. Ginge and I planned to head down to the market for the last weekend before it closes for the season. We were meeting our neighbors and were going to head down. We we get to our neighbors house, I absentmindedly adjust my left hand ring, only to discover that is wasn’t there. My other rings that I normally wear were on my hand, so there would be no reason why my engagement ring would not be on. Instantly my heart sank. It was like a punch straight to the gut. The ring had slipped off and I had no idea where or even how long it had been missing.

So part of Saturday morning was spend crawling around on the ground , retracing my steps, trying to find my ring that could have been lost anywhere in the house, or some where between the house and our neighbors a block away. Let’s just say, you don’t really realize how much of a distance it really is until you are looking for something smaller than a quarter.   Mr. Ginge was about to send me to buy a metal detector in order to find it.

Fortunately, it was found where it has slipped off when I grabbed my shoes. It is now and secure at the jewelery store, getting sized down two sizes (no wonder it slipped off) so that we hopefully don’t have to go through this again! 

For stressful days, one of our go- to recipes are tacos. They are quick, easy, and we almost always have the fixings on hand to throw together.  Including this homemade seasoning. I like it better than the packaged stuff and it is so easily customize to your own tastes. It’s  also great as a rub on meats or fish, and I have even been known to throw it in a pot of chili in a pinch.

Homemade Taco Seasoning:

This makes about 1/2 a cup of seasoning, but is easily doubled.

• 1/4 cup of chili powder
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp garlic powder ( or garlic salt if you prefer
• 2tsbp chipotle powder ( or smoked paprika if you don’t want it spicy)

1. Dump all of the spices into an airtight container.
2. Close the lid and shake it a few times to mix up the spices. Store in the air tight container.
3. Use for taco meat, or as a rub, or use it to kick up your favorite recipes

To use for taco meat:

1. Brown and drain 1 Lb of ground meat.
2. Stir in 2 tbsp of seasoning and a couple teaspoons of water if necessary. Let cook for a few minutes.

Adapted from Kraft.
On another note, you should see the enormous sweet potatoes we picked up at the market. Perhaps this is Mr. Ginge’s way of telling me he wants some sweet potato pie?

-Mel