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Welcome to Slightly Indulgent Monday – a celebration of fabulous food made healthier!
If you read labels, there is sugar in the most unsuspected places. It’s in nearly everything…from salad dressings to bacon. And, yes, it’s generally in taco seasoning. I’m sure there are brands out there without sugar – and possibly without gluten – but I prefer not to eat whatever else is in that little package.
So I make my own – a big batch and then keep it in a mason jar. My favorite part is that I can tweak the flavors so it’s exactly what I want. It’s also quite frugal. I buy my spices in bulk and can make an entire batch of taco seasoning for less than a buck. It’ll easily season 2 big batches of tacos, maybe more.
This is a simple and quick dinner for busy weeknights. I usually stir a can of beans into my browned meat, too. I eat this as a salad with my favorite toppings – shredded carrots and radishes, salsa, oaxaca cheese, fresh tomatoes, and cilantro.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons light ancho chili powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 4 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 ½ teaspoons onion powder
- 2 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder
- 2 – 3 teaspoons arrowroot or cornstarch
- 1 – 1 ½ cups water
Instructions
- Put ingredients in a glass mason jar and shake to combine.
- When meat has browned, you can stir in a can of beans if you want and heat through.
- Mix 2 teaspoons of arrowroot or cornstarch with a tablespoon of cold water and mix thoroughly to make a slurry. Set aside.
- Add 2 tablespoons of spice mix while stirring for a minute to let spices toast slightly. Add 1 cup of water to meat mixture, then stir in the slurry. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and reduce until sauce is thick enough to coat meat. Add more water if needed.
- Serve with your favorite taco toppings.
A change this week – I’ve been working like crazy to get the St. Jude Recipe Book done, so there’s no featured blogger or give-away this week. Hopefully all will be back to normal next week.
Winners from last week: Kim from Gluten-Free is Life won The Gluten-Free Homemaker’s E-books, Cakes & Cookies and Yeast Breads & Quick Breads. Ann Trudeau, reader, won Jessica Fisher’s e-books – Pretty. Cool. Cakes. and Fishmama’s Guide to Cooking with Children. Jessica authors Life as Mom. Congrats!
Both of these fabulous bloggers have their e-books for sale at a very reasonable price – if you’ve enjoyed their blogs I strongly suggest that you support their work and purchase their books.
Reminder: Holiday Food Fest is Thursday, hosted by Alta at Tasty Eats at Home. Link up your favorite fall or Thanksgiving dish or just stop by and comment. She has a great give-away – an apron from Flirty Aprons.
When you link, please tell us who you are and what you’re cooking . For example, I would enter:
Amy @ Simply Sugar & Gluten Free – Triple Berry Coconut Cake. Please link to your individual post, not your homepage. And, I always appreciate a link back to this post. If you don’t have a blog, you can share a recipe in the comment section.
| 1. HoosierHomemade(Tex Mex Chicken Skillet) 2. Kitchen Stewardship – Healthified Apple Bars 3. Iris at The Daily Dietribe: Sweet Potato Coconut Soup 4. Lauren @ Celiac Teen (3 minute Pumpkin Cake) 5. Katrina @ Gluten Free Gidget- Italian Stuffed Acorn Squash 6. Kari @ Eating Simply – The Lady at the Market’s Cushaw Pie |
7. SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in My Kitchen (No-Nut Pesto) 8. Hallie @ Daily Bites (Cranberry-Pecan Date Balls) 9. Kim – Gluten-free is Life – Old Fashioned Gingerbread 10. Linda @ Gluten-Free Homemaker (cranberry-orange coffee cake) 11. Chaya – Linguine without shrimp 12. Sandy@A Little Bit of Heaven-DF SF Banana Pudding |
13. Jessica @ ATX Gluten Free (Chicken Apple Bake) 14. Chelsey – Heaven Sent Muffins 15. Stephanie (English Muffin Bread) 16. Amanda @ Coping with Frugality(Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls) 17. The Prudent Homemaker (Citrus Fruit Salad) 18. Newlyweds (Chocolate Pumpkin Oatmeal) |
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Liz@HoosierHomemade
posted on November 8, 2009 at 9:37 pm
WooHoo! I’m first! I was actually ready early this wk, can you believe it?
I make my own seasoning too. Much better, and less expensive.
Thanks for hosting, Amy!
~Liz
[Reply]
Iris
posted on November 8, 2009 at 9:52 pm
I’m glad to have this recipe for taco seasoning! I always feel like I’m going against my healthy roots when I buy the packaged stuff.
This week I’m linking to my Sweet Potato Coconut Soup, which I’m really wishing I could eat more of right now…but I need leftovers for the rest of the week!
[Reply]
Lauren
posted on November 8, 2009 at 10:25 pm
No worries! I love the sound of this seasoning. So much better than the one my brother tried to make. His ended up being more of a pepper taco (like black pepper). It was very peppery. Seriously, the ground chicken was white with specks of black. This definitely sounds like a better option =D.
Super excited to see the book. Yum!
[Reply]
Diane-The WHOLE Gang
posted on November 9, 2009 at 7:52 am
I love making my own spice combos too. They taste great and no sugar. Why do they feel the need to add sugar to everything. It’s really crazy. I guess since it’s so addicting.
I keep Jerk seasoning and Blackening seasoning on hand that I made. We love those spicy flavors!
[Reply]
Alta
posted on November 9, 2009 at 8:27 am
I usually make my own taco seasoning as well. You’re right, so much cheaper, and you don’t have gluten or sugar!
[Reply]
Kim
posted on November 9, 2009 at 8:42 am
Hey…THANKS! I had no idea I won!
[Reply]
leih
posted on November 9, 2009 at 9:29 am
thanks so much for this recipe! I’ve been wanting a taco seasoning one.
I love your curry powder recipe, btw. Use it almost daily in all kinds of things.
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 9:38 am
@leih, Thanks so much – I love all kinds of feedback on my recipes. It’s so helpful. I’d love to hear about what you use it in, too. I am always looking for new ideas.
[Reply]
leih Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
@Amy,
Hi Amy,
Well, I’ve been using the curry powder when cooking eggs, mixing it in with my home made mayo to make chicken salad and such, and also made a curry dish. I’ve also sprinkled it on some cooked vegeables. It’s really good!
[Reply]
Sandy Gillett
posted on November 9, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I’m loving this Amy. It is so much fun! I hope my link works this time. I felt so “normal” eating banana pudding which tasted just like the “real” thing, as my husband says, “Is it real?” Blessings.
[Reply]
Jessica Meyer
posted on November 9, 2009 at 3:09 pm
What a fabulous idea! I need to start making “make ahead spice jars” … Love it !
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Chelsey
posted on November 9, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I was talking to Linda (The GF homemaker)about homemade taco spice, and she suggested using the spice recipe as a simple gift idea for Christmas. I thought it was a great idea to pass along to you.
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 8:51 am
@Chelsey, That’s a great idea – it’s frugal and something people would use, which is important. My friend, Alta, recently made a chili rub for pork – I think that’s going to be a gift for some people this year. I’m going to post my version soon.
[Reply]
Crysty
posted on March 8, 2012 at 12:26 pm
YES! Thank you for this! Before Celiac I used taco seasoning all the time, and now I have been looking for some good GF brands, but I like the idea of making my own…
[Reply]
Karen
posted on June 7, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Thank you so much! This was something on my wish list.
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
June 8th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
@Karen, Have you ever tried making your own spice blends before?
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Karen Reply:
June 8th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
@Amy,
No, I haven’t. It’s something I would like to do & have a desperate need to do now. I suspect I have your problem w/the addition of allergies to yeast, garlic, all things dairy, & other things as well. I was happy to find your sight needless to say!
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
June 11th, 2012 at 11:50 am
@Karen, I have a substitution page that will help you find suitable products to sub for many of the foods you can’t eat.
http://simplysugarandglutenfree.com/substitutions/
Hope it helps!
Karen
posted on June 11, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Thank you! Can you think of any reason why a non-dairy cream cheese would make me ill? I was so happy to have found something like that (and a sour cream in the same brand), but I tried to eat it twice with disastrous results even though the label read that there was nothing in either product that should affect me so negatively. I suppose it could be brand specific… although it hardly encourages me to want to try another. lol Even a shredded cheese substitute product that I had found (and liked, naturally) turned out to have yeast in it. Didn’t know I had the yeast problem when I began eating it. In looking for ancho chili powder I was examining the label of one brand to see if it might be ancho I found it was actually a blend of garlic (to which I’m
allergic) as well as cumin, something else, and some kind of unspecified chili powder! It’s a mine field out there.
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
June 12th, 2012 at 10:25 pm
@Karen, What was in the non-dairy cream cheese?
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