SS&GF: Simply Sugar and Gluten Free

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.

Printer-friendly recipe

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Taco Seasoning Mix
makes enough to season 2 (2 pound) batches of taco meat

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

Additional ingredients for mix:
2 – 3 teaspoons arrowroot or cornstarch
1 – 1 ½ cups water

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.

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