Cinco De Mayo!!

Okay, so I am a day late, but I have a great little recipe for taco seasoning you can make at home.  I prefer to make my own because it is made with things I already have in my pantry and doesn't have any of those preservatives that the packets I used to buy have to have in them to sit on shelves until you buy them...and then for me, until I remember where I stashed those little packets that easily slip behind anything and everything!  Anyway....

I thought to share this with you because yesterday, in honor of Cinco De Mayo, we had, what else?  Yep!  Tacos for dinner, along with a quick little history behind the "holiday."  It was so quick because my kids had already learned about it at school that day.  As I was browning my beef for tacos, I reached for my homemade seasoning...uh-oh!  I was almost out!  But, as you can see from my picture, I was smart enough to write the recipe on the container-I just reused an old chili powder seasoning bottle (score 1 for the environment, right?!?) so I was able to quickly and easily whip up a new batch before I burned my beef!  Here's the recipe just in case you can't read it:

4 Tablespoons chili powder
3 Tablespoons paprika
3 Tablespoons cumin
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Just mix them all together and you've got your taco seasoning!  I usually add 2 tablespoons of the mix per pound of ground beef.  The great thing about this is once you know what you like, you can alter the measurements to suit your and your family's preferences.  I prefer the smokiness of smoked paprika, so I often will add a bit of that.  I also like to use chipotle chili pepper in place of the cayenne sometimes because it has a smokier flavor, too.  And, of course, if you like heat, add more cayenne...my kids are a little wimpy about heat so we take it easy on the spice.

Oh, and this might just happen to have gone nicely with a margarita to celebrate Mexico, too! ;-)

I love the look of the layers before I shake it up-I double the recipe to almost fill this 7.5 oz container

Enjoy!