My Sweet Things

Taco Salad is one of my favorite go to quick dinner recipes. The spicy meat, crunch of the chips, and fresh veggies is a tasty meal. In the past I have picked up packaged taco seasoning for convenience. Turns out convenient sometimes is not so healthy. I came across a homemade taco seasoning recipe from Annie’s Eats. Simple ingredients and just a few minutes of my time and we had homemade taco seasoning!

This a package of the quick seasoning mix I used to pick up. Some of those ingredients I hadn’t heard of and we had been eating that mess.

These are the ingredients to make your own homemade taco seasoning.

4 tablespoons Chili Powder – (My Dad says Gebhardt is the best so he sends it to me from Texas since I can’t find it here in Georgia.)

3 tablespoons Ground Cumin

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Paprika

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Onion Powder

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Mix all the ingredients  together to blend.

You get this pretty color mix that smells so good!

To prepare taco meat I cooked 1 pound lean ground beef, added 2 heaping tablespoons of the spice mix and one cup of water. I cooked until most of the liquid was gone.

For this taco salad I added a can of corn and black beans rinsed and drained. I served up with Tostada chips, avacado, lettuce, tomato, cilantro and topped with cheese.

So fresh and tasty. I love the flavor of this seasoning mix and no more store bought for us! Thanks to Annie for sharing the recipe and stop by her site. She has many wonderful other recipes to share!

It’s all good ~ Donna

On one of our recent Sam’s Club runs I stopped by the book section like I always do. They have such a great selection of books at terrific prices. Most of my teenage vampire novels have come from there! Yes, I read teenage vampire novels. You know you love Twilight! Team Edward! Anyhoo, back to the book section….I came across the book Cook This Not That!. This is one of the best little cookbook guides I have ever purchased! It lists dinners that you would find out at restaurants and it breaks down the price and calories you would be eating if you ordered the listed menu items. I was really not that surprised at how many calories are consumed eating out. Have you seen the Red Lobster commercial where they dip that lobster in that vat of butter? So good but yet so bad. We have tried many recipes in Cook This Not That and have not been disappointed yet!

In this book you will find many great recipes covering  ethnic dishes, appetizers, vegetarian dishes, breakfasts, desserts and beverages.

On the bottom of the page you will see the  calorie difference between the restaurant version and the home cooked version as well as the price difference of cooking at home.

For the Thai Lettuce Wraps you will need

12 oz flank, skirt or sirloin steak

Salt and Pepper to Taste

1 tbsp hot sauce

2 tbsp fish sauce – This smelled so bad but tasted really good when cooked!

Juice of one lime

1/2 red onion sliced

1 jalapeno pepper – I left this out

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 carrot grated – I thinly sliced baby carrots because that’s all I had.

1 head Bibb lettuce, leaves separated

Heat the grill or pan over high heat for at least 5 minutes. Season the steak with salt and pepper and toss onto grill/pan. Cook for 4 minutes on each side until it’s firm but yielding to the touch. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Combine the hot sauce, fish sauce and juice of one lime in a small saucepan over low heat.

Slice the steak thinly and drizzle half the sauce over it. Use the lettuce leaves like tortillas and fill with the steak, carrots, onion, and cilantro. Drizzle a bit more sauce on top and add just a squeeze of lime juice.

These were so delicious! We did not have any other sides as this meal was all in one!

If you are out shopping at Sam’s Club look for this book. It was $10.00 and so worth it. I also saw it at Target for $18 but I’m sure most book stores will carry it and there’s always Amazon where it’s currently selling for $13.47. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

It’s all good ~ Donna