Good Bye Taco bell!

I love taco night at our house. It's so easy to prepare and the fam really enjoys eating them. So tonight, I had it all ready and I was going to have dinner ready a little earlier so that we could have time to play before Jubal's bedtime. I got all my ingredients together but could not find my Taco Bell taco seasoning. Hmmm....where did I stash it? I looked in all kinds of places in the kitchen and could not find it. I concluded that the cashier forgot to put it in my bag. Bummer! Should I run to the store? No, I don't feel like hurrying out the door, wasting gas, waiting in line, and having a late dinner. Of course! The internet. So I did a search and found a wonderful recipe (on allrecipes.com) for some homemade taco seasoning. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. It was wonderful! And I can pronounce the ingredients. So naturally I would love to share it with my blog friends.
You will need to double the recipe to make enough to season a pound of ground beef. There will be some leftover as well. For every pound of beef, chicken, or tofu, add 3 tbsp. of the mixture and 2/3 cup of water. You can also add about 1/2 tsp per batch of flour to thicken it up a little. Cut the amount of red pepper flakes/powder in half if you don't want it to be too spicy hot.

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or 1/2 tsp fresh minced garlic)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes/powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!