Tacos/Burritos & Homemade Seasoning

We love having tacos or burritos, so much that we have it at least every couple weeks or sometimes 2 weeks in a row. In fact, I have a sticky note taped to the inside of my cupboard with a list of seasonings for my homemade taco seasoning, since we use it that frequently. We use it in many of our favorite dishes. I make the filling and then everyone can either make a taco or a burrito with it. Then I use the leftovers for taco salad the next day! Or you can make nachos with it. These are good all year around. For the burritos I use tortillas from our local food co-op. They have white or wheat available but they don’t have an ingredient label for some reason! I trust the co-op and know that they’re all natural and GMO free. And we like the tortillas so I continue to buy them. We also make quesadillas with them, beef enchiladas, or breakfast burritos. For the tacos I use Trader Joe’s taco shells with organic stoneground yellow corn. You can see the picture at the bottom of this post that also shows the ingredients. They are gluten-free too. For the filling, we use 1/2 lb of grass-fed beef mixed with refried beans and a homemade taco seasoning. Then you can add onions, peppers, olives…whatever you want. (For a vegetarian option eliminate the beef and use just the beans – refried beans or black beans would be good.)

These are pretty easy to make and much healthier than Taco Bell for sure! Have you seen Food Babe’s post on Taco Bell? You should definitely check it out. Here’s the link: http://foodbabe.com/2014/05/05/what-taco-bell-isnt-telling-us-about-their-ingredients-but-you-need-to-know/. I used to be obsessed with Taco Bell, even after I have worked there twice. It’s very addictive.

Homemade Taco Seasoning:

• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• Optional: 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper for extra spice.

Just mix up the herbs and seasonings in a small bowl, or you can make a few batches up ahead of time and save individually. This is the amount of seasoning for 1 lb of hamburger but I use it for just a 1/2 lb and add beans. We don’t make ours very spicy so that the kids will eat it. You could add some cayenne pepper or whatever you want to spice it up.

Taco/Burrito Filling:

• 1/2 – 1 lb of hamburger (organic grass-fed beef preferred)
• 1 can refried beans (optional, we use this with 1/2 lb of hamburger)
• Homemade taco seasoning (recipe above) and 1/4 – 1/2 cup of water
• Other options: 1/2 cup of chopped onion, diced green chilies, black olives, corn, and/or bell peppers.

Brown the hamburger, add the taco seasoning and start with 1/4 cup of water. Mix it up and add more as needed. Add any other ingredients you want (onion, chilies, olives, corn, bell peppers). Cook for a few minutes on medium and then add the beans (if desired). Continue cooking for another 5 minutes or so, just to heat the beans with the meat.

There are so many options for toppings. To name a few: lettuce/spinach, shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa, olives, green onion, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, guacamole/avocados, maybe some jalapeños if you want to spice it up! You could even make some rice to put in with it.

For the taco meat, I cook a lb of hamburger, add the seasoning, cook for a few minutes and then split it in half. I freeze half and then add refried beans to the other half. This is just what I do. You can do a full lb or 1/2, and with or without the beans.

Here are the taco shells I get at Trader Joe’s. They are gluten-free too.

You could make your own corn tortillas using a tortilla press (shown below). Here’s a recipe from 100 Days of Real Food that includes a video:  http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/04/26/recipe-easy-whole-grain-corn-tortillas/. 

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