Taco Night: A Meal in Pictures

My husband bought this:

I know.

Anyway, it's been sitting around here 

for ages.  I think he bought it during one of his infrequent trips to Whole Foods in the vain and desperate hope I'd buy a pork loin someday and maybe grill or roast it up.  I don't know what it is about pork, but I always seem to forget about it when I'm at the store, even though everyone in my family seems to like it when I do cook it.  In any case, this pork seasoning had been sitting in my cabinet for so long, it had become invisible to me.  Even if I'd had some pork to grill or roast up, I'd never have remembered I'd had this.

So, last night Em requested Tacos --  a good idea because I, miraculously, had Taco shells in the cabinet, and I had tomatoes and lettuce and green beans (yep - greens beens) along with a good sized block of cheese and all that sour cream from that pineapple thing  from last week and some hamburger meat in the freezer.  Plus  it was hot and I'd been to the pool and had recently injured my back cleaning my other daughter's room out of books she no longer wants to read  and I didn't really feel much like cooking.  Tacos are one of those kitchen sink meals: you just toss a bunch of things in bowls and let everyone make their own.  And you can put anything in them -- anything at all that sounds good to you, or that you have to eat before it goes off in the fridge.  I got stuff together:  

Except: No Taco Seasoning.  Now, I could have made my own, but there's that back injury thing, and I still smelled like chlorine, and I still had to brown the meat, and to be honest here, I just couldn't face one more step.  Back to the cabinet, thinking I might at least have some chili powder when I saw 

A quick check of ingredients:    brown sugar, kosher salt, coriander, cumin, pepper, paprika, ancho, cayenne : Perfect!

My trusty souschef

     and I browned the meat, 

  

got the table ready: 

  

And called everyone to dinner.  It was all a huge success.

If I WERE Going to Make Taco Seasoning, This is How:

1 TBLS chili powder

1 TBLS brown sugar

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (use more, or less, depends on you)

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Whisk it all together.  You can leave out the red pepper and the cayenne if you want to -- chili powder has them both -- but I like the added kick.  Adjust the seasonings to your own taste. 

Next time I make this I'm going to put some coriander in it too.