I use taco seasoning on lean (97%) ground beef and chicken, but I recently found an old packet of El Paso Taco Seasoning when I was cleaning out the pantry and remembered the old days of buying things instead of home making them!
I know that homemaking things takes more time and that’s why I don’t homemake everything. And, there are certain things on my list of recipes I want to try to make myself like….nut butters [the ingredients on my Maranatha Peanut Butter are simply peanuts...how hard could it be?!] and BBQ sauce for starters.
I encourage you to think about ANYTHING you can make from scratch that will eliminate the dreaded preservatives and additives!!
I also encourage you to read the ingredients of EVERYTHING you eat!!! You’ll be amazed if you’ve never done this before!!
Two great general rule s[if you're in doubt] …
- if it has MORE THAN 5 ingredients, put it back!
- if you don’t recognize or can’t pronounce it, put it back!
Check out the ingredients on this El Paso Taco Seasoning…yuck!
Let’s dissect these ingredients: #1 ingredient is maltodextrin. um, what? the #1 ingredient isn’t a spice but an “additive”. Yuck. Let’s read on….. preservative = bad. partially hydrogenated = trans fat = bad. natural flavor = what is that? spice = which ones? sugar = why?
If you were able to read the nutrition facts, you’d see that there are 90 calories (multiply the 15 cal per serving by 6 in the whole packet) and 18 grams of carbs. Not that those are horrible numbers when you think about this one packet per pound of ground beef, BUT when you read my recipe I think you’ll see 0 calories and 0 carbs due to the ingredients simply being spices.
I just picked a recipe off the internet. I didn’t search for the best one. It’s spicy. Not sugary. It probably has more salt than necessary but I don’t get too crazy about salt that I add myself….just the sodium that is in our restaurant and packaged foods!
I doubled my recipe, used what I needed and then saved the extra for later.
Ingredients:
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin (love cumin!)
- 1 tsp onion powder (used Onion Onion)
- 3/4 tsp garlic salt
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Dash cayenne
- (I added red pepper)
Combine all ingredients.
Use instead of 1 package taco seasoning mix which is usually good for 1 lb of meat.
Add 1/4 cup water (approx) per pound of meat, after cooking and draining when you add the seasonings.
Recipe courtesy of cooks.com
What do you homemake that most people buy prepackaged?
Any crazy discoveries to share when you started reading ingredients?
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I make my own cereal! I don’t eat cold cereal often but when I do, I don’t want to eat those with sugar in the first ingredients
. I actually find they are way too sweet since I stopped eating them.
I found that too! I haven’t eaten cereal as a regular part of my diet in years but during 1st trimester I tried it again and things like Raisin Bran that have the raisins (already extremely sweet) covered in sugar!!! Ah!!!! Makes me crazy!!! Any homemade recipes you have to share?
I make my own almond milk. Fast, easy and no preservatives.
oooh!! please share! how do you make that?!
We always make our own taco seasoning and I’m glad we do. Not only is it healthier, but it tastes so much better too!
Fantastic!! I’m going to make this for sure.
I appreciate how you go the extra mile and really talk about all those horrible ingredients, along with the recipe, etc.
The next thing I want to homemake is pizza crust dough. It’s a great way to get my daughter involved in making food and we always top pizza with fresh veggies.
I’ve also started making pasta sauce myself. It’s so good and easy!
I always have to laugh a bit at the “Spice” or “Spices” entry… like you seriously couldn’t be troubled to list them out?! Insanity.
I always try to use my own seasonings intead of buying them for the exact reason you mentioned… If I can’t pronounce it, do I really want it in my body or worse yet feed it to my baby?? And I love that you used Onion Onion… I’m a Tastefully Simple consultant so I always have their products at the ready and use them frequently!!!
I sometimes make my own “instant oatmeal” — individual baggies with one serving of quick oats, a little dried fruit, nuts, or a sprinkle of brown sugar.
Tori,
http://alli-fitness.blogspot.com/2010/10/cooking-spray-really.html
That’s the post. Copied and pasted right from your blog. I realized when I saw that she was copying blog entries from Pauline Nordin and posting it as if it were her own thoughts. Intellectual theft IMHO is intolerable, and fraud. It’s sad, but her reputation is on the line – how can you trust a trainer/role model who just copies others. One thing to be inspired, another to steal!
Oh yum! I should definitely read more packages though, YUCKY!
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