Apologies for those of you waiting for my report on last Monday's family cooking lesson: it was really good and I learned a LOT of dishes and techniques. But I foolishly left my camera at home so my mom and brother took pictures with theirs. I haven't yet gotten the pictures from them, so when I do I'll do a thorough write-up.

For now, though, let's talk Tacos. Megan loves tacos and taco night has been a standard option for us since we've gotten married. Partially because it's nearly automatic and it's always satisfying. Last night, however, we were feeling adventurous and decided to do a "gourmet taco" with some more home-made ingredients. The results were spectacular, and so, here's a post about it.



Taco Components

1lb of Ground Beef (you can substitute Turkey...but you know how I feel about that)
Homemade Guacamole
Black Beans
Grated Cheddar Cheese
Tortillas (duh)
Olives (I didn't put any in mine: Megan loves olives)
Homemade Taco Seasoning
White Onion
Sour Cream (another Megan-only thing)

Taco Seasoning
This is the original recipe

This is what I ended up using. It's nearly identical, it's just missing cayenne. Not that I don't like it, I just didn't have any.

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon dried minced onion

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more to taste)

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 scant teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper (about 40 grinds)


Mix and throw on your taco meat, then add about a 1/4 cup of water. Pretty simple. It looks like a lot of seasoning, but throw it all in, it needs it. The flavoring is amazing, much better than the Lawry's packs we used to use (cheaper too, since we already had all of the spices in the rack). We personally missed the cayenne; it could stand to be spicier in general, especially when you use cheese and sour cream, etc. Still, it's a very savory seasoning that doesn't quite have the strange acidy bite that the Lawry's packets have and it's quite satisfying to have done it yourself.


Taco Meat

We bought the beef from Trader Joe's. I was surprised in the immediate difference in quality: so much better! And cheaper. Anyway, I only put this here to mention that we put white onions in with our meat as we cooked it. I think next time I'd put the onions on first, then add the beef to the pan so that the onions have a chance to get extra-cooked. Maybe a bit of olive oil next time too: the beef was so lean that it was hard to get the onions to sizzle the way I wanted them to.


Guacamole
1 Avocado
Juice from 1/2 lime
Salt and pepper

All right, since I know this place is frequented by Prices I'm sure to get a lecture on proper Guacamole making (I hope I do, anyway) but since this was my first foray into making it, I kept it simple. Mash the avocado (I used a potato masher: worked well, took about 5 seconds to get to the correct consistency) then squeeze half a
lime over it. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simple but effective. A neat trick for your next party? Perhaps!

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The in-laws are coming over on Monday so I have to think of an interesting chicken dish. We'll be doing roasted cauliflower for sure that day, which I think some of you might enjoy. I just have to pick appropriately.