Paleo Mexican Spice Mix

Living in Brazil brings its challenges, among them the shortage of familiar foods. Ask any American who lives here what kind of food they miss the most and they'll likely tell you it's Mexican food, second maybe to decent peanut butter.

I knew this before coming down, so I stocked up on taco seasoning before we left. Then I read the ingredients.

I can't pronounce half the chemicals on the label, and I still don't understand WHY food manufacturers feel the need to put sugar in absolutely everything!

So, honestly I used the taco seasoning anyway. Now that I have run out (after only three months?!) I knew it was time to get busy and make my own seasoning mix, this time without the chemical garbage and sugar.

I poked around on Pinterest and took notes on a few recipes. I didn't find any that were exactly what I wanted, so I improvised.

Here's what I did:

1/2 c. Chili powder
4 tbs Cumin
2 tsp Onion powder
2 tsp Garlic Powder
4 tsp Dried oregano
4 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Dried cilantro
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
2 tsp Black pepper
1/3 c. tapioca starch
1 tbs sea salt

Throw it all in a jar and shake it up. Easy, peasy.

How it came out:

Excellent! I made a ground beef and veggie single skillet meal with it. I used about a pound of ground beef and filled the rest of the skillet with chopped veggies (onions, red and yellow peppers, chopped tomatoes and mushrooms) and added about 1/3 cup of the spice mix. We used raw green cabbage leaves as taco shells. The flavor was fantastic!

What I'd do different next time:

Use about half the Cayenne pepper. It was hot! We were sweating by the time we finished our meal, but it wasn't unbearable. We both like about a medium heat and this was just a little bit beyond our comfort zone, but not much. A home-made fruit popsicle for dessert was the perfect remedy.

I'll probably double the amount of cilantro next time too. I really like the flavor, but it wasn't strong enough with this mix.