taco night.

I actually made dinner tonight. As opposed to our weeks of eating take-out, fast food and Kraft mac & cheese lately. I like to cook in my own kitchen...not so much others.

But, we've been spending a lot of money on food and it's getting old. I crave a full bank account and yummy homemade dinners. On that note - I clipped coupons, made a meal plan and wrote down a grocery list. Oh, and went shopping.

Tonight was taco night. Tuesday Night Tacos. I confirmed it is indeed Tuesday. Has a sort of ring to it, right? I really like to have staple recipes (you know, the classics. spaghetti, chili, tacos, macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes, rice, cookies.) that I can make from scratch. Not semi-scratch. Scratch. It makes me feel good knowing what goes into our meals.

I used this recipe for the taco bowls and this recipe for the taco seasoning. It was good. Like, so good there isn't a bite of food left!

The only tip I have is use flour tortillas and a muffin pan for the taco bowls. I used a cupcake pan and the spaces between the cups made my bowls a little larger than I wanted. But, they tasted great!

And for the seasoning, I didn't have cayenne pepper so I used ground red pepper. 

It makes quite a bit.  

No more need for those high sodium-ingredients you can't pronounce seasoning packets!

Tacos:
Cook your ground beef. Drain the fat.
Toss the meat back in the pan.
Add 2 heaping tablespoons of taco seasoning, a pinch of salt & pepper and a cup of water.
Let simmer until most of the water is gone.

Fill your bowls with meat and toppings! I like mine with lettuce, tomato, cheese and tapatio (our fave hot sauce). Serve with rice and beans.

Sorry for the bad quality phone picture!

I can make yellow rice from scratch, but I cheated with this meal to save time. Besides, it's too darn hot to be cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

For the rest of this week, I'm planning:
Mini meatball sandwiches
Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes
Crockpot Chicken Stew

If any are amazing, I'll be sure to post recipes!