We love our friends. We love spending time with our friends. We also like to eat around here, like a lot. One of my go to quick meals for a crowd is tacos, I mean we live in Texas, so there’s that. Everyone around here seems to like tacos. It is also fairly easy to accommodate dietary restrictions when all the components can be cooked separately and served from individual containers.

Because I have a child with food sensitivities, and because so many offending ingredients hide in premixed spice packets, I make my own taco seasoning (as well as most other seasoning blends too). It isn’t because I’m a super mom or a famous name wanna be. It is out of sheer necessity that I started doing this. I will leave the recipe, that is the equivalent of a packet of taco seasoning, at the bottom of this post. I also really like making my own salsa. It is incredibly easy and tastes so much better than the jarred store bought kind. We go through a lot of salsa in this house so I usually make up a big batch about once a month. It keeps in the fridge for two to three weeks or can be frozen and thawed out for use at a later date.

I like to set everything up buffet style so that each person can put their tacos together in their favorite combination. When we have company, I always have at least two styles of meat, both corn and flour tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, sliced olives, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa. Sometimes we throw in a pot of queso  and maybe some grilled fajita meat or barbacoa. When it is just myself, my hubby, and my kids, we take a less is more approach. Taco night is always fun, relaxed, and delicious regardless of which option we end up having.

Blender Salsa:

8 large organic Roma tomatoes, quickly blistered

4 cloves organic garlic, peeled

1 medium organic sweet onion, quartered

3 oz canned organic green chilis

1 cup fresh organic cilantro

1 large organic jalapeño, you may add more if you want it spicier

juice from one large organic lime

1 1/2 tsp ground organic cumin

1 tsp organic chili powder

pinch or two of sea salt (to your preference)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend to desired consistency.

Taco Seasoning:

1 tbsp organic chili powder

1 tbsp ground organic cumin

1 tbsp organic garlic powder

1 tbsp organic onion powder

1/4 tsp organic crushed red pepper

mix all ingredients together and mix into 1- 1 1/2 lbs grass fed ground sirloin for taco meat.

Enjoy!