Growing up in a Pakistani/Indian household, I have always known the importance of seasonings and spices when it came to cooking. My mother often used many of the basic Indian spices in most of the meals she'd make. I often tried to do the same when I cooked at home. One of my favorite "non-Indian" meals to make was "taco night"...mainly because it was so easy, filling and delicious. Easy because of the prepackaged taco seasoning that pretty much all grocery stores sell.
Once I started my new healthy lifestyle journey, I began to pay more attention to the ingredients label on foods that were prepackaged...yes, even some spices. What I learned by doing this was that so many prepackaged "ready to use" spices contained many ingredients that seemed extremely unnecessary to put in my body. This is what one of the taco seasoning packages read: Yellow Corn Flour, Salt, Maltodextrin, Paprika, Spices, Modified Corn Starch, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Citric Acid, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Natural Flavor, Caramel Color (sulfites). Whaaaat? WHY does my taco seasoning need corn starch, sugar and caramael color anyway?
Aside from the long list of ingredients, my real concern was the amount of sodium that was in them. 430-600 mg of sodium per serving (about 1/6 of the package). No thanks. I used to have the biggest problem feeling bloated due to a high intake of sodium in my daily foods (which most of the time I didn't even realize it) and once I became more cautious of how much salt I was putting in my body, I am not caring that extra water weight!
Give this low-sodium seasoning a try for your next taco or fajita night!
-2 tablespoon Peprika
-1/4 cup Red Chili Powder
-1/2 tablespoon Crushed red chili flakes (optional)
-1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper Powder
1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Onion Powder
1 tablespoon Cumin Powder
1 tablespoon dry oregano
-Pinch of Crushed black pepper
-1.5-2 tablespoon Sea Salt
Mix everything and store in a air-tight jar & use when needed
xo-nilma
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