Why hello there! Longy time no seeum!
It’s been a minute, I know. Sorry about that.
I went upstate for a little vacation with my sister and her kids, and as much as I wanted to, I didn’t have time to get a backup post together to share while I was away. We went to a Bluegrass festival in the Catskills for 5 glorious days, and while I missed you guys, I loved every second of it.
Amazing music and friendly strangers. Boiling hot days and freezing cold nights. Spending time with family. Getting drunk on whiskey and wine and dancing barefoot until the wee hours of the night. Going to sleep on a firmly inflated mattress and waking up on a rock. Drying blankets in the sun after accidentally leaving the tent windows open during a thunderstorm. Lifting my niece up over a sea of tents to see the rainbow after the storm. Doing my duty in a porta potty or at the grocery store bathroom…
Absolute heaven.
In keeping with my last post, I had ideas for a summery healthy dinner that I planned to share with you last week, but fate had other ideas. I scheduled an extra day off after the festival so I’d have time to nurse the world’s largest hangover. My plan was to make and photograph said recipe then. Two days into my trip however, things changed.
If you recall my “yardening” post from last spring, you may remember hearing about our “sickly plum tree” and seeing the trunk of said tree in the photo below.
Two days into my trip I received a text from Russell with this photo:
That’s taken from our bedroom window, and in the foreground you can see the deck we built last summer (with stairs to the right) to make getting out into the yard easier for us and the pups. The old “sickly plum tree” had just given up. Since we moved in I’ve been trying to figure out how to nurse the poor tree back to health, but the fact of the matter is that I had little to no idea what I was doing. I tried trimming off dead branches, but more kept dying, and every spring the leaves and fruit suffered from a white mildew that would cause all the fruit and about half of the leaves to fall off early in the summer.
Late last summer I noticed that the tree had A LOT of ants on it, and most of them would travel down to the base of the tree and disappear into the ground between the roots. Well, apparently the ants had decided to take advantage of the defenseless old tree and make a nice home in it’s trunk. When I finally got back home to take a look, the trunk of the tree was completely rotted out and had been turned into a dark and crumbly swiss cheese of insect tunnels. After fighting with all the strength it had left, the tree had finally just given up.
Seeing how bad the trunk was, I’m actually surprised it hadn’t fallen earlier.
Rather than making delicious food in the comfort of my home, on my day off I got to stand outside for several hours in 95 degree heat and cut the poor tree up into manageable chunks with the world’s dullest, rustiest handsaw. After waiting for almost a month for our landlord to fix our oven when it broke, we figured it wasn’t even worth asking for his help with the tree so I just did it myself. It was quite a workout though, so at least I can say it was all in the name of fitness.
Anyway, now the yard looks more like this.
I’ve still got a lot of work to do to clear all the debris and get rid of the wood somehow (we can’t have fires back there, we tried once and had the fire department at our door within 20 minutes). Although I miss the tree, and it may take some getting used to, I actually really like how open the yard feels now. I feel like I might need to rethink my (meager) landscaping there, but the quality of light in our room feels so much nicer and brighter now, so that’s good.
SOOOooooo…
Without the time to photograph a full meal after the tree massacre, I thought I might share this taco seasoning I’ve been using lately instead. Russell and I tend to eat a lot of ground turkey or grilled chicken tacos, and now that we’re trying to eat better they’re a great meal we can make after work. There are a lot of small family owned tortilla factories in my neighborhood so we can get our corn tortillas super fresh. A few torillas filled with some well seasoned lean meat, sauteed onion, and black beans is the perfect quick and easy weeknight meal. Rather than cheese or sour cream, we like ours with a few creamy slices of ripe avocado.
I like to make my own seasoning because we make tacos so often. The store bought stuff is crazy salty and some of it has some really questionable ingredients that I’m not super comfortable eating on a regular basis.
This seasoning is not only fresher and much less salty, but you also know exactly what you’re putting into it and can customize it to your taste. I like my tacos nice and spicy, so in addition to the chile powder I like to add ground cayenne pepper too. Cinnamon adds a warmth without adding spicy heat, and smoked paprika adds a great warm smokiness. You may think cornstarch is an odd addition to a seasoning blend, but most taco seasoning does have thickening agents in it to help make a nice thick sauce. If you don’t like using cornstarch you could substitute arrowroot powder instead or leave it out altogether. It’s your party!
Homemade Taco Seasoning
6 tablespoons ground chile powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper, optional
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Combine all spices in a small bowl and whisk until evenly distributed. Can be stored in an airtight jar or container for future use. Recipe doubles (or triples, or more) very easily.
If using ground meat, brown the meat first then add seasoning along with a few tablespoons of water. You’ll want about 2 tablespoons of seasoning per pound of ground meat. Stir regularly until meat is fully cooked and sauce is thickened. I like to add a diced small onion while I brown the meat, and a drained can of black beans right at the end. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
You can also use the seasoning as a rub for chicken breast. Sear the chicken breasts until fully cooked and slice thin before adding to tacos.
Brooklyn Homemaker 
Aww..man, I know exactly how you feel about your tree. We lost a small maple tree right next to our porch and I was broken hearted. The plan was to replace it the following year… and we never did. I have to say that the flowers that I had planted under the tree have thrived. They’re so happy without the tree!
I’m considering now, just to buy a little miniature tree, something that doesn’t really produce shade. I’m just loving my flowers…and they’re just loving the sun! Funny, they’re all shade flowers that I planted…like hostas, astilbe…etc. Oh well..
I know that you’ll come up with something for that spot. Just think of it as an empty canvas! <3
And now the taco seasoning… I've tried this on my own, and have never had any success. I cannot wait to give this a try! My daughter loves tacos…so I try to make them for her at least once every couple weeks or so.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! <3 I'll report back from the taco connoisseur. :-)
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Isn’t that funny how all those shade plants don’t seem to mind the sun? My grandmother always had tons of hostas growing around her house and they absolutely thrived in full sun. The first time someone told me they were a shade plant (many years ago) I thought they were dead wrong!
I hope you find a nice tree for that spot. When I was home visiting my mom earlier this summer we planted some dwarf Braeburn apple trees in her yard. It’ll be a few years before they bear fruit but I’m already so jealous!
I hope your daughter (and you too) loves the taco seasoning! If she’s not a huge fan of spice you can definitely reduce or omit the cayenne. Let me know what she says!
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Sorry about your tree Tux. I make my own taco seasoning also, but mine doesn’t have any cornstarch for thickening… may have to include that and see what happens. So much better than buying that pouch of stuff that contains lots of words you cannot pronounce! Thanks for sharing. :)
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It’s definitely great to know exactly what’s going into the mix! Now that I’ve had some time to live with it I’m getting used to having the tree gone and I definitely like how open the yard feels without it.
The tree was never very healthy anyway and I always felt sort of guilty for not being able to help it get better. Now I don’t have to watch it suffer!
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Well Tux I loved the novelette here-you cracked me up! Glad you had time away with family! You’ll do something cool to the backyard minus the tree!!! You are the only person I know that also uses cornstarch in homemade taco seasoning (I have been doing that for years!). Go Dude.
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Haha! Thanks Cheryl! I’m still trying to break up all the smaller branches and clear the debris, but hopefully next spring I’ll be inspired for a whole new landscaping plan back there!
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I know you dislike putting a lot of money into someone else’s place but it is for your enjoyment and Russell’s and the girls too. Doesn’t one of your neighbors burn wood in a fireplace? Is this wood burnable for heat source?
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Our neighborhood is mostly big apartment buildings (8 units or more per building) and I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone here to have a wood burning fireplace.
I’ve been thinking about maybe buying a chiminea for the yard. Hopefully if the fire is contained the neighbors won’t call the fire department on us!
As for the yard, I don’t mind spending a little money to make that space pretty and comfortable. My birthday’s in the spring and I usually ask Russell to take me to the Home Depot for plants rather than buying me a gift.
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Oh I get it. Plants are good I have a 32′ x 32′ screened in room that houses the herbs and houseplants-its a jungle I tell you. So the Hubs says. Oh whatever…
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Too bad about the tree. Could it have known you had a terrible hangover and fell on purpose? Your dull saw workout may have cured you more quickly. You should thank the tree. :-)
We may give your seasoning recipe a try. We hate the extra salt in everything you buy. The ingredients are pretty.
That bluegrass festival must have been a lot of fun. It is good honest music.
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Hahaha! Well to be honest I was prepared for the worst and the hangover wasn’t nearly as bad as expected.
I am bummed about the tree but it was never very healthy so in a way I’m glad it’s out of it’s misery.
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I love this post! Not that I don’t love ALL your posts, but I like that you did something a little different than normal and showed us some pics from the other parts of your life :) Making things and taking pictures can be super draining especially when you have so many other things going on, and I think you proved that sometimes the best posts are the simple ones!
We eat taco salad at home more often than I care to admit, and we usually use store-bought seasoning (gasp!) – but now I’ve got no excuses! (Now I just need to figure out how to upgrade the Doritos and iceberg lettuce and we’ll be good to go) lol
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Thank you so much! I’m such an over-sharer already, I figure I might as well show the whole picture!
When I first started blogging and was taking pictures as I cooked and just snapping a quick shot of the finished food on a plate I thought, this ain’t so hard. Boy did I have a lot to learn! Haha!
I always used store bought seasoning until relatively recently. As much as I don’t like all the weird ingredients I can’t pronounce, it was the crazy saltiness that made me look into making my own. Once you have all the spices you need it takes like two minutes to make and you can double or triple the recipe really easily too.
As for your tacos, I think shredded cabbage is a great option instead of iceberg because it addw such a great crunchy texture. As for the doritos, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it! Haha!
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Yum! Avocados are the best. Thanks for the great taco seasoning recipe. I love that it doesn’t have a ton of crazy additives.
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That’s definitely the best part!
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I am happy to hear that you had a fabulous vacation with your sister! :) I made your tasty taco seasoning & used it also on grilled fish! Yummy! :) Welcome back!
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I’m so glad you liked it!!!
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:)
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