Taco Soup

New phone: Less potato quality!

Taco Soup

This recipe was given to me by my sister in law who got it from Stephanie O'Dea of Crockpot365 Blog.

This is also a crock pot recipe. I adore crock pot recipes because you can set it and forget it (like a terrible commercial), except you don't want to forget it forever, just for the cook time.

I didn't tweak the recipe much because it was already tasty, but I make it a little spicier than 'necessary' I suppose. Not much, just a wee bit.

Some like it hot. I like to feel my mouth. ... so my version of the recipe has just a wee bit of spice to it.

You also want at least a 6 quart crock pot for this recipe; it's pretty big.

Ingredients:

• 2 (15 ounce) cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 (15 ounce) cans of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 (15 ounce) cans of corn (keep the juice!)
• 1 (26 (or 28) ounce) can of petite diced tomatoes
• 1 (10 ounce) can of diced tomatoes with chiles
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• 1 packet of ranch dressing mix
• 1 pound browned hamburger or ground turkey
• (Optional) 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
• (Optional) 1 teaspoon of dried cilantro OR a couple sprigs chopped up of fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Cook meat to appropriate internal temperature to avoid food poisoning.
2. Drain fat from the meat and add drained meat into the crock pot.
3. Sprinkle both seasoning packets on top of the meat.
4. Add both kidney and pinto beans (make sure their drained and rinsed first) to the crock pot.
5. Add all tomatoes and corn (don't drain them!) to the crock pot.
6. (Optional) Add cayenne pepper and cilantro to the crock pot.
7. Stir very well; you don't want lingering chunks of seasonings left in there.
8. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5.

You can eat it like soup (as pictured above) OR you could be fun and drain it a bit (once it's done cooking) and spreading it on tortilla shells. It also makes a great dip (if a little wet, although you could probably add a little corn starch to thicken it up a bit if you wanted the more realistic dip route).

It's a pretty easy recipe to tailor it to whatever situation you'd like to consume it.

Happy cooking!