Taco Soup

Since it's $%#!ing  freezing cold outside, I'm looking for anything to keep the old bones warm.  Having highs in the teens and lows below zero just saps the warmth and the energy from your soul.

Especially when we're hit by one snowstorm after another.  It's frustrating as hell to spend an hour shoveling 5-6 inches of heavy wet snow off the driveway, only to have it covered with another 6-7 by the time you wake up in the morning.

Sure, the kids love it, but after an afternoon of sledding and snowball fights, even they are frozen to the core.  There's nothing like a quick bowl of soup to warm you from the inside out.

I've never been a fan of the soups in a can.  I just don't like the taste, and the fact that most of the Campbell's varieties have your daily allowance of salt in a REAL serving of the soup.  I may look 40 pounds heavier with my puffy winter coat, but if I eat a couple can of those soups, I'll look that puffy without the coat.   I still hold a place in my heart for Ramen, but can't live off it as I did in college.  By the way, there's a rice noodle, ramen-like soup made by Thai Express that you can pick up for about 75 cents a pouch.  It has a decent flavor and only about 35 % of your salt for the day.

But if we have an hour, we'd rather make a soup from scratch.  This particular soup is a recipe Liz brought to the marriage.  It's a a great, extremely easy, flavorful-spicy (not hot-spicy) soup that's very simple to make.  She learned it from her awesome roommate, Lynley.  It's made of a number of pantry staples that you may already have on hand.  If you don't, just buy all of the ingredients and squirrel them away for an extremely cold day.  Best part, it can be made in less than a half-hour.  Here is the recipe, with her instructions in her own words...

Taco Soup

1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon onion flakes
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1 can of crushed or diced tomatoes, your choice
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of black beans
1 can of red beans
1 can of whole kernal corn
1 can of creamed corn
1-2 packets of taco seasoning, or just a good amount from the big bottle from Costco.

In a large stockpot, brown the ground beef.  Add the onion flakes and stir.  Liz doesn't like the real onions, because they can be to strong, but if you want to use then instead, go ahead.  Then add ALL of the other canned ingredients.  Do not drain off any of the liquid.  Direct quote from Liz: "Add enough of the taco seasoning until it tastes 'taco-ey'", I'm guessing about a packet and a half.  Heat it up until it's warm all the way through and then serve topped with cheese and/or sour cream.  You can also add tortilla chips if you want.