Taco Soup Anyone?

We have had this recipe twice within a week. Hubby and I tried it, then the boy came home for a long weekend and I wanted to have it again, as I knew he would love it! He did!

I got the recipe from 'A Year of Crock Potting." If you haven't checked out this blog, and you love using your crock pot (I do, as I work full-time, it makes my life sooo much easier) then you need to go visit.

Here's the link for the Taco Soup: Click here.

Taco Soup

2 cans kidney beans
2 cans pinto beans
2 cans corn
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 can tomatoes and chilies
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 packet of ranch dressing mix
1 lb hamburg
shredded cheese and sour cream

Brown meat, drain and add to crock pot. Sprinkle taco seasoning and ranch dressing seasoning on the meat. Drain the beans, add tomatoes. Add corn. Cook in crock pot 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.

Okay, so you all know Elcheapo Laurie and my methods, so I'll tell you what I did to make this meal even cheaper than it already is.

First off, I don't always use canned beans. I sometimes do use them. It depends on my time limitations. If I'm pressed for time, I use canned. I did make this both times with dried beans. I let them soak overnight and cooked up a humongous pot of beans. Some went into the soup and some went into the freezer. You must cook them for about 2 hours on a low simmer, so they are not tough. But when you do a humongous pot full of them, it makes it worth it.

I also used tomatoes that were frozen from our garden last year. Did you know that you can freeze tomatoes whole? I do, and they are real easy to work with. When the end of the tomato season rolls around, I usually can't keep up with the 12-18 plants that my hubby puts in, so I just go out and pick the tomatoes, throw them in a bag, and freeze them.

When you need them you can just grab what you need, throw them into some hot water and the peels just fall off. I mean, they really just fall off. I then core them with a sharp knife and throw them in the pot. They cook rather quickly as they are full of moisture and they become mush after just a few minutes of heat.

If you would prefer to core them before freezing, that works too. I usually am so pressed for time when I resort to this method that I don't bother.

Next I used these substitutions for the dry mixes. I got them from cooks.com


Dry Ranch Dressing Mix

1/2 cup dry buttermilk powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley, crushed
1 teaspoon dried dill weed (I was out of dill weed, so I just omitted it altogether)
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon salt (I always omit the salt - because our food already has enough salt, in my opinion)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Combine all ingredients together or you can whip it up in your blender or food processor. I just added the ingredients one at a time to the meat.


Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. each ground cumin (ran out of this one, yup, I just omitted it), garlic powder paprika, powdered oregano (I used dried), and sugar (I also omitted the sugar-I'm off sugar)
1/2 tsp. salt (Yes, I omitted the salt here too)

I also used frozen corn as none of us like the taste of canned corn.

Oh, the cheese and sour cream can be added to the bowl of soup when you go to serve it.

This is a rich, thick soup. It's sort of taco-y tasting, but not overbearing. Hubby's not nuts about tacos, but he loves this soup.

Enjoy!