Favorite Taco Soup

 

TACO SOUP

Notes:  This recipe is from Suzie’s NE friend, Michelle M.
Servings: Approximately 12

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb. Hamburger
1 small chopped onion
4 oz. can Chopped Green Chilis
1 Pkg. (1.25oz.) Taco Seasoning (we make our own Taco Seasoning Mix)
1 pkg (1oz.) Ranch mix
2 cans (15oz.) Chili Recipe Stewed Tomatoes (I can my own Mexican Stewed Tomatoes)
2 cans (15oz.) Bush’s Hot Chili Beans (generally use the store brand)
1 ½ -2 cups Water
8oz. Mexican Blend Cheeses
1 Bag Fritos (Ranch or Chili Cheese Flavored are good, but plain Fritos are used more often at our home)
8oz Sour Cream (we use more sour cream!)

DIRECTIONS:
Brown hamburger & chopped onion, drain grease. Add chopped green chilies, beans, tomatoes, taco & ranch seasonings, and water. Simmer 30-45 minutes for best results or let it simmer in the crock pot for 4-6 hours. Serve soup over the Fritos. Then, top with cheese and sour cream.

FREEZING:
Cool completely.  Transfer to a gallon freezer bag.  Remove as much air as possible.  Double bag for safety!  Label and freeze on a cookie tray to keep the bag flat.

PREPARATION:
Thaw in the frig or in microwave.  Reheat on the stove or in a crock pot.  Serve soup over Fritos.  Top with shredded cheese and sour cream.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Who would’ve thought my whole crew would like this soup.  I made the soup because the cauliflower needed to be used and we really don’t care for the raw vegetable.  The soup was easy to make and I had all the ingredients on hand. 

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbls. butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
• 10 oz. frozen cauliflower*
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 Tbls. flour
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Melt butter in a sauce pan, add onion.  Sautee onions until translucent.  Add flour and mix thoroughly.  Add broth and bring to a boil.  Add cauliflower; simmer until tender.

Use a slotted spoon to remove cauliflower from the pot into a blender.  Puree the cauliflower, then add back to the pot.  Mix well.  Add milk, salt & pepper.  Heat to a low simmer, being careful not to boil.

*I used fresh cauliflower.  As the vegetable is simmered in liquid until soft, using fresh meant simmering just a bit longer.

**My own touch was to add a bit of chopped parsley and shredded cheese on top.

 

Copyright © 2010 Leanne Ely, CNC  All rights reserved.

Nacho Potato Soup

At our All Saints Party this past Friday, I volunteered to bring potato soup. Never one to shy away from trying something new, I chose to bring a recipe I hadn't made before - Nacho Potato Soup. Those who tried the soup said it was delicious; that's the response I had hoped to receive. I made a triple batch, but only brought 2/3 to the party. The last 1/3, I double bagged and have frozen for later. Here's the recipe . . .


Nacho Potato Soup
Serves 6-8

1 package Au Gratin potatoes
1 - 11 oz. can corn, drained
1 - 14 oz. can chili recipe tomatoes
2 cups cubed Velveeta cheese
2 cups water
2 cups 2% milk
Tortilla chips, crushed

Combine Au Gratin potatoes, corn, tomatoes and water in a medium sized saucepan. Mix well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add milk and Velveeta; cook and stir until Velveeta is melted. Serve with crushed tortilla chips as a topping.

Mini-Cooking Session

**Sadly, my camera is having a fit. I didn't realize the pictures were all lined and grainy until the day was done and I was importing them into the post. So, no pictures of the days work for viewing. Technology is both wonderful and frustrating!

The day started quite early . . . I woke up at 5:30a and couldn't get back to sleep. Rather than lay there thinking about sleep, I got up and started the mini-cooking session. I had planned to make seven different entrees, but quickly realized that I wouldn't have the energy to complete those and chose to scale back to five. The five I chose to prepare were Breakfast McBiscuits x12, Chicken Enchiladas x1, Chicken Rice Soup x2, Italian Sausage Soup x2 and Taco Soup x2.

6a - You can't start a Saturday morning without a little bit of laundry, so that's where I began! One load folded, one transferred to the dryer and one started in the washer. Now, on to transferring the meat, biscuits & produce out of storage and into the kitchen.

7a - The majority of ingredients for Italian Sausage Soup are in the crock pot and cooking. The Italian sausage is browned and reserved with the Mexican tomatoes to be added later.

8a - Biscuits are baked, 1st batch of bacon ready (some McBiscuits are prepared and eaten for breakfast!), hamburger for Taco Soup browned and the chicken breasts are in the process of being poached. I took a few minutes to wash dishes that I will need later.

8:30a - Taco Soup is simmering on the stove, the rice cooker is started, and the 2nd batch of bacon is in the oven.

9a - Taco Soup is cooling, Chicken Rice Soup is simmering, and the chicken is poached and diced.

9:30a - Preparation for the enchilada sauce is underway; and the enchiladas are rolled and arranged in a 13x9 pan. Bacon is done & placed on paper towels to cool.

10a - Chicken Enchiladas in the fridge to cool. Bacon stored in frig for later.

10:45a - Italian Sausage Soup ingredients are mixed together and left to cool on the stovetop. Washed up the dishes by hand or in the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen.

11:45a - Re-heated one pot of Italian Sausage Soup for Dinner! Everyone cleaned their bowls so they could have a Peanut Butter Cup Pie treat.

1p - Everything cleaned and put away, soups (save for the Italian Sausage Soup - which still needs to cool) are double bagged & put in the freezer. Time for a break - Chai Tea and check laundry.

2:30p - Italian Sausage Soup double bagged and into the freezer. I'm now ready to fry eggs and assemble Breakfast McBiscuits.

3:30p - The Mini-Cooking Session is done! The kitchen is back to it's normal state & ready for my oldest ds to prepare his Redwall Feast (He's already got a good start on it. Somewhere during all the above activities, he found time to prepare the October Ale and bake both the Hare's Haversack Crumble and Loamhedge Legacy Nutbread. He takes after me - make sure the sweets are prepared first!)

Once a Month Cooking

On Wednesday, I finally had time to look through the 'Freezer Cooking Manual' - something I'd been meaning to do since I picked up the book this summer our our local homeschool conference - and am planning to attempt a mini-cooking day on Saturday. I registered as a member of the http://www.30daygourmet.com/ website, too. This gives me access to tested recipes and tips from those who have done it. While I don't think I'll be doing a major cooking day that would cover our whole month, I can definitely see getting 10-15 meals out of a cooking session.

The website also touted an interesting software program that keeps recipes, tracks and mulitiplies ingredients, and creates a variety of reports to make your cooking day easier. A free 30 day trial is available, so I'm testing it out. So far, I'm impressed. I am using a few recipes that were pre-entered, but also entered some of my family favorites for this Saturday. The program creates an ingredient list for shopping and my next favorite feature is the inventory list. The inventory list shows how many entrees have been prepared and can be kept on or near your deep freeze for easy check-off when entrees are taken out for use. Have I mentioned that I LOVE lists? Maybe that's why I like cookbooks and recipes; they're full of lists.

Tomorrow, I'm going to make use of the ingredient list. Fridays are my meeting, errand & shopping day. My dd and I will head to town to fill the cart, the coolers & probably the back of the van!

This is one of the family favorite recipes that I entered into the software (and yes, it does freeze and reheat quite well) . . .

TACO SOUP (from Suzie’s friend, Michelle M.)
Servings: Approximately 12

2 lb. Hamburger
1 small chopped onion
4 oz. can Chopped Green Chilis
1 Pkg. (1.25oz.) Taco Seasoning (I make my own Taco Seasoning Mix)
1 pkg (1oz.) Ranch mix
2 cans (15oz.) Chili Recipe Stewed Tomatoes (I can my own Mexican Stewed Tomatoes)
2 cans (15oz.) Bush’s Hot Chili Beans (I generally use the store brand)
1 ½ -2 cups Water
8oz. Mexican Blend Cheeses
1 Bag Fritos (Ranch or Chili Cheese Flavored are good, but I like plain Fritos)
8oz Sour Cream (we use more sour cream!)

Brown hamburger & chopped onion, drain grease. Add chopped green chilies, beans, tomatoes, taco & ranch seasonings, and water. Simmer 30-45 minutes for best results or let it simmer in the crock pot for 4-6 hours. Serve soup over the Fritos. Then, top with cheese and sour cream.

If I'm ambitious, I try to serve the Taco Soup with my favorite corn bread recipe - adapted from the Company Corn Bread recipe in the cookbook 'Help! My Family's Hungry'.

COMPANY CORN BREAD
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen (more if you only fill the muffin cups 2/3 full)

1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups biscuit baking mix
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted but not hot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either spray the muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray or use muffin cup papers. In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, biscuit mix, sugar, baking powder, and nutmeg. Add milk, eggs, and melted butter. Stir or whisk until smooth. A few lumps of biscuit mix may remain. Pour into prepared muffin pan. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown.