Favorite meal: taco soup

This taco soup recipe has been a mainstay in the Varela household (though I haven't made it lately). It is so easy and so good, and I often have nearly all of the ingredients on hand.



Taco soup (modified from a crock pot recipe book)

1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey (I use the entire 1.25 lb. package of 99% lean ground turkey from the grocery store)
1/2 cup chopped onion (sometimes I use more)
28-oz. can whole tomatoes with juice
14-oz. can kidney beans with juice
14-oz. can black beans with juice
17-oz. can corn with juice (not creamed corn... I made that mistake once)
8-oz. can tomato sauce (I use the larger size can tomato sauce to make up for the extra meat)
2 packages dry taco seasoning (one hot envelope and one mild envelope, but you may vary this)

Brown beef (turkey) and onions in skillet. Toward end of browning, mix in a packet of hot taco seasoning. Drain if needed. Combine all ingredients (including second seasoning packet) in large pot. Cover and heat to bubbling, then uncover, turn heat super low, and let simmer for as long as desired (sometimes I cook for 20 minutes, sometimes a couple of hours). Stir occasionally.

Notes: Sometimes I stir in an 8-oz. can of tomato paste to thicken it a bit and add some zest. I serve with shredded cheese, tortilla chips to break on top (Jon uses Fritos), sour cream, avocado, etc. The soup saves and reheats really well too. I've made the soup lots of different ways and it always turns out great--sometimes I don't have one of the beans on hand or I add in a different kind of bean like garbanzo.