Taco Soup

Taco soup is a staple at our house. I have made it so often, I no longer follow a recipe. (That's BIG for me!) But for the benefit of taco soup "newbies" :), I'll post a recipe, followed by some of the modifications I've made over the years...

This is the kind of inexpensive, nutritious "fast food" we like!


Taco Soup

1 lb ground beef
chopped onions (amount to taste)
1/2 c. taco sauce or 1 pkg taco seasoning or 2-3 t. chili powder (to taste)
2 (16 oz) cans kidney beans (I drain)
2 (16 oz) cans stewed tomatoes
1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
1 can corn, undrained
1-2 cans creamed corn

Brown beef and onions. Add seasoning of choice. Add beans, tomatoes and sauce, corn. Mix well. Bring to boil, then simmer, covered, 15 minutes.

Optional toppings: grated cheese, tortilla chips (broken from bottom of bag is great for this!), sour cream

Notes: Before I started gardening, this took a lot of canned goods. (I always knew when Taco Soup was on the menu by the number of cans in the dishwasher after dinner.) Now, I use a lot of garden goodies...

I brown the beef with onion, adding chopped green peppers and diced jalapenos from the freezer. I generally use chili powder as the seasoning (least expensive) or homemade Mexican seasoning. I throw in a full quart of canned tomatoes, a pint of homemade tomato sauce and a couple cups of frozen corn. The only canned good I use is the kidney beans. When I'm truly ambitious (not often), I buy kidney beans in bulk, cook them, and freeze. They are significantly cheaper than canned beans.