Bring on the soup...

No hint of Spring here.  It snowed more over the weekend-it WAS beautiful and slippery and yes, cold.  Our house is cold.  It is getting a bit depressing.  

To tackle this depression I made a somewhat unhealthy soup recipe that my friend Mary Kay shared with me. She passed the recipe on to me from her daughter-in-law who creates the soup at work with friends; they each bring an ingredient and then share for dinner or lunch.  I love that idea and would love to find someone at work who would like to do the same.

 I used a pound of ground beef from my friend Farmer John and I created my own taco seasonings using this video.  I've got to get better at snapping photos of my own food!!

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Taco Soup

1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasonings 
1 package ranch dressing (I omitted-I didn't have it and don't know how to recreate)
1 can of pinto or kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes or can of Rotel
1/2 bag of frozen corn (I added a can of corn)
1 can diced green chilis
1 can black beans

Brown the hamburger in a skillet, draining any excess grease.  Drain beans and can of corn. Combine all ingredients in to crock pot and stir.  Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Serve warm with toppings; avocado, sour cream, blue chips, cilantro, or sprinkles of cheese.  

Pretty easy. Next time I would double a few ingredients as I love leftovers for lunch.  I made it on Sunday before I left for a play in the afternoon so it would be ready for dinner.  I was happy I could substitute  many items.  I didn't have even a a can of diced tomatoes so used the tomato juice my mom  made from her garden tomatoes last Fall.  I did have cans of black and pinto beans in the cupboard, which was perfect for this last minute choice.  When I make it again I will try and soak my own beans first.

I enjoyed making the taco seasoning packet from spices I already had in the cupboard and if anyone knows how to make a healthy version of ranch dressing seasonings I would add that.  I'm curious how the ranch packet would taste in the soup but not curious enough to buy a packet as they are just little containers of chemicals and flavor nubs.

The soup was delicious and we ate it during the Oscars; a very down home meal for such a festive occasion!  And then last night Groovy Girl and I ate it again over baked potatoes (with small-ish dollops of sour cream).

Did you watch the Oscars?  I thought for awhile Gravity was going to sweep it (one of them that I have not seen) and was pleasantly surprised when Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett won.  I am extremely happy that 12 years a slave won and loved many of the speeches starting with Jared Leto's tribute to his mother.  Amazing.

We saw a lot of good movies this year and I loved in particular Philomena (and was sad it didn't win anything), Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska (Bruce Dern was amazing also) and 12 years a slave.  I have yet to watch Gravity but I will.  I was sad Lone Ranger wasn't nominated for enough as I loved that movie also. Our favorite dress was Lupita Nyong'o's floating blue dress.  She was a breath of fresh air!