Taco Soup!

Hot temptations on a cold night!















Well, Wilma has come and gone from Florida, and thankfully, my parents are still earth-bound. It has been a trying week for the family, with several members of our extended family having passed away, including two sisters from Columbia who died in the same week last week! And they were both in their 40's to boot! Hey, these days, I don't take one day for granted. There have been a huge number of 45 year olds dying right in my own town. I think there were three last week listed in one day's obituary. One was 42 and two were 45.

I've spent the night writing the eulogy for my grandmother's brother-in-law who passed on Sunday. My brother will preach the funeral tomorrow. Sometimes we share these projects since I am the family historian, writer, and photographer. Maybe if we all had to write a eulogy every so often, we would think more about our eternal state instead of always worrying about all this earthly lunacy.

We made taco soup tonight. We had tried it last week but did not like the recipe, so we tried again tonight with much better results. I am going to have to watch my fat intake. I did very well at the hayride/birthday party Saturday night! I only ate one S'more! I've cut out most sweets and all sweet drinks, and hopefully the changes will do me good. I've got Hannah's birthday party and another hayride this weekend AND Halloween to get through----horrors, it is going to be hard to stay away from all the sweets! :)




Anyway, here is the recipe for Taco Soup as we like it:






TACO SOUP

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground beef, browned
2 cans whole kernel corn
1 can pinto beans
1 can red kidney beans
2 cans Mexican-style tomatoes (Rotel)
1 small can chopped, green chilies
16 oz. sour cream
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 pkg. dry, Ranch Dressing mix
grated cheddar cheese
taco chips

Directions:
1. Brown ground beef in a skillet and chop up into small pieces while cooking.
2. Drain off grease from the ground beef after browning.
3. Put the ground beef into a crockpot. Add corn, beans, tomatoes and chilies. Do not drain any of these items.
4. Stir in packages of sour cream, taco seasoning, and Ranch Dressing mix.
5. Cook in crock-pot for four hours. If not using a crockpot, use a large dutch oven pan and simmer for 1 hour.
6. Serve in bowls and sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.
7. Taco chips are a good addition to this tasty soup.