Taco Soup

The first time I remember eating Taco Soup is when my sister Becky made it. I simply fell in love with it, then when I learned how easy it was to make it became a staple meal for our family. Matter of fact when Shawn and I were talking about it today he jokingly said, "Oh yeah we had it every meal and I always got in trouble for either eating too much, having too many tortilla chips with it or too much cheese. It's true we did have one of those discussions everytime we had it, but we really didn't have it everyday.
I remember one of the first times I made the soup he was determined that he didn't like it and I'm not sure which time he changed his mind but after we had to let him know who would be joining us for dinner so he could figure out how many bowls he would be allowed and if he should ration his chips to another bowlful.

Taco Soup

• 1lb ground hamburger, browned with the onion (pour off fat)
• 1/2 of a diced onion
• 1-large can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce (small 6oz.?)
• 1 pkg. McCormick Original Taco Seasoning mix
• (any brand will work, but I only use McCormick, it's my fave)
• 1-15oz can kidney beans (not drained)
• 1-15 oz can corn, drained
• 3 c. water

Put it all in a pan on the stove and heat through, simmer about 20 minutes for best flavor . Serve with crushed tortilla chips, grated cheese and sour cream. I like to crush my chips into the bowl, top with cheese and then add soup over the top, but it usually is very hot and so if it needs to cool before you eat it the chips may get too soggy to enjoy.
I usually put mine in the crock pot and, minimum, double the recipe using many different kinds of beans, like pinto, great northern, kidney, even pork n' beans. I put the crock pot on high for about an hour and the simmer 2-3 more hours or till we are ready to eat. Often when I make this we have lots of mouths to feed, hence the large batches. For example, I used my 5 quart crock pot today and added 5 cans of beans and 2 packages of taco mix with the rest of the recipe. It is probably one of the most forgiving recipes ever, it is pretty hard to make it "wrong". This was how Becky taught me to make it.