taco soup.

for wine and dinner night, bestie, ( a term you will hear(or read, if you will) often, lovingly, referring to any of my girl friends, or "besties", pronounced best - eeees) introduced me to a delightful, waist watcher friendly, soup. taco soup. i know right?! taco soup? what can that possibly be? delicious is what it is! the point is, i just couldn't let it go. i had to have it, and often. not only did i have to personally have it, but i also had to share it. and let me tell you, it has never been met with anything other than sheer joy! although, truth be told, most of my friends have never met a soup that they didn't like, we're just friendly like that, but that doesn't take away anything from the awesome power of yumminess this soup embodies!  after many demands for the recipe to be paid forward, i have decided to put it out there for everyone! it is delightful. and now, as it starts to get cold out, snuggling up with some hearty meat and beans, sounds like nothing other than, an awesome plan! so please, yoink the recipe, make it to your hearts content, and enjoy!

in order to get started, you're going to need the following ingredients:

 cans of : chili beans, pinto beans, black beans (i personally add these because i love them but not in original recipe), corn, regular tomatoes, mexican tomatoes, ground turkey, a large onion (or 2 little ones), a ranch packet, a taco seasoning packet, and some chips.

ok. i confess, i bought the wrong size tomato cans (should be the 8ozers) but, used it all anyways and it still tasted delicious!

the first step is to brown the meat and the onions in a skillet. once browned and drained (a lesson i learned after the spaghetti and meat sauce incident of '98), add the two powdery packets and mix.

when you finish mixing, take all of the canned foods and throw them into a giant pot, undrained. now i repeat, undrained! seems weird but all the canned juices make the soupy part, otherwise you'd just have beans, tomatoes, and meat in a pot.

mmmmmmm, can't you just smell it as it simmers!

now i warn you, for the next hour, you will have to patiently wait for it to simmer properly. avoid all temptation to jump in and start early! its like a patience building exercise! and good things come to those who wait! i promise!

it's important at this point to sit down, with a bottle of red, a full (been sipped on while opening cans) glass, already in hand, and surround yourself with good music, good conversation and wonderful friends, because before you know it...

ding! hours up!

now remember, like in life, presentation is everything, no point in making something delicious if it's just gonna look like slop... isn't there a saying like that?  if it looks like a slop, walks like a slop, talks like a slop....or was that a duck? anyways, you get the point! dress this soup up! make it so pretty, that its almost hard to eat!

so.........

hopefully while you were at the store you grabbed some extras like my favorites: cheese, sour cream and avocados. because if you did, and with the help of strategically placed chips......

voila!

now you try!

bon appetite!

xoxo.