Taco Soup

With all this cold weather and snow (over 70 inches this winter), I've been pulling out all my "comfort food" recipes. I got this recipe from one of my virtual playgroup moms and it is one of my favorites for cold winter days. It's easy to make and we almost always have all of the ingredients on-hand, so it's a cinch to throw together at the last minute.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey

1 large onion, chopped

1 package Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix (not dip mix)

1 package taco seasoning (or a homemade version)

1 can chili hot beans

1 can corn

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can rotel

Directions:

Brown meat and onions. Add all ingredients to a pot (do not drain any of the cans), and simmer for one hour.

My Recommendations:

I never brown my meat in a frying pan, but instead boil it. While the meat is browning, I chop up the onions and throw them in the frying pan to brown. And sometimes when I'm lazy I don't brown them at all - doesn't make or break the meal. Instead of cooking this on the stove, you could also just brown the meat and onions and then throw everything together in the crock-pot.

Also, I usually sub out the rotel in favor of plain diced tomatoes, and replace the chili hot beans with just chili beans because my kids can't handle the spice.