What's For Dinner~ Taco Soup

Taco Soup!

We love this soup. There is a bunch of variations and it's called a bunch of different things such as Santa Fe Soup or Mexican Soup. My Santa Fe Soup recipe is a little different but would feed an army, so I use this one most of the time. It still makes a big pot and is more of a frugal meal.

2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 pkg. original hidden valley ranch dry dressing
2 1/2 cups water

Brown ground beef and onions in a large pan, drain. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips topped with shredded cheese, taco sauce and sour cream or serve spooned over cornbread. You can even dip it up with a slotted spoon to drain and roll in a soft tortilla shell.

I've substituted the beans out and used chili beans and red beans. This is also good with 1 lb. hamburger and either a pound of ground sausage, pork, turkey, deer, lamb, or beeffalo. I've used tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes and white corn instead of sweet yellow corn. It's a very versatile soup.

A lot of recipes say to drain the corn and beans and wash the beans. I don't.

What's For Dinnner? Smothered Pork Chops

Smothered Pork Chops, YUM! Everyone has their favorite recipe for smothered pork chops. I fix them several different ways myself depending upon what I have on hand.

Tonight's pork chops won't have any cream of whatever soup. I only had chicken and didnt want to use it.... so here's what I did. This makes the meal cheaper too.

Place: pork chops in prepared pan. (pam or lightly greased)
Dump: 1 envelope of Lipton Onion Soup Mix & 2 envelopes of brown gracy mix over chops
Pour: 2 cups cold water over all.
Cover: pan with foil.
Bake: 375 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Serve with a baked potato, vegetable and bread. Tonight's bread is going to be stove top stuffing.

Dinner is served!