Taco Soup

Another quick, easy, delicious recipe from my friend Kristi.  This soup is full of yumminess, hearty and inexpensive to make!  One recipe has nine - one cup servings and it costs about $10 to make, you can't beat that!

Step one: Line up all your ingredients for a pretty picture:

Step two: brown meat in a skillet on the stove top

Step three: after a few minutes of cooking, add diced onions

Step four: while the meat and onion are cooking away, start filling your crock pot with the remaining ingredients

Step five: if you are like me, you dont love whole stewed tomatoes, so I add an extra (totally unnecessary) step by chopping up the tomatoes to be smaller bits,

like so, after they are chopped, go ahead and throw those in the crock pot too!

Step 6: If you timed everything beautifully cause you are just that good, your meat would be getting close to done by the time you got everything else in the crock pot.

Step 7: Once the meat is almost cooked through, add the Rank seasoning packet and the taco seasoning packet

Step 8: then move the meat right into the crock pot with everything else:

Step 9: combine and let cook on low heat for 4-6 hours or longer if you go to work and have to set it before you leave :)

Step 10: Enjoy and maybe top with a little sour cream, cheese and avocado--just a suggestion!

Now for the recipe:

Ingredients:
* 1 pound lean ground beef
* 2 (15 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1 (1.25 ounce) packet taco seasoning mix
* 1 (1.25 ounce) packet ranch dressing mix
* 1 (15 ounce) can chili beans (I use pinto)
* 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
* 1 (15 ounce) can whole sweet corn

Directions: 
1. Brown the meat and onions and drain, if needed.
2. Mix in taco seasoning and ranch dressing mixes into the meat.
3. Add the remaining ingredients into the crock pot, without draining.
4. Add meat mixture into crock pot and stir to combine all ingredients.
5. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
6. Serve hot, top with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese.