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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Pantry Recipe: Taco Soup

This recipe is unbelievably easy, delicious, and just perfect for a food storage dinner.
Ingredients: onion powder, canned tomatoes, canned chicken Great Northern Beans, black beans, kidney beans, corn, taco seasoning (not pictured) and salsa.

Like we've been saying all month, beans are extremely versatile. Whenever I make this bean soup, I just grab whatever beans I have on hand. Today I used black beans (I always use these), Great Northern Beans, and kidney beans. I also like to use pinto beans or chili beans (probably in place of the kidney beans).

So, here we go:
Grab a pot.
Pour in your canned tomatoes.....

And corn....
And beans... (some beans need to be drained, others do not. Just look at the label. I did not drain the black beans, but I drained both the pinto beans and kidney beans because I wanted a thicker soup, and the salsa & tomatoes add enough water for me).

And chicken.

Next, add the salsa. The salsa makes this soup a bit spicy and gives it a little kick. If you'd rather not have spicy soup, just add another can of tomatoes.

Add the onion powder and taco seasoning. Now, throw it on the stove and let it all simmer together for about 30 minutes. You could also throw it all in the crock pot and let it simmer all day - YUM! The thing I like most about this meal is that it can feed a huge crowd without much extra effort at all - just open a few more cans! If you like a thinner soup, add some chicken or vegetable broth (or water and boullion cubes). This recipe can also easily be vegetarian if you leave out the chicken.
When were are eating this meal on a regular night, I use frozen chicken breasts, and I serve it with shredded cheese and sour cream. Even if we didn't have those extras (i.e., we were truly living off our food storage), it still tastes delicious. Don't forget the chips!
Bean Soup
1 can black beans
1 can Great Northern beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can tomatoes
1 can corn 3/4 cup salsa
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp taco seasoning
Combine all ingredients into a pot and simmer for 30 minutes. (Or, combine it all into a crockpot and simmer).
Note: this recipe can also be made with dry beans. Simply cover all your beans with a few inches of water and soak for a few hours, or overnight. Then rinse the beans and use normally!

5 comments:

Julie Weiss said...

So I have never ventured into the canned chicken thing. How do you like it? Is the texture good? Where do you buy it?

Hannah said...

I really like canned chicken, actually. I sometimes use it when I make chicken salad because the texture is so much softer (kind of like canned tuna). I buy it at Walmart, usually. It comes in 12.5 oz cans there.

Aleasha said...

YUUUM!!! Looks great to me. Thanks for the dinner idea for tomorrow.

Kerrie Weitzel said...

To help beans not be so "gassy", put one heaping teaspoon of baking soda in the water you use to soak the beans, then discard the water, rinse and cook.

Anonymous said...

Love your blog! Thank you for sharing so many great recipes and ideas! Can you give an approximate number of servings for your recipes. I will be feeding five adults and two children if there is an emergency.
Thank you!