Monday, January 21, 2008

Soup's On!

My husband is quite picky about what he eats. My menu shrunk and/or changed considerably once we got married. Generally speaking, it's not worth it to try to cook if only one person (me) is going to eat it, so I usually just stick to the stuff I know he will eat and rarely cook a lot of the things I used to make. For example, taco soup. I love taco soup, but the only thing in it that Greg will eat is... well, the ground beef. He won't touch anything else in it. Suffice it to say, I haven't had it since we got married.

Yesterday, however, I had a brilliant idea. In light of our frustration over lunch options last week, Greg suggested I make a double batch of dinner tonight so we would be sure to have enough leftovers to take for lunch this week. That got me to thinking. If I make a double batch of dinner tonight, he can take that a couple of days this week, and I can make a big ol' pot of soup today which I can then take for lunch next week! Whatever is left I can freeze for easier lunches later.

I sit here now smelling a big pot of taco soup. Granted, not nearly as big as I would normally make, since I will be the only one eating it. It's a hard recipe to cut in half since it mostly consists of multiple cans of stuff, but I made a few adjustments to shrink it down a bit. Granted, if today hadn't been an extra day off, I probably wouldn't have taken the extra time. I'm glad I thought about it when I did!

7 comments:

Webmaster said...

That sounds yummy ... what's the recipe?

Susan said...

Um, the official recipe or my version? =) There's an official recipe that I didn't have on hand, but I'm not one for precision anyway.

Basically I brown off about a pound of ground beef with some onion, drain, and add a tomato base (either a can or two of diced/chopped tomatoes or today I used a can of tomato sauce with a couple of small cans of V8), about 3 cans of different beans (I used a can each of kidney, black, and pinto). Add 1 can of who kernel corn, one packet of dry ranch seasoning, and 2 packets of taco seasoning (I didn't have taco seasoning, so I made my own). Simmer a while and serve topped with shredded cheddar, sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips.

Yeah, I know, that made no sense. I'll see if my friend Jen will send me the real recipe and I'll post it!

Susan said...

Oh, and the only thing I drained (other than the grease off the meat!) was the black beans. Everything else goes in straight up, that's what gives it enough liquid.

Webmaster said...

That sounds fantastic. Except for the corn. I don't usually eat corn in Mexican dishes. Does it mess with the texture? It's just one can, so I can't imagine it would be overwhelming.

Susan said...

Don't like corn, leave it out. I also added a can of rotel. I forgot about that. Trust me, the details won't matter. And if there's something else you think might be good added, throw it in. It's by no means an exact science. I do have a somewhat more organized recipe that I'll post shortly.

From the Doghouse said...

So, when are we meeting for lunch?

Webmaster said...

Doghouse, you should be the cruise director for the next one. You know all these great places to eat in Jackson and thereabouts.