Soup Week - Soup #2 - Taco Soup

This Taco Soup is really, really easy and really perfect for leftovers. It also takes very little dishes -- I make mine in my crockpot. It can be made vegetarian or with meat. I'll give you the run down on what I dumped in my crockpot this time, and give examples for swap outs. It's great for a busy week because you can literally dump and turn the crockpot on and it will be done. Plus, the soup can be used as a great baked potato topper as well.

So, my ingredients this time were:

1 cup (about) of ground turkey (leftover from tacos a few nights before)
1 can of red beans
1/2 cup of black bean soup (or you could use 1 can of black beans)
1 cup or can of white beans (or whatever other bean you like - chili beans, garbanzo beans, etc. I had some white beans leftover from another recipe)
1-1 1/2 cups of corn (I used frozen corn that I had shaved off the cob when corn was in season and cheap. You could also use 1 can of corn, if you wanted).
1-2 cans of diced tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes, 1-2 cups, depending on how tomato-ey you want it).
1 packet of taco seasoning

I just dump all of these items in the crockpot and a few hours later you really do have a great soup. Just add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnishing with this soup is key - it's a great way to use up the crumbs at the bottom of a tortilla chip bag and anything you would top a taco with, is great on this soup, notably shredded cheese, avocado, sour cream, diced red onions, etc.

I also topped a baked potato with the soup one night, which was also quite good.

For swap outs, I recommend any ground beef you have or leftover fajita meat or even shredded chicken. It's also a great vegetarian soup in which I just up the amount of canned beans (usually putting two of kidney and two of black because those are my favorites. My mom usually adds frozen green beans as well.) You might also need to add more taco seasoning, if you make an extra full pot of it.

Enjoy!!

In This Week’s Lunchbox: Black Bean Salad

Ingredients:
• 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
• ¼ cup of corn (I just use frozen corn that is cooked and then cooled)
• Diced red onion (just under ¼ cup)
• Quinoa (just under ¼ cup of cooked quinoa – this is actually the quinoa I still have left from the 1 cup of dried quinoa I cooked up last week. It makes a lot when cooked and I keep it in the fridge and use it in a variety of recipes)
• Diced chiles (jalapenos, serranos, etc. whatever you have or like – I leave the amount up to you. It depends on how hot you want it)
• Lime-Olive Oil Dressing (juice ½ of a lime, add olive oil and salt and pepper, amounts will be based on your tasting preference with the oil and s/p).
• Red pepper flakes (as you like, if you like)

Basically, it’s very simply you just mix all the ingredients together and then add the dressing – slowly drizzle in and taste until it has the amount you want. I also tossed a little bit of ranch dressing dip mix (just the dry mix) in with mine. Salt and pepper to taste, if needed. It will depend on if you already put enough black and pepper in the olive oil-lime dressing.

You can eat the salad on its own or have it with tortilla chips, particularly if the salad doesn’t have a grain element.

Alterations: I recommend that you add tomatoes (chopped/diced), if you have them. I normally do, but I didn’t have any this week. Another nice addition to this salad is fresh cilantro, chopped. It makes a big difference, in a very good way. You can also omit the quinoa, if you like, or replace it with couscous or rice. Some people I’ve shared this with like to top it with shredded cheese.