Favorite Meal – Lifestyle Sistas Link-Up

Hello friends!

I am just back from a trip to Kentucky to visit my sweet mama and on up to Ohio to visit Paul’s parents.  Have missed blogging and being able to keep up with everything Internet over the past week.

While I was away, the Lifestyle Sistas shared a link-up about their favorite meals.  Their blogs were posted on Friday. I thought I would have time and connectivity to post, too, but it didn’t work out that way.  So today I want to  share one of my favorite meals.

I am always looking for new, quick and easy, preferably low calorie meals.  I have been using the ZipList Recipe Box program online to clip, save and organize my recipes for about a year now and love it…but as of the end of this week, ZipList is closing up shop.  So I will be looking for a similar program or app to do what I have been doing with ZipList.  Not only was I able to save and organize recipes through ZipList but I could also create a weekly meal plan and a grocery shopping list for the ingredients to the recipes I was planning to make.  I could add staples like toilet paper, milk and eggs to the ZipList shopping list so that it became a complete shopping list for everything I might need.  I will miss you, ZipList!

On to one of my favorite recipes.

One of my all time favorite recipes is for Taco Soup.  It is easy, crock-pot friendly and can be adapted to include ingredients you have on hand at home.  I first made this soup about five years ago and my family loved it.  Then I started making it at school with my second graders each year as we began our study of folktales.  I would read them the story Stone Soup in an original version such as the one by Marcia Brown.  Love this story about sharing.  Then we would read some new versions of this story and compare and contrast them.  I will include my lesson plan and activities in another post that you can read here.  As a culminating activity, we would make Stone Soup, which was really Taco Soup with a rock thrown in!  Here is the original recipe (not sure where I came across it) and then my version.

Taco Soup

2 lbs. hamburger meat
1 qt. tomato juice
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 package dry Ranch dressing mix
2 cans pinto beans
1 can black beans
4 cans Rotel tomatoes w/chilis
1 can chilis
Fritos
Shredded cheese
Sour cream

Stone Soup

1 pound hamburger or ground turkey
2 cups tomato juice or V8
1 package taco seasoning
1 package dry Ranch dressing mix
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
2 cans Rotel tomatoes with chilis
And a stone
Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Cilantro

I add the juice, packages of Ranch and taco seasoning, beans and Rotel to the crock pot.  Then brown the hamburger and add it.  You can also add chopped onion and green pepper to the hamburger meat as it browns.  Maybe a half cup of each, if you like.  Add the browned meat to the crock pot and cook on low for about 8 hours.  If you like your soup a little thinner, add about a can of water to the crock pot with the other ingredients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This soup is delicious with corn bread or served over tostada or Frito chips.  I add grated cheese and a dollop of (fat-free) sour cream with a sprig of cilantro to the top of my bowl.  Mmmm, mmmm, good, to coin a phrase that Campbell’s Soup used to use years ago.

Hugs and sticky kisses,

 

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