Chili and Taco Soup

My parents visited us from Mississippi this last week (I am a displaced southern girl), and they got a taste of our wonderful Montana weather.  When they got here it was 80 degrees, but the last day they were here the high was in the 40's with snow.

As I look out my window right now it's spitting snow and the mountains are covered. I love this time of year. The cold is a great excuse to start cooking some yummy soups, stews, and chilis.

This post is a challenge to one of my friends who says she can't cook anything but hamburger helper. These recipes are as easy but far yummier than those types of meals. Another friend asked me to put a difficulty rating on my recipes, and I thought that was a great idea. She IS a wonderfully creative friend. :) So below I explain my difficulty ratings. Please keep in mind, I'm not a real foodie. I do not like to cook, but I loooove to eat. People just think I'm kind of good at cooking, so I'm passing along my easy but yummy recipes.

Difficulty Levels:

1 - Your hardest job might be to open a can.
2 - You might actually have to cook some meat and  use a mini food processor to chop some veggies
3 - You're going to chop veggies by hand. This level recipe will have several different steps, and will probably be my hardest type of recipe on this site. Though, I reserve the right to add difficulty ratings later. ;)

Keep in mind that you will get out of your food what you put in. If you use more canned stuff, it won't taste quite as good as fresh or frozen. However, it will still be pretty good.

With that said, let's get to cookin'.

Chili (Basic Recipe) difficulty level 2

1 1/2 lb.  to 2 lb of ground beef
1 onion chopped (use a mini food processor it saves a ton of time)
tsp minced garlic (the stuff in the jar)
2 (15oz) cans tomato sauce
2 (15oz) cans diced tomatoes with green chilis
2 (15 oz) cans kidney beans, drained (or chili beans)
2 Tbsp. chili powder
salt to taste

Brown your ground beef in your big soup pot with the onion and garlic.Drain the fat off the beef. Add tomato sauce, beans, diced tomatoes and green chilis, salt, and chili powder. If you want to keep the chili thicker don't add water. If you want it thinner add some water. Bring to a boil then lower, and simmer for at least 15 minutes.

I normally double this recipe for our family, but only use about 3 cans each of all the canned goods. Then we have some leftovers

Chili Recipe difficulty level 2.25

1 1/2 lb to 2 lbs of ground beef
1 onion chopped
1 or 2 red and green bell peppers chopped (you could choose to use jalapenos instead)
4 garlic cloves (crushed or chopped)
2 (15oz) cans of tomato sauce
2 (15oz) cans kidney beans (or use dry and follow package directions for cooking)
Stewed tomatoes (about the same amount as the 2 15oz cans)
Corn frozen or canned to taste (optional)
2 Tbsp. chili powder
Salt to taste

Put your onion, peppers, and garlic cloves in the mini food processor until chopped, or chop them by hand if that's what you would prefer.

 Put them in with your ground beef and brown. Drain the fat from the ground beef. Add the rest of your ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Or put it in your crock pot on low for about 4 to 6 hours. (Our tomatoes , onion, and peppers that we use for this recipe were grown in our garden. This is shown in the picture below)

Taco Soup

Use the Chili Recipe difficulty level 2.25 and use Taco Seasoning instead of Chili seasoning. You could make your own taco seasoning if you want to keep all the preservatives out. There are several recipes on the internet. Check pintrest for one. Also a great alternative for ground beef in this recipe is shredded chicken, or if you're a vegetarian go without any meat. See kitchen tips from my Cheesy Chicken Noodle Soup recipe for tips on how to cook your chicken. I double this one as well.

Serve all of the above with Sour Cream, shredded cheese, crackers, and Fritos, or if you're really southern serve it with corn bread.




Kitchen Tips: You can always use fresh, frozen, or dried ingredients in place of canned ingredients. You just have to know how to cook them before you put them in your soup or stew. Most fresh and frozen ingredients can just be added straight to your dish, but they tend to be more expensive. You just might need to cook it a bit longer. Dry ingredients will add a good deal of time to your recipe cook time, but they tend to be the cheapest. Canned ingredients are a good middle of the road approach as far as expense, but they don't have the great nutritional value of the frozen or fresh ingredients.

Another Kitchen Tip: Cook twice the amount of ground beef with the veggies. Put one half in a freezer bag and freeze for the next time you cook this meal. Take out of the freezer and let thaw. Most of your real work will be done for you.

If you've made it this far in the post, congratulations! That was a long one to get through, but you get two recipes with different difficulty ratings. Y'all enjoy!