Taco Soup

Before all my food issues popped up, there was a soup that I used to make that everybody in the family loved: Taco Soup. I got the recipe from a friend, although I'm not sure where she got it from, and it was so, so easy, and so tasty, that I loved this thing to bits and pieces.

Actually, I'll put the original recipes AND the altered recipe here, for anyone who can use it...although this is the original recipe + any alterations my memory has made over the course of time, but it's close.


What I remember of the original recipes is:
1 can garbanzo beans (the 15-16 oz size)
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can white/cannelini beans
2 cans corn
1 can of tomato soup (maybe two?) - the little campbell soup can size, more like 10-12 oz
1 can stewed, chopped tomatoes
1 pound ground beef, browned in a sauce pan (originally had onions, but we rarely used them)
1-2 packets taco seasoning (we used to pick spicy taco seasoning)

You put all these together in a pot, even the liquid from the cans, and cooked it until hot.

That's it. SO simple, right?


Here's the NEW recipe for those of us with food issues who can't use premade stuff.

Taco Soup

1-2 batches of taco seasoning (if you have your own taco seasoning blend to add, then add 1 large roasted red bell pepper, peeled and blended up)
7 1/2 cups of various beans. I used 1 1/2 cups each of: garbanzo, vaquero (black and white bean), sangre de toro (meatier bean), cranberry (pinto-like bean), and bolito beans (tastes like a cross between a tepary and pinto bean). Chosen for different colors and textures, and flavors)
3 cups liquid that you cooked the beans in, or broth if you don't have that
1 cup bean liquid (optional) - to add if more veggies are added, or if the stew is cooking off liquid too quickly
4 cups homemade tomato sauce, the plain kind, before seasoning and salt added
4 or more med yellow tomatoes, chopped (color chosen for effect, not flavor. Pick whatever color you like)

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients in a pot. Simmer or low boil for 10-20 minutes, then added browned meat and simmer for 5 more. If you want more flavor and don't care about the meat texture changing, or you need a bit more fat in your diet, just add the meat to the stew without browning it.

Notes:
1) When substituting, a 15-16 oz can of beans has about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of beans and 1/2 cup of liquid
2) I originally miscounted and used to few beans, and too much liquid. The recipe above reflects what I think should work better.
3) Having turmeric in the taco seasoning mix made a huge difference. Without it, the stew is a kind of reddish brown after the meat is added. Once the turmeric cooked a bit, it made the stew more of a sunset red. Very pretty.
4) Note on cooking the beans before adding them. DON'T mix them up and cook them all together, like I did. Because I chose some beans that hold their shape, and some that are firmer. Which meant that some cooked faster than the others. So before I even added them to the dish, by the time I had them ALL cooked, some of the beans were mush.  I would cook the beans separately, next time.
5) I wouldn't mind even more flavor with this, but so far, this is not too bad.  I think with more chiles it would be much better, but for families like mine with kids who don't like spicy food, that's not so good.

substitution amount suggestions came from here: http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodequivalents/a/blkbeanequiv.htm