I LOVE Taco Soup!
But I’m still looking for that perfect recipe.
I just recently made taco soup. I’ve had it at other people’s places, but this was the first time I’ve had it from my own kitchen. The taco soup I made was really good, but I’ve had better, so I’ll keep trying some other recipes in my cookbooks.
Actually, now that I think of it, I might put that on hold for awhile… that sounds like a great winter project for next year. With the snow melting outside and the promise of Spring, who wants to be making taco soup or any soup?!
Unless it’s bread soup. Now THAT’s a summer soup! Did you ever have that? Rip up a piece of bread, put some fruit chunks in (bananas, fresh peaches, or fresh strawberries are best), sprinkle some sugar over it, then add milk. On a hot summer day, that is just a great lunch. So refreshing! And you don’t break out in a sweat while eating. Mom made that now and then when we were growing up. Another cold soup (that I don’t know if I’d ever have the nerve to try) is Cool Raspberry Soup. I see it in one of my cookbooks now and then and even though there’s a picture, I always flip past, knowing I’d never make it.
Anyway, back to the taco soup. It’s cold and damp and rainy outside, so I think it’s still ok to talk about and feature hot soups. This recipe comes from the Fix-It and Forget-It cookbook. I’ll bet alot of you have that cookbook. It seems pretty popular. One thing I think is so neat about it is that I know a couple people who submitted recipes and tips. I have a few cookbooks like that. Makes it feel like it’s just not some random cookbook compiled by some random unknown people. I even know someone in one of my Taste of Home’s Quick Cooking cookbooks!
Taco Soup with Pizza Sauce
2 lbs. ground beef, browned
1 small onion, chopped and sauteed in ground beef drippings
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 pkgs. dry taco seasoning
1 qt. pizza sauce
1 qt. water
Tortilla chips
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Sour cream
Combine ground beef, onion, salt, pepper, taco seasoning, pizza sauce, and water in 5-qt, or larger, slow cooker. Cover. Cook on Low 3-4 hours. And there ya go, easy as that! Top individual servings with tortilla chips, cheese, and sour cream. Notice there IS soup under the toppings. Can almost see it.
Makes 8-10 servings.
At the bottom of the recipe, it says, “Variation: Add 15-oz can black beans and 4 oz. can chilis to mixture before cooking.” I thought that sounded good, so I added both.
The soup went perfect with cornbread muffins! About every time I post, I wish there’d be a way to give you a taste of whatever food I’m featuring. Technology and computers keep advancing, but I’m quite sure there will never be software to install for that feature. Oh well, you’ll just have to come visit sometime… or try the recipes yourself.
Soup, Salad, and Red Lobster Biscuits
You know the term “just quick throw a soup together”? Well, I don’t see it that way!!! Every time I make a soup from scratch, it’s alot of work. But I do get a satisfaction out of starting with raw whole veggies and ending up with a good soup. And it’s fun to make… I just don’t buy the thing of it being ‘quick’. Any comments on that? 
This soup is actually pretty easy though because the only raw veggies in it is potatoes and onions.
Chunky Potato Soup . ..I’m not sure where this recipe comes from, it’s handwritten it on a blank cookbook page
3 med red potatoes
2 c. water
1 sm onion, chopped
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
Crushed red pepper flakes
Black pepper
3 cups milk
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed ham
Peel potatoes and cut into 1″cubes. Cook until tender.
Drain, reserving liquid.
Saute onion in butter until tender, but not brown.
Add flour, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Cook 3-4 min.
Add potatoes, 1 cup liquid, milk, and sugar to saucepan. Stir well. Add cheese and ham. Simmer 30 min, stirring frequently. Serves 12. Very good! That red pepper gives it some kick and extra flavor.
I know my dipper for the soup is way too big! I bought a smaller one just this morning.
Red Lobster Biscuits …from Freida
Preheat oven to 450. Mix 2 cups Bisquick, 1/2 cup water or milk, and 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese. Drop onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 min. After baking and while still hot, brush on 1/4 cup butter mixed with 1 tsp. parsley flakes, 1/2 tsp. garlic salt or powder, and 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning. Serve hot!
I have tried to copy Red Lobster biscuits SO often! I think every time we go there, we say we’ve gotta figure out how to do them. And this is the closest I’ve gotten to them yet! Still not quite as light and moist, but very close. Definitely the best biscuit recipe I’ve tried so far! You know they’ve gotta be good though… the tops are laden with melted butter! You really oughta try them!!!!!
EDIT: This was my 1st attempt. Then, I got another recipe, which is better… so if you try the biscuits, please use this recipe instead.
Soup & Sandwiches
This was a very easy meal to make! I’ve had my eye on these sandwiches and have been wanting to try them for awhile. The domestic part of me gets a kick out of making soups from scratch, altho’ we don’t have soup very much. I’m more used to popping open a can when we do have soup, so there’s something kind of ‘fun’ about starting with raw potatoes and carrots! 
Quick and Easy Italian Vegetable Beef Soup …This recipe comes from the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook , all the recipes use a crockpot.
1 lb ground beef or turkey, browned and drained
3 carrots, sliced
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
15 oz can diced Italian tomatoes or 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
6 oz can Italian-flavored tomato paste
4 1/2 cups water (I put in only about 3 cups to cut down on the broth, I like soups full of stuff without a lot of broth)
1 quart beef broth
Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on high 6-8 hours, or until potatoes and carrots are tender. So easy. I had it in the crockpot by 10:00 a.m. and didn’t have to touch it till supper… well, ok, I couldn’t help but stir it now and then. It made about 12 cups, fit nice in my 4 qt crockpot. It was a good hearty soup. We liked it.
The Ultimate Grilled Cheese … This recipe comes from the 2001 Annual Quick Cooking Cookbook.
1 pkg (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup mayonnaise ( I used a little less than 1/2 cup the second time and that tasted better)
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp seasoned salt
10 slices Italian bread (This isn’t with the regular bread, at our grocery store anyway. It’s over by the bakery.)
2 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and mayo until smooth. Stir in cheeses, garlic powder, and seasoned salt. Spread 5 slices of bread with the cheese mixture, about 1/3 cup each.
Top with remaining bread. Butter the outsides of sandwiches; cook in a large skillet over medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Yield: 5 servings. I buttered the bread, put the bottom piece in the skillet, then put the stuff on, the put the other buttered piece on top… seemed like it would be a little less handling and a little less messy that way. We had one left over and it was really good reheated in the oven! I made this meal Wed evening and it tasted like too much mayo in these sandwiches, so when my sis-in-law Liz came over yesterday, I made them again and put less mayo in and it was better. We had some of the leftover soup and Liz brought salad to go with it. Anyway, Shannon and I really liked these sandwiches (I’ll let Liz speak for herself 
). It was a nice variation from reg grilled cheese.
This tip was in a “Sandwich Secrets” section in the same cookbook: “Here’s a hurry-up way to make grilled cheese sandwiches for a crowd: Prepare the sandwiches as you would for the griddle, but place them all on a cookie sheet instead. Bake in a 350 oven for 5-8 minutes on each side until they’re golden brown.” I just saw that tip, so I didn’t get a chance to try it yet, but I plan to do it next time I get the chance.
On a different note: On the last post, someone commented on my smooth top range and wondered how I like it… I absolutely love it! I’ve had the other and this is much better… no getting down in under burners to clean and there’s a cleaning solution you get with the smooth top that works like a charm. My mom and dad built a new house and got new appliances. Mom got a smooth top and really likes it too. I’ve heard that it’s not good for them to do alot of canning on them, but that’s not an issue for either of us. I didn’t know that about the cast iron, ski_n_beach_bum. That’s interesting.
So, let’s hear from you… which do you like best, what are the pros and cons, or maybe you prefer gas over electric?
Totally “off the wall” recipes (sorry to those of you who don’t like puns… I couldn’t help myself)
If you remember my cookie baking/candy making post, the kitchen that we were at had the neatest wallpaper!!!!
It was in the kitchen at Sandra’s (xsenergyo5) church. Sandra, have you guys ever tried them? The wallpaper has 4 recipes repeated on it. So, I took pictures of each recipe and made them. I hope you can read them ok… I’ll see how it looks after it’s uploaded and if I can’t read them, I’ll type them out. *Edit*…I just checked to see if I could read them and it’s a little hard, but if you click on the picture, it opens a new window that it’s bigger and more readable in.
Blueberry Muffins
Some notes: I didn’t know what double-acting baking powder was, but my baking powder in my cupboard said ‘double-acting’ on it, so maybe all baking powder is????? I also just used my regular nutmeg from my spices instead of getting a nutmeg and grating it for ‘freshly grated’. I used frozen blueberries, not fresh, but I think fresh would be better and not as juicy, so I want to make it sometime with fresh. The batter was more of a cookie dough consistency, which kind of surprised me, but the muffins were great!!! Some of the best I’ve had! They were moist and dense, which I like! We loved them!!! I will definitely make these again!!! Now for the pictures…
Farmer’s Market Soup
Some notes: I used baby carrots and figured 9 would equal one big one. I’ve never in my life peeled a tomato before! What a juicy mess! I put just enough water in to come up to the level of the veggies, they weren’t totally covered… that way it wouldn’t make alot of broth. Um, now for what we thought of it… I thought it was good in a but-I’d-never-make-it-again way. I made a half batch and was glad I did because I had the whole thing to myself! It sure is healthy though!!!! It took a long time to cut up all those veggies!
Chicken Pot Pie
Some notes: After it simmered for 20 minutes, I thought the broth didn’t seem thick enough, so I put in an extra tablespoon of flour. I missed a picture of the chicken/veggie part of the pot pie before putting the dough on top. 
For the biscuit dough, I used a recipe that was very good, but it ended up sort of limp and sticky and hard to work with, so the pot pie ended up looking pretty messy. I used all but about 5 biscuit’s worth of the dough (the recipe took 2 cups of flour to give you an idea of the size batch it was), so then I just baked those biscuits and served them with the meal. We really liked this! It was good and flavorful. Not sure if I’d make it again, just simply because it took awhile to make and we don’t do much in the way of casserole-type dishes. But I would definitely recommend it!!!!
Apple Pie
Some notes: Too many apples! I used a 9″ deep dish pie plate and as you will see, it was piled high! I cut up 8 and used probably 6 apples, and they were medium sized, not huge. I used Golden Delicious mainly because that’s the only kind I recognized (and I used to live on an apple orchard! 
). I used brown sugar. Before the height of this pie scares you off, it’s not actually that huge. The crust stays up and the apples settle, as you can see in the last picture after we took a couple pieces out. This pie was absolutely tops! The winner of all the “wall” recipes! I will definitely make it again. Great flavor and so perfect warm with a serving of ice cream!!!
About Me
Hi! Welcome to my kitchen! My name is Kay. I'm from northern WI. I love cooking and baking. Especially baking. It's thereapeudic for me. I'm not a professional or gourmet cook by any means. I'm a Mennonite homemaker who happens to take pictures of some of the food I make. I have 2 little 'helpers'... Lexi (5) and Tiffany (2), who are young cooks in training. I don't do anything on the grill... that's where my husband comes in! He grills quite a bit, especially in the summer. So, sit back and enjoy browsing thro' the recipes. If you try some of them, I'd love to hear feedback on how you liked them!
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