Taco Beef Soup

This week's cooking adventure was decided by my Facebook page fans...I asked for some random numbers and then took the average and got 37. That became the page number in the "The Essential Mormon Cookbook" that Tracie bought me to choose a dish from. There were two choices, Green Chillies and Eggs or Taco Beef Soup.

Well I like Mexican food and once again, this variation on a beef taco was too strange (to me) to resist. It was so strange that after reading how to make it, it still perplexed me and I had to ask some of the Facebook fans how they served it. Luckily for me I got some advice from Jerrie and it started to make sense.

A piece of cake to make. Simply brown some (lean) mince and chopped onion, add a packet of Taco seasoning, a couple of cans of Red Kidney Beans, a large can of stewed (chopped) tomatoes, and three cups of water - simmer it all for about fifteen minutes.

Whilst that was simmering, I prepared the multiple things that can be added to the soup once served. I chopped up some green onions (shallots) and cherry tomatoes, grated some cheese (semi matured and fully matured...I think this is called cheddar cheese in the US) and popped some jalapeños and plain yoghurt into little bowls too.


Healthier option tips!

1. The recipe called for sour cream but I forgot to buy some. For the record, sour cream is my third favourite food (yes, I class it as a food of its own) however we often use natural Greek yoghurt instead of sour cream and since we had some in the fridge, I didn't go back to the shops for sour cream. The yoghurt has a lower fat content and is a great substitute, especially in Mexican style food and soups.
2. The recipe also called for corn chips and for the record, they are my fourth favourite food. However I deliberately knew I would not buy corn chips as it is summer here and well, I eat enough of my first and second favourite foods (pizza and ice cream) that I thought to try wholemeal (wholewheat) Lebanese bread - perfect healthier option.

To serve this dish up you simply put some into bowls and each person then adds the extra things they want (I guess you could call them condiments of sorts). I thought these would just sink to the bottom but the soup is much thicker than I thought and they stayed on top until stirred in. Because they are not cooked with the soup, they make a good contrast and make the dish seem fresher - it worked really well. The Lebanese bread we simply dipped into the soup.

Yummo.

Category	Taco Beef Soup
Ease of preparation	Easy
Time from prep to table	45 minutes
Taste	Mexican chilli, mild, meaty
Visual appeal	Average, until the condiments get added - then it looks delcious
Radicality (i.e variation from my normal cuisine) out of 5	4
Recipe enhancement tips	Substitute plain yoghurt instead of sour cream, flat wholewheat bread instead of corn chips, extra spices like chilli, paprika, cumin, turmeric if you want the flavour stronger or don’t like using packet Taco mix
Final assessment	A keeper.