Crock-pot Taco Soup

This is a new crock-pot recipe I tried this week.  Or to state it more accurately, this is a crock-pot recipe I cooked this week.  I had to stay after school for an evening program and when I got home, there was not a drop of this soup left!  (Thankfully, I’d left my camera at home).  It makes a lot of soup so I was quite surprised to see that it was all gone, but the family loved it!  So I’m recommending this soup based on the opinions of the food critics that live at my house (and there’s a gang of them).  It must be good, because they have very discerning palates!

It’s very simple to assemble since you just dump everything into the crock-pot together.  You don’t even drain the vegetables. To speed it up even more, you could brown the ground beef with the pepper and onion the night before, then add the other ingredients right before you walk out the door in the morning.    I’ve had a request to make it again, and I will since I’d like to taste it myself as well!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef or turkey (I used lean ground beef)

1/2 large (or 1 small) green pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 – 15 oz. can black beans, undrained

2 – 15 oz. cans pinto beans, undrained

1 – 15 oz. can yellow corn, undrained

1 – 15 oz. can white hominy, undrained

2 – 15 oz. cans petite diced tomatoes, undrained

1 – 4 oz. can green chilies, undrained

1 pkg. dry taco seasoning mix

1 pkg. Hidden Valley salad dressing mix

Directions:

In a heavy skillet, brown the ground beef with the chopped peppers and onions.

When done, drain off fat if needed.  If you use lean ground beef as I did, you won’t even have to drain it.

Place meat mixture into the crock-pot and add the vegetables on top.  Remember, just pour them in, juice and all.  No need to drain.

Sprinkle on the taco seasoning mix and the Hidden Valley dressing mix, then stir to combine.

Set crock-pot to low and cook all day (at least 6 hours, but more is okay too).

To serve, it can be ladled over corn chips in a soup bowl and topped with sliced green onions, sour cream, shredded cheddar, black olives, etc.