Taco Soup

Winter is such a great time of year for soup! I love the warmth and comfort of a hot bowl of soup with some yummy bread. Following in Shelley's footsteps, here is my mom's taco soup that she always made for us growing up, and now I love to make too. Plus, soup is so, so easy and relatively quick, once you dump everything in you don't have to worry about it - just let it do its thing and it comes out so yummy!!

Taco Soup

2 lbs ground beef
1 sm onion
1 or 2 small cans of chopped green chilis
1 can pinto beans
1 can lima beans (I leave these out because Jer doesn't like them and use both red and black beans)
1 can red or black beans (depending on which you like better)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg dry ranch dressing (1 oz.)
3 cans of stewed tomatoes (can substitute one can V-8 juice for one can of tomatoes if you like)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups water

Brown beef in large saucepan with onion, salt and pepper. Drain off extra fat.
Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 min.
This makes a lot of soup! Enough to freeze leftovers!

This soup is super easy and YUMMY! We have made it three or four times since I found the recipe last month! We like to put parmesan cheese on it!

PASTA E FAGIOLI

1 lb ground beef
1 cup diced onion
1 cup julienned carrot
3 stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans (with liquid)
1 (15 ounce) can great northern beans (with liquid)
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 ounce) can v-8 vegetable juice
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 lb ditali pasta

Directions
1Brown beef in a large stock pot over medium heat-drain off fat.
2Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saute for 10 minutes.
3Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.
4After 50 minutes boil pasta to al dente.
5Drain well.
6Add pasta to the large pot of soup and simmer for 10 minutes.

(I use 3 cans of V-8 low sodium rather then the regular v8 and the tomato soup)

Original recipe found here!