Back in January, I posted a recipe for taco soup, which I called Take One. It was alright, but didn’t quite have the taste I was looking for. So the search continued. Today, I bring you Take Two, which also happens to be the Final Take for me. I can’t say definitively that I’ll never try or post another taco soup recipe, but for now, this one was exactly what I was looking for.

Or it was the second time, when I bought the right tomatoes, and not the ones with the Italian seasoning. Italian seasoning and taco seasoning just don’t play well together. In any case, I found this recipe on the Crockpot 365 blog, which is AWESOME if you have never been there.

You’ll need: 1 lb ground beef, 1 packet taco seasoning, 1 packet ranch dressing dry mix, 2 cans kidney beans, 2 cans pinto beans, 2 cans corn, 1 can tomatoes with green chilies, 1 large can of diced tomatoes. Optional: cheese and sour cream.

Brown your ground beef, drain, and add to your crock pot.

Pour in your packet of taco seasoning.

Followed by the packet of ranch dressing mix.

Drain and rinse two cans of kidney beans, and add those to the crock pot.

Same with the pinto beans– drain and rinse, then add to the pot!

Add in 2 cans of whole kernel corn, this time without draining.

Add one can of tomatoes with green chilies, without draining.

Finally, add your large can of diced tomatoes, also without draining.

Give it a good stir, put the lid on and cook on low for 8-10 hours. This smelled absolutely amazing while it was cooking! I could hardly leave it alone in the kitchen!

When it was finally done, I dished it into a bowl.

And topped it with some cheese and sour cream. This was exactly what I was going for. I felt like this recipe hit all the points that left me disappointed in the last taco soup. It’s probably more of a chili that’s taco flavored than the other one was. Either way, I was happy with the results!

Taco Soup
From Crockpot 365

2 cans kidney beans
2 cans pinto beans
2 cans corn
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can tomatoes and chiles
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 lb ground beef
cheese and sour cream

Brown meat, add to crockpot. Sprinkle the seasoning packets on top of the meat. Drain and rinse the beans and add. Add the cans of corn and tomatoes without draining.

Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. Serve with cheese and sour cream, if desired.

Sometime before Christmas, I decided to take advantage of all the sales out there and buy myself a crock pot. Technically a slow cooker, since mine was not made by Rival, but you know what I mean. I immediately had to find a bunch of recipes to try out, and this is the first of them. Expect plenty more crock pot recipes coming up in the relatively near future. I love tacos, taco salads, nachos, that sort of thing, so Taco Soup jumped right out at me.

I found this recipe at Slow and Simple. I thought it sounded promising, but there are a lot of taco soup recipes available out there and I have to say this one is not going to be my favorite. Part of that could be my fault as I think I added too much water, but even though this was good, it just didn’t have quite what I was looking for. That’s why it’s Taco Soup, Take One. I fully intend to try a different recipe soon! But let’s get started with this one, maybe you’ll like it better than I did.

You’ll need 1 lb ground beef, 2 pkg taco seasoning mix, 1 can corn, 1 can black beans, 1 can tomatoes with green chiles, 1 onion, 1 green pepper (The original recipe also called for black olives, which I don’t like, and tomatillos as an optional ingredient. I left both out.) Don’t worry, my meat’s not bad, it’s just still frozen.

Gratuitous picture just to show off my new crockpot. Woohoo!

Brown and drain your ground beef on the stove top, then add it to the bottom of your crock pot.

Add in your two packets of taco seasoning mix. I kind of stirred it in before moving on to the next step, but I don’t think that’s a requirement.

Throw in your chopped green pepper…

And your chopped up onion.

Followed by the 16 oz can of tomatoes with green chiles, undrained. (Sidenote- this may have also contributed to why I wasn’t thrilled with this soup. I got the hot can of tomatoes, but I don’t like spicy AT ALL. It was too much for me, I may have liked this better with a milder can of tomatoes.)

Add your can of black beans, undrained. This is where I started to worry about this recipe… have you SEEN what canned beans are floating in?? Still, I poured it into the crock pot.

Finally, add the can of whole kernel corn, also undrained.

I gave it a quick stir to make sure all the goodies were distributed.

Then I added two cans of water to fill the crock pot. If I were going to make this soup again, I’d cut it back to one can of water, and just keep an eye on it. I felt like this soup was not thick enough, and this is probably why.

Cover the crock pot, and cook on low for 5 or more hours.

This is what the final product looked like, dished up into a bowl.

I added a handful of cheese and sour cream to the bowl. Not pictured, the handful of Fritos I also added to help “thicken” it up.

If you make this, let me know how it turns out. I wasn’t impressed, but maybe it will float your boat!

1 lb lean ground beef, browned and drained
2 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 16 oz can tomatoes with green chilies, undrained.
1 16 oz can black beans, undrained.
1 16 oz can corn, undrained
1 can black olives, chopped or sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
4 tomatillos, chopped (optional)

Place everything in a large crockpot, add water, if necessary to fill. Cook on low for 5 or more hours until flavors are blended. Top each bowl with a handful of shredded cheddar cheese. Serve with sour cream, taco chips, and salsa on the side.

This recipe is one that I made out of my Betty Crocker cookbook. The one my mom got me for Christmas last year (or was it 2 years ago?) and I’ve read through but never cooked from? Yeah, that cookbook. Anyways, I’ve *finally* cooked out of it. I’ve made the following Corn Bread Topped Italian Sausage pie, and 2 or 3 other recipes that you’ll read about here in the near future.

No more preamble necessary, let’s get on to the casserole, shall we?

1 lb Italian sausage, onion, green pepper, garlic, tomato sauce, frozen corn, sliced mushrooms, cornmeal, flour, milk, sugar, vegetable oil, baking powder, salt, egg, cheese

Whew. For having so many ingredients, it was actually pretty simple to put together. I suspect it would have been even easier, and dare I say faster, if I wasn’t taking pictures of the process lol Anyways, start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Then we can start on the Sausage Pie part of this dish.

In skillet, place 1 lb Italian sausage.

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped. Or 1 teaspoon of the already minced stuff if you’re like me!

Add chopped green pepper,

and chopped onion.

Cook over medium heat until the sausage is no longer pink. Drain and return to pan.

Pour in your 15 oz. can of tomato sauce.

And your frozen corn. The recipe called for 9 oz of frozen corn, thawed, but I used 12 oz because that’s the size bag I had.

Add 1 jar of sliced mushrooms that’s been drained. And might I just ask, why do recipes always call for sizes of products that just don’t exist? At least not in my grocery store. I had a 4 oz can of mushrooms, but the recipe called for a 4.5 oz can. I highly doubt that 0.5 oz makes that much of a difference, but it does serve to annoy me.

Anyways, heat this mixture to boiling, and remove from heat. While that’s cooking, you can go ahead and get started on the cornbread mixture.

In a small bowl, pour in 2/3 cup corn meal.

Apparently a few pictures went missing… they’re not on Flickr, and not on my computer even though I distinctly remember taking them. Anyways, this picture shows the addition of 1/3 cup flour, 1 Tbs sugar, and 2 teaspoons baking powder.

1/4 teaspoon salt

Two tablespoons vegetable oil.

Add 1/2 cup milk.

And one large egg.

Beat vigorously with spoon for 30 seconds.

Stir in 1/4 cup cheese. The recipe called for shredded pepper jack cheese. I used Cheddar Jack cause it’s what I had.

Pour your hot sausage mixture into an ungreased 2 qt. casserole.

Pour the cornbread topping mixture over the hot sausage mixture and spread it out as evenly as possible. Some of mine seeped through to the lower layer of sausage.

Put it in the oven, uncovered, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cornbread topping is golden brown.

Here’s what it looked like dished out onto my plate. In the end, it was a decent meal. At first, I thought the cornbread had kind of an “off” taste, but that could probably be attributed to the fact that it’s not Jiffy cornbread like I’m used to.

It’s a dish that I’d consider making again, but only if I had company because while it was good, I wasn’t real interested in the leftovers.

Here’s the recipe again so you don’t have to pull it out from between the pictures.

Sausage Pie

1 lb Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 small bell pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 box (9 oz) frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1 jar (4.5 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained

Corn Bread Topping

2/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
In 10-inch skillet, cook sausage, onion, bell pepper and garlic over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until sausage is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in tomato sauce, corn and mushrooms. Heat to boiling; remove from heat.
In medium bowl, stir all topping ingredients except cheese. Beat vigorously with spoon for 30 seconds, Stir in cheese.
Spoon sausage mixture into ungreased 2 qt casserole. Pour topping over hot sausage mixture, spreading evenly.
Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes or until topping is golden brown.