Autumn is here and with it....

Hot soup weather.
A few years ago my pal, Daryl, gave me a recipe for Taco Soup. Since then I have made it more times than I can count. A few weeks ago we had a good cool night and I made it for my family. I even managed to get my little guy to eat it early(ish) and go to bed so Jay and I could enjoy a 'date night'.
Here is my table set with all the 'extras' that you serve it with. You can add Sour Cream to your 'add ins' if you want.
If you like Chili and like Mexican flavor you may have a new recipe for your bag of tricks.
You will need:
1 lb of ground meat (or even faux meat if you are a veg.)
2 cans of tomatoes (or fresh)
1 can of black beans (or soaked dry black beans)
2 cans of corn
packet of taco seasoning mix.

Make it just like Chili. Brown meat..(i always add onions/garlic when I brown my meat). Then drain if you don't use turkey or really lean meat. Add Taco seasoning packet and mix up. Add the other ingredients, stir, get hot, turn down and simmer (I use crock pot usually) and go away for a little while. You can serve it pretty soon after you make it, but I like it to 'meld' for a little while. I will often make it early in the day and let it cook all day. You come home to yummy smells and your family will find you a hero.

If you have to you can use Kidney beans, although I prefer the black beans for texture and color, also I use turkey or chicken in my recipe. When I made it this day I used tomatoes from my garden and my black beans, as well. Makes it even more tasty, somehow.

Here is the ONLY way to eat it.....Line bottom of your bowl with corn chips, ladle generously, top with a mexican cheese or a sharp cheddar and maybe some Sour Cream....taste...enjoy...REPEAT!

Enjoy a tasty taco soup with your loved ones soon!

Abundance!

Wow, this is really the time of year where things feel ABUNDANT!

This is after a trip to the grocery last night. I decided that my hanging basket where I put fruit couldn't hold all the 'nanas' so I used my repurposed 'treat tray' for them. Those HUGE green peppers atop the taters came from MY garden. WOO HOO!

The next photo is a box o' blueberries from the grocery.

Here is what we did with them this morning.

I know I know....I need to polish my butter dish.

The following picture is of the carrots and tomatoes from my garden today.

also a few black beans....the rest are
.....right here...wanna come shell them?

I am excited to share my 'bounty' with you. Tonight I am making Tilapia so no goodies from my garden for that. However, I plan to make a crockpot roast tonight with all my usual goodies and it will be more special that the carrots are from my garden. I will also put a few dices of gr. pepper for flavor.

Then Monday I am going to make Taco Soup with my tomatoes, green peppers and black beans. Oddly, buying them might have been cheaper than the time I have spent shelling etc... but it WILL taste better. I think I might some day be 'self sufficient' if I can pull it off. Don't know if I could drink full-fat milk from goats, though, as I am a SKIM drinker. ;D

For those that have never made an easy crock pot roast here is the SECRET!

Get crock pot out and on. Get a regular skillet(preferaby NOT nonstick) nearly screaming hot. Coarse salt and pepper both sides of your roast. (I also add ground red pepper and miscellanious seasoning of the day). Listen to the sizzle. Start dicing your onions/peppers (your choice but I say ONION for sure, cut big and remove if you don't like THEM, but like the flavor). When roast is SEARED on bottom it will come loose EASY. Flip do other side. The INSTANT it is out shove in crock pot, put on lid. Now take about 3 cups of water and "Deglaze" your pan. I will often put a few ounces of soy sauce in to caramlize first, but YOUR call. Scrape up all carmalized meat and add in your onions, garlic, peppers and seasoning to taste. (I use ALOT of garlic).

Dump hot liquid over roast, put lid on. Put on high for about an hour then low for all night/day if you can. Add taters and carrots about 2hrs before dinner time. (the larger you cut them the longer they need to cook).

You can cook a really cheap cut of roast like this and put it all in fridge for a few hours and skim off the fat or use leaner/better meat. No matter what meat it will be FORK tender and tasty.

If you have leftovers. Add a few cans of tomatoes (homegrown if you can :D) and random veggies (canned/fresh/frozen) and cook for awhile and you have a heap of GREAT beef stew/soup. I have made one roast and keep adding vegs and had a weeks worth of food, when we were having 'lean' times.

ENJOY friends and be sure to be Thankful for all you have today!