Graden Fresh Recipes - Taco Soup

Also known as "A Great Way to Use Tomatoes!"

The tomatoes are all starting to ripen at the same time, and as someone who does not like plain tomatoes, I knew that I needed to come up with a dish that would use up a lot of them.  I have no interest in canning or preserving these tomatoes - I want to eat them fresh.

 Fresh from the garden!

Taco soup is one of my favorite meals, and DH and his brother love it as well.  I usually make a double recipe so that there is a week's worth of leftovers or if I'm having people over since this meal works great as an appetizer as well, and stays hot in a crock pot for hours!


Taco Soup (with garden fresh tomatoes)

Ingredients: 
1 pound of chicken, cooked and diced into cubes
3 cans beans (I use 2 cans of black and 1 can of pintos)
1 can creamed corn
6-8 diced tomatoes from your garden (enough to fill a can)
1 cup water
1 packet of low sodium taco seasoning
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix
Bag of tortilla chips (Scoops work the best, but they're always too expensive, so we just use regular chips)

A visual representation of most of the ingredients

Here's how to make it:


1. Put your chicken in the oven.  While it's cooking, do the next four steps.

 Step 1

2. Pour the 1 cup of water into a pot sprayed well with cooking spray.

3. Add the can of creamed corn.

4. Drain all three cans of beans and add them to the pot. Stir occasionally while you're dicing the tomatoes so that the beans and corn don't burn to the bottom of the pot.
 

5. Dice your tomatoes (or open your can) and add them to your pot.  I used about a can and a half of tomatoes this last time, since I wanted to use them all up.

Step 5 -  I dice the tomatoes and them put them in the now empty creamed corn can so that I get a full can. Or in this case, I used nearly a can and a half, since I had so many to use

Step 5 part B - Adding the tomatoes to the pot

6. Add the packets of ranch and taco seasoning and stir everything together.

Step 6 - Before chicken

7. When your chicken is done cooking, cut into cubes or shredded pieces.
Add chicken to the pot, stir and cover at a low heat until simmering.

It should look like this.

After chicken

Yum. It looks sort of awful but tastes AMAZING.  Seriously - no one has ever tried this and not liked it. 

Some final notes:

1. This recipe is for a single batch.  It will make 6 large-sized servings, or about 8 to 10 if you eat smaller portions.  I generally hate leftovers, but this stuff still tastes as good a solid 5 days after you originally made it.
2. This version of the recipe is my own take on the original. The original called for ground beef instead of chicken and a lot of onions (which I am allergic to.) 
3. DH's brother added shredded mexican cheese to his the last time we had this and he said it was awesome.  Sounds like a good plan if you're into cheese.  
4. I've also made this in the crock pot before.  You still have to cook and dice the chicken, but otherwise can pretty much just throw the rest of it in the crock pot and heat on high for about 4 hours. Sometimes that's better if you have all day because you don't feel like you're spending your entire day in the kitchen. 

I love love love love love this meal, and haven't met a single person yet who hasn't loved it just as much after one bite.  I guarantee that if you give it a try, you will add it to your regular rotation of meals.