Taco Soup

I love eating a nice hot bowl of soup or chili when it's cold outside but I'd never made it myself before.
I found this recipe for Taco Soup on The Food Network's web site.

Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef (I used about 1.5 lbs ground turkey instead and it worked out well)
2 cups diced onions
2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans pinto beans
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can pink kidney beans
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomatoes with chiles (I used Ro*Tel)
2 (4 1/2-ounce) cans diced green chiles
1 (4.6-ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced, optional
1/2 cup green olives, sliced, optional
1 (1 1/4-ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (1-ounce) package ranch salad dressing mix
Corn chips, for serving
Sour cream, for garnish
Grated cheese, for garnish
Chopped green onions, for garnish
Pickled jalapenos, for garnish

To make the soup:
-Brown the meat and onions in a large skillet. Ground beef will yield it's own oils and fats for cooking but if you are using turkey as I did, you'll want to add some oil to the pan.
-drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stockpot. I don't have a slow cooker so I cooked mine in a big stockpot on the stove.
-Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, black olives, green olives, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing mix, and cook in a slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a pot on the stove.
-To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions and jalapenos.

This makes what I would best describe as a Mexican chili. It's got the thickness of a chili and the meat and beans made me feel like I was eating chili, especially since I topped it with my favorite chili toppings: cheddar and sour cream. The choice of beans, corn, and spices give it a taco-like taste though. The corn chips on the bottom of the bowl were the best part of the soup. It added a great flavor to the soup. It was delicious.

This makes a HUGE amount of soup. I wouldn't necessarily recommend making less though because most of the ingredients are a whole can. Unless you are making another recipe soon using all the same ingredients, it's not worth it to waste the food. It does freeze well though. I ended up freezing quite a bit of it and eating it over the next few weeks.