Freezer to Crockpot – Taco Soup

There are a million variations on taco soup. It’s easy, it’s tasty, it’s filling, and you can often ad-lib the ingredients to compensate for items you don’t have or use variations to suit your taste if there are ingredients you don’t like.   

Most recipes I have seen say to use a specific type of meat.  Realistically, you can use anything that you have or omit the meat completely  I like either browned ground beef or browned steak pieces/stew meat, but you can also use chicken and even kielbasa that’s been cooked prior to adding it to the pot.

Here’s the recipe. 

Taco Soup

DO NOT DRAIN CANS OF INGREDIENTS. 

1  to 1.5 lb. meat of choice (if fatty meat such as hamburger meat, cook beforehand)

1 small chopped onion

1 can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes (or other diced tomatoes with green chiles)

1 can plain diced stewed tomatoes

1 can kernel corn (not cream corn)

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can black beans

1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix

1 pkg. taco seasoning

(These are all the regular small-sized cans (around 14-17 oz.), not the large cans.)

Again, do not drain cans of ingredients. Combine all ingredients in 1 gallon zippered bag and freeze.  When ready to eat, add to crock pot and cook on high 4-6 hours or low 6-8 hours. 

Stovetop variation:  Combine all ingredients in 5 qt pan, adding dry ingredients last.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Serve with crackers, tortillas, or Indian fry bread. 

 

SUBSTITUTIONS: 

Vegetarian:  Omit meat completely or substitute cooked lentils, tofu, or TVP.   

Meat:  Use browned hamburger meat, stew meat, or cut up pieces of round steak, boneless skinless chicken breasts, or even cooked shrimp.  You may also use thinly sliced and browned Kielbasa or smoked sausage alone or added with the other meats for an interesting taste combination.  Just make sure when using any fatty meat, such as hamburger meat or sausage, that it’s browned and drained before adding it to the recipe.

Beans/corn:  My hubby isn’t a fan of corn but will eat it in stews.  I sometimes substitute navy beans, garbanzo beans, or black-eyed peas. 

Tomatoes:  Use any canned tomato combination that suits you based on what you have.  I like Ro-Tel tomatoes because they already have peppers in them, and we tend to like our food very spicy.  However, you may substitute tomatoes with chipotle peppers for an interesting combination or even tomatoes with basil, oregano, and garlic.  If you do not have tomatoes with chiles in them, you can use regular diced stewed tomatoes and add a couple of tablespoons of chopped canned green chiles.  I have also used fresh tomatoes but added a small can of tomato paste to thicken up the soup, as fresh tomatoes tend to have more liquid.  

Chili Redux - Frito Chili Pie

Hungry?  Have stuff that you need to use up in your fridge?  This is a great example of how to do that.  It's called Frito Chili Pie.  I'm sure my local friends are groaning and saying, "Really?  You're using that as a recipe of sorts?"  Well, yes.  Because I realize not everyone knows how to make this awesome stuff.  Technically, it might also be classified as what we call broke food, but sometimes broke food is the best.  (Broke food:  Anything that is yummy, filling, sometimes made from weird ingredients, and will feed you until payday.) 

I made a pot of crock pot chili a couple of days ago.  Now there's a little bit left, and we're tired of just eating straight bowls of chili.  This is our way of changing things up while still using the leftover chili.  I'll also have some things for substitutions/additions below.  

Traditional Frito Chili Pie 

A handful of crushed Frito's corn chips*

About 3/4 to 1 cup prepared chili

Shredded cheese 

Diced onions 

Additions and substitutions:   

Crumbled tortilla chips instead of Fritos 

Sour cream

Sliced black or green olives

Shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes or your little bit of leftover salad 

Wrap it all in a tortilla, and cover with salsa 

*If you want a real tailgate party, ballgame concession stand Frito chili pie, then you get an individual-size bag of Fritos (those tiny ones you get in the mlutipacks), crush the Fritos inside, slit it open lengthways, and dump your chili fixings in.  Eat straight out of the bag with a plastic spoon while wrapped in a fleece throw, sitting at a football game.

Enjoy!!

Michelle's Freezer to Crock Pot Chili

I dearly love a hot bowl of chili on a cold night.  While it's not been all that cold lately, it's been cool enough that I've just wanted something hot and spicy for a meal.

I've made this chili numerous ways.  I'm posting this recipe not because it's anything special but instead to talk about making freezer-to-crock pot items and to also talk about substitutions.

For crock pot meals, I make recipes based on a 5 quart crock pot. 

Michelle's Chili 

1 to 1.5 pounds ground beef, browned, drained, and rinsed*

1 to 2 14.5 oz. cans of kidney beans drained and rinsed**

1 to 2 packets of chili seasoning (enough to season 2 pounds ground beef)***

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

1to 2 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes with green chiles (we like hot, but adjust to your taste)****

1 4 oz can diced green chiles (optional; this makes it very hot)

Brown the ground beef until there is no pink, drain, and rinse thoroughly to remove fat.  To freeze, place ground beef and remaining ingredients into a bowl and stir thoroughly to combine.  Spoon into a 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bag.  Squeeze all air out, seal, and place in freezer.

For crock pot chili, remove frozen chili from freezer.  Run hot water over exterior of bag in order to loosen enough to remove the block from the bag.  Place in crock pot and cover.  Cook on high 2-3 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

If you wish to just cook this in a pot, then return ground beef to pot and add remaining ingredients.  Simmer on low for about 30 minutes.  Add water as needed to keep chili from burning or becoming too thick. 


*This is up to you, but I recommend draining and rinsing the meat, even if it is extra lean.  Because you may be putting this in a crock pot, more fat will cook out in the process, and if you do not drain and rinse it thoroughly, you might find your chili with a little too much grease floating on the top.

** Substitution alert:  Substitute any canned cooked bean you like such as pinto, black, or even navy beans. Just make sure the beans are drained and rinsed.  I say 1-2 cans because some beans are bulkier than others.  Put one can in, eyeball the chili, and then decide if you want another can of beans. We like 2 but less is OK.  Any bean will work, and you might find an interesting combination that you like even better than the original recipe.  Different types of beans also make the dish more visually appealing.

***I use Williams Chili Seasoning, but it may be a regional thing that is not available to you.  The Williams Original Chili seasoning is made to season 2 pounds of ground beef.  Use whatever you like, just make sure it seasons 2 pounds of beef. My pet peeve is to find a great recipe but it contains some obscure ingredient that makes cooking not worth it.

****I use Ro-Tel tomatoes, but again this might be regional.  You can use any brand that is canned with chopped green chiles.  As a substitute, you can use one can of diced tomatoes in juice, 1 tsp. onion flakes, and about 1 tablespoon canned diced green chiles.