Taco Soup!

I am having an awful night. I had ground beef thawing in the fridge all day. I grabbed it out when i got home & started on this recipe. I had hot oil in my beautiful red dutch oven. I practically threw the meat into the dutch oven & OMG. MAN. I guess I didn't realize it was still frozen in the middle? And i think something about frozen meat being tossed into scalding hot oil? Well. It started making really loud cracking noices, flung hot oil on me, burning my wrist & the bottom of my dutch oven is cracked. Like - the enamel on the cast iron i guess you could say? It's gone in spots. There were small pieces of the enamel stuff all over the counter, in the meat & on the floor. I was soooo upset. I was crying! It has been an awful day! And my Dutch Oven is one of my favorite things. Does anyone know how RUINED this makes it?!?! Or is it okay? =(

ANYWAY. Hubby helped me get everything cleaned up & i started over. It was wonderful.

The recipe is from a cookbook called Super Suppers. Apparently it's a place you can go to pick up delicious home-cooked meals for dinner. We don't have any locations in Louisiana, but their cookbook is great! =)

Taco Soup

Serves 6-8

1 tbsp vegetable oil
6 corn tortillas, cut into 1-inch pieces (i didn't include the tortillas)
1 pound ground beef
1 1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped bell pepper
1 tsp. minced fresh garlic
2 14.5-oz cans Mexican-style diced tomatoes, undrained
28 ounces water (it actually said 2 14 ounce cans of water. Has to be a typo, right?)
1 15-oz can small red beans, undrained
1 15-oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 15-oz can hominy, undrained, OR 1.5 cups frozen corn (i used the corn since we had some on hand)
1 7-oz can diced green chile peppers*
1 7-oz can sliced pitted black olives, drained (i used 4 oz. that was enough for me!)
1 1.25-oz package taco seasoning mix

Cheese & Corn Chips, if desired

1) Preheat oil in a 4- to 6-quart Dutch oven or soup pot. Add tortilla pieces to hot oil. Cook & stir until brown, remove & set aside. Add ground beef, onion, bell pepper, & garlic to Dutch Oven. Cook until beef is brown. Drain off fat.

2) Stir browned tortillas, undrained tomatoes, water, undrained red beans, black beans, undrained hominy (or the corn), chile peppers, olives, & taco seasoning mix into Dutch Oven. Bring to boiling. Turn heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cheese & corn chips, if desired.

*I didn't use the green chiles, because the diced tomatoes i got included green chiles. However it was still WAY TOO SPICY! Other than that it was really good!

Note from cookbook:
Plan Ahead - Prepare up to 4 days ahead. Cover & refrigerate. Reheat over medium heat until hot & bubbly.
Freeze Ahead - Place cooked soup in freezer bag & freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely in refrigerator. Reheat over medium heat until hot & bubbly.

To complete my crazy night (after the burn-wrist-ruin-dutch-oven incident), we decided to put the leftover soup in a freezer bag to freeze, as suggested above & since we'll be out of town a few days. I held the bag over the sink & hubby poured it in, not an easy task but he did it perfectly. The minute he was done, the bag burst & all our soup went in the sink. SIGH. I need to go to bed. =(

ANYWAY - hope you enjoy the soup!

Nutritional Information here, thanks to Calorie Count. =)