Recipe Club: Taco Soup

Just so everyone knows, I raced home today to catch the last bit of daylight for the Recipe Club photos. I may have even skipped an eyebrow wax. And if I'm being totally honest, by eyebrow, I really mean upper lip wax. That's dedication right?

Some of my friends back home are enjoying Thanksgiving Break but I'm spending all week at work. Can you believe Germany doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving? I mean come on... it's Pilgrims and Native Americans. (Don't worry, later this week my school is having a Thanksgiving pot luck dinner!)

Since it is a normal work week for us, I wanted to keep our meals as simple as possible. What could be easier than Slow Cooker Taco Soup?

I used ingredients I already had on hand. In fact, these items are staples in our pantry so I keep them in stock for recipes just like this one. 

Ingredients:

-2 cans diced tomatos

-1 can yellow corn, drained and rinsed

-1 large can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed

-2 cups tomato paste

-Taco seasoning (Thanks Anat!)

-2 carrots, peeled and sliced

-1 cup of water

-Salt/Pepper to taste

First, I browned the ground beef in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. I added the taco seasoning and 2/3 cup of water then left the sauce to thicken on low. 

While the ground beef was cooking, I dumped the rest of the ingredients into the crock pot. Soooo easy... I added the ground beef when it was finished and gave everything inside the crock pot a big stir. The consistency seemed a bit thicker than I wanted so I added 1 cup of water to make it more soup like. I covered the pot and cooked it on low for 8 hours.   

One of my favorite "garnishes" is avocado! I topped off the soup with slices of avocado and tortilla chips. 

Aren't those colors beautiful all mixed together? This is the perfect soup for a Transplanted Texan missing out on all the yummy Mexican food back home. 

This spicy bowl was just the perfect amount of flavor we needed as these days are growing colder.

Today I am linking up Slow Cooker Taco Soup with Andrea's Recipe Club!

Did you see the memory-filled Christmas Advent Calendar I made for Husband?

Thankful for "Warm Soup Belly",