First frost calls for soup for dinner

Have you eaten Taco Soup? With our first frost on the windshield this morning and giving in to the need to turn the heater on last night, tonight seems like a great night for soup, so I'm fixing TACO SOUP and decided to share the recipe while it's cooking. My husband's cousin got me hooked on this. My Mother used to make it too, so I'll post hers below as well. I'll be trying a few different soups out the next 3 weeks trying to decide what "soup/stew" to take to a potluck with some girlfriends in October.

Also, I love the tortilla soup served at Robert Redford's Sundance Tree Restaurant.

Boy, I wish I had the recipe for the chicken, rice and salsa soup I had in the Phoenix airport a few years back when leaving a business trip with a nasty cold. It was so good and cleared my sinuses right up.

I enjoy Southwest and Mexican foods and flavors. Please share your recipes here from this genre.

Categories: Soups and Stews
Title: Taco Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked hamburger
onion
1 (l6 oz.) can chopped tomatoes
1 (l6 oz.) can red kidney beans
1 (17 oz.) can whole kernel corn
1 (8 oz. ) can tomato sauce
1/2 pkg. or 1 T taco seasoning

Directions:
In a kettle, brown 1 lb hamburger (1/2 lb meat will do) with 1 chopped onion and drain fat if necessary.
Add: 1 (l6 oz.) can chopped tomatoes
1 (l6 oz.) can red kidney beans
1 (17 oz.) can whole kernel corn
1 (8 oz. ) can tomato sauce
1/2 pkg. or 1 T taco seasoning
Do NOT drain any of the above!!

Stir and simmer for 15 minutes or longer. Serve in a bowl over Fritos corn chips. Top with cheddar cheese and sour cream, if desired. Very good and satisfying. I serve this plain as is, or with a green salad and sometimes also with potato salad. Corn bread or sour dough bread is very good with it. I ALWAYS double this recipe. If there is some leftovers, it keep well for days. You can even freeze it.

Number Of Servings:4-6 servings

Taco Soup

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 sliced or chopped onion
2 cloves, minced garlic
Brown together and drain.
1-2 Tbs. ground cumin
2-3 tsp. chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 large cans chopped tomatoes with green chilies
2 cups salsa
1 can whole kernel c orn, drain
2 Tbs. fresh cilantro

Can add fresh avocado cubes in soup just before serving. Also a dollop of sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips of your choice.

Something's fishy

Do you like to eat fish or have you heard you should be consuming more Omega -3? I just heard a butcher share his 3 favorite suggestions for cooking fish. Since my Mother grew up eating fish daily, our family likes fish, so I'm going to try all 3. Please add your comment if you have more ideas or like these fishy suggestions.

Salmon Fillet: Put skin side down on grill, cover top with honey butter. Cook about 8 minutes. Gently flip over and the skin will peel off. Add honey butter to this side as well. You'll have a crispy honey butter side and a moist honey butter side.

Halibut Fillet: Spread mayonnaise on top of it as it grills.

Tilapia Fillet: Melt lemon yogurt in a frying pan and spread it over the tilapia as it cooks.

When I lived in Finland, I got to go fishing for Pike. It was so fun to fishing because you are constantly casting and reeling in. I like that better than sitting and waiting. Anyway, if you caught a fish, you were given a fillet knife. The superstition is you must pay for a knife or it brings bad luck, so you give a quarter or something to the gifter. I still have my fillet knife and enjoy filleting trout, etc.

Our sons went fishing for scouts and caught Bass in a local private pond, in exchange for clearing up some logs for the owner. One son's bass was large enough to eat and the others needed to be returned. Dad fried it in lemon pepper.

When I cook salmon it's in tin foil in the oven with lemon pepper and butter buds.
When I cook trout I fillet it and coat it with flour, salt and pepper and fry it in butter, as my Mother did.

Tiger Ears

It's time for "our state fair, is the best state fair, don't miss it, don't even be late!" One of the favorite treats there is Tiger Ears, scones made large and thin and served with honey butter, sponsored by the local Boy Scouts. We planned to go on Saturday, but changed to going the following Saturday. We could hardly wait for the Tiger Ears, so we decided to make these "scones" ourselves. Ours weren't as large and thin, but the kids liked them better.

The recipe is from my cousin who says she uses this recipe for everything, but any bread recipe will do.

In mixing bowl:
Dissolve 3 cups warm water, 2 Tbs. dry yeast, 1 Tbs. sugar and let sit 5 minutes.
Add: 1/2 c sugar, 2 tsp. salt, 1/3 c. oil, 6-7 cups flour, knead 5 minutes with dough hook.

For SCONES: Increase sugar to 1 c. After turning onto floured board, pat 1/2" thick. Cut, stretch thin. Let rise 30 minutes. Fry in hot oil.

For LOAVES: Shape into 2 loaves. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

For ROLLS: Do not punch down the dough after rising. Just turn onto floured board. Pat to 1" thick. Cut, stretch thin. Let rise 30 minutes. Fry in hot oil.

For CINNAMON ROLLS: Increase the sugar to 1 cup. After turning onto floured board, roll to 3' x 3' square. Spread with 1 cup butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, lots of cinnamon, nuts and raisins, optional. Roll up, cut 1" thick and cut. Bake at 375 degrees 15-20 minutes. Cool some, frost with 1 cube magarine, 4 cups powdered sugar, 4-5 Tbs. milk, 1 Tbs. vanilla