Recipe for Mexican Soup

Tomorrow our son plans to come early for Thanksgiving in order to help his dad cut trees. Unfortunately, the weather is forecast to take a drastic turn tomorrow, with the temperature dropping 40 or 50 degrees from today. In trying to think of something warm and quick I could have ready for the woodcutters to eat, our old standby, Mexican Soup, came to mind. If you don't care for Mexican foods, don't let the name frighten you away. This soup does not require strict adherance to a recipe, so you can adjust ingredients according to your taste.

Recipe:

Brown 1 to 2 pounds of ground chuck in a large pot, breaking it up into tiny pieces. Drain. I go one step farther and pour hot water over the meat when I drain it to eliminate as much fat as possible. This may take away a little of the flavor, but I haven't really noticed the difference.

Add and stir well:

2 cans Ro-tel tomatoes and chilies
2 cans Minestrone soup
2 cans Ranch style beans

Simmer for about 30 minutes.

I've found that Ro-tel tomatoes are going up drastically in price, so I usually substitute two cans of other brands of chopped tomatoes. It doesn't matter that these cans are larger than the Ro-tels. You can use Ranch style beans with jalapenos to make up for the chilies the Ro-tels would have but the others don't.

If you don't like the soup quite as hot, you can use one can of Ranch style beans with jalapenos and one without. Or if you really don't like it hot, just forget the jalapenos altogether. Today I also substituted one can of plain pinto beans because I had only one can of Ranch style beans. But I do think you need at least one can of Ranch style beans for the flavor.

You might find other variations on this recipe that you would like. But as it is, this is hard to beat if you like a good, hearty meal-in-a-soup.