Turkey Taco Soup

A friend of mine gave me this recipe, and I had to make a couple changes to make it allergy-friendly.  It's delicious, makes a ton of food, is super easy, and customizable.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• taco seasoning
• you can use packets, but I haven't been able to find one that is soy and corn free.  I have a coffee grinder for spices, so I toss in some garlic powder, onion flakes, cumin (that gives you that taco flavor), paprika, and salt.  If you're not a wimp like me, you can throw in some cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes to add some spice.
• 2 cans of black beans, drained (if you can have corn, do one can beans, one can corn)
• Assorted veggies, chopped in bite-size chunks
• I like baby carrots, potatoes, and zucchini.  You can use whatever you like or have on hand.
• Chicken stock (you'll add just enough to get the soup-iness you want)
• 1 medium jar Pace picante sauce
• 2 small cans Rotel tomatoes and peppers  

Directions:

• You can either use a pot on the stove, or you can use a crock pot.  When I'm using my big soup pot, I just do step #1 right in the bottom of it.
• Brown turkey with half of taco seasoning
• Put into pot (or crock pot), and add in the rest of the ingredients along with the rest of the seasoning.  Just go ahead and dump them right in.
• On stove, bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes or until veggies are tender.  If you're using a crock pot, I'm guessing that 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low should work.  Don't take my word for it, I have only used the stove thus far.

I serve this over brown rice (of course, I serve everything over brown rice, lol) and eat with a fork.  It's so good when the rice soaks up the juices from the tomatoes with the spices and all that delicious flavor. If you can have corn you can eat it as a dip with some tortilla chips, you can scoop it into tortillas and make tacos, or you can just go at it with a spoon like a classic soup.

This dish is SO good, and makes a ton of food.  Seriously, I could feed a small army, especially because I'm basically doubling the amount of food just by adding rice.  I'm on day 3 of leftovers right now, and I'm not sick of it yet! 

It's very very filling, I've had to pace myself and take smaller portions than I normally would.  An extra bonus is that my 9 month old loves it! I was a little worried about the spices (even though it's not hot-spicy), but he loves it and I feel good giving him protein, veggies, and grains all in one dish.

I hope you enjoy it!!