Taco Soup

A few weeks ago my husband's church group was asked to feed the homeless.  Since he is the current el presidente, he was in charge of organizing it.  Of course he didn't find out about it until 10pm 2 nights before he was supposed to do it.  And it was just our luck that 99% of the group (and their wives) were all out of town running the Napa Ragnar.  Sooo it was just our luck that the responsibility, therefore the entire work load fell entirely on my husband's shoulders (aka MY shoulders!).  We scurried to figure out what was something good, but easy to make, that would have something in it that most people might have in their cupboards already.  Luckily people dropped off food as they headed out of town for the race!  So my hubs and I...okay really just me...spent the afternoon cooking Taco Soup for what we assumed would be 120 people max.  Two missionaries came and helped us serve the food and of course my mom was out of town, so I had to drag all 3 kids with us (definitely didn't help things much).  As things hardly ever go in our favor, this turned out to bed the BIGGEST turn out they'd seen there and our soup for 120 people had to feed about 175.  It was like Jesus feeding the 5000 with only 2 loaves of bread and 5 fish (or whatever it was).  We miraculously had enough food for everyone (even with some coming back for seconds) AND we even had a good amount of leftovers.  Either I'm really bad at calculating food for large numbers (which is most certainly the case), or there were major miracles happening that night! :-)

All of the hard work we put into it was worth it to watch our oldest son so eager to help out.  He couldn't really serve the soup, so he whipped on the gloves and handed trays to those who were serving!  

 Helping those who are less fortunate then us, really puts our lives into perspective.  The thing that effected all of us the most, was seeing the little children go through the line.  Some of them had no clue of their unfortunate circumstances, but some were so sad.  You could read it in their faces that they have gone through hell and back.  I just wanted to swoop them up and take them home with me.  Definitely makes me grateful for the things that I CAN provide for my children and stops me griping about what I CAN'T!

Here's the recipe:

• 3 cans beans (I usually use kidney, garbanzo, and black beans, but you can use whatever you choose)
• 2 cans Italian stewed tomatoes
• 1 can corn
• 2-3 large spoonfuls of taco seasoning
• Grated cheese, for garnish (optional)
• Sour cream, for garnish (optional)
• Tortilla chips, for garnish (optional)

Dump everything but the garnishes into a big pot on the stove.  (You may rinse the beans first if you want to, then add 2 cans of clean water to the pot for more liquid.)  Cook until heated through.  Crunch up some chips in the bottom of a bowl.  Add taco soup.  Top with cheese and sour cream.