Quick and easy taco soup

Taco soup is one of my favorite easy dinner recipes! It's pretty much just dump stuff in, simmer, and you're done!

About 1 pound of ground beef (we buy the organic ground beef from Costco, which comes in a 1 1/3 pound package)
2 cans of black beans, drained
2 cans of kidney beans, drained
1 bottle of vegetable or tomato juice
1 bag frozen corn
2-4 cans of tomato sauce*
1 package (or about 3 tablespoons) of taco seasoning
1 medium sized onion
2 - 3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil

toppings: sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, & grated cheese

*depending on how much meat you use, you may want the soup thinned out some. I have also added a jar of salsa, or even a cup or two of chicken or beef broth, depending on what I have in the fridge. 

1. Cook ground beef in a skillet until browned.

2. While the meat is cooking, dice the onion (or just put it through a food processor like I usually do.) And mince the garlic.

3. In your stock pot, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil and sauté onions and garlic until slightly translucent. 

4. Once the ground beef is done, drain any excess fat if needed and and dump the meat into the stock pot. Then add the drained beans, vegetable or tomato juice, frozen corn, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning.

5. Bring the soup to a boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour. 

6. Top with sour cream, crushed corn chips, or cheese and enjoy!

Soup is so easy to make and it's great to have as leftovers during the week when you want a quick lunch or dinner!