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Taco Soup

This recipe comes from Joel's sister-in-law, who is actually not Mormon anymore, but she cooks like she is! It's in the genes, I tell ya! We had this soup last year and it was so tasty, I asked for a copy of the recipe. What I got was a list of ingredients and the instructions "cook meat with onion, some chili powder, and cumin." That was it. What I've written below is how I made it, and it tasted just fine. In fact, I served it to my Mormon family and they all looooooved it!  Some might turn up their noses at this recipe because almost every ingredient is canned, and I'm fine with that.  Just don't think any less of me because I liked it!

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 large onion, chopped
1 T chili powder (or more, if you want)
1 tsp cumin (again, more if you want)
1 large can tomato sauce
1 can green chilis
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 can mixed veggies
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced potatoes
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 envelope ranch dressing
4 Cups water

In large soup pot, cook meat with onion, chili powder, and cumin. Once meat is cooked and onion is tender, drain and rinse beans and drain mixed veggies, corn, and potatoes, add to soup with remaining ingredients, stir and cook until everything is hot or until you're ready to eat.

Seriously, when I saw the recipe, I was like, "An envelope of ranch dressing? Canned potatoes? I've never even seen canned potatoes before." But, once we gathered all of the ingredients, even canned potatoes, and finished the soup, it was pretty dang good!

I think this recipe is pretty typical of Mormon cooking because it's really no muss, no fuss. You can't be making Chicken Marsala every night when you've got a million screaming kids waiting for their dinner. Or, you know, when you don't use wine in your cooking. You get in, throw in a bunch of canned vegetables you have lying around, and you're out! Take it for what it is, but don't knock it until you try it!

Secrets of Mormon Cookery

For those of you who don't know, I think that most Mormon women are pretty good cooks.  I only mention the women because, as far as I know, Mormon men don't cook.  Take my dad, for example: whenever he had to cook for us when we were growing up, usually when my mom wasn't available because she had just had a baby or something, he would cook "Shepherd's Pie."  This consisted of canned beef vegetable soup with bicuit dough plopped on the top and then cooked in the oven until the biscuits were not really doughy but not really cooked through, either.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized what Shepherd's Pie really was and how delicious it could actually be.  The next time I saw my dad after experiencing real Shepherd's Pie, I slapped him right across the face.  For shame, Big Al!

Anyway, there are a few recipes that are so completely Mormon that I think most people outside of Utah probably would never have believed such tasty delights were even possible.  Case in point: funeral potatoes.  Do you have ANY IDEA what those are?  For those of you who haven't experienced the gloriousness, I really pity you.  I don't have the recipe on hand right now, but I will be sure to post it in the future.  Just know this: they are so good that I don't doubt people have actually murdered someone, just so there could be a funeral and they could have funeral potatoes. 

When one of my great aunts died, one to whom I was not very close, I was actually more upset that they didn't have potatoes at her funeral than about the fact that she had died.  They are that good.  Yes, she was very nice, but she was old and I was surprised that she had hung around for as long as she had.  So, when she died, I was like, "Score!  Potatoes!"  But upon gathering in the "cultural hall" (translation: gym, for you non-Utahns), there were no potatoes to be found.  Totally lame.

I have a co-worker here who is a master Mormon cook, and I intend to squeeze her mind grapes and collect all of the great recipes she's got in there, so I can share them with you.  Please know that, while they might sound gross, they are actually pretty good.  Here is the very first recipe I would like to share with you.  I had never heard of this before I started working with this girl, but from what Sarah tells me, it's been around for ages.

Tater Tot Casserole

1 lb. ground beef
1 med onion, chopped (if desired)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Tater Tots
Cheddar Cheese 

Preheat oven to 450^o.  Cook ground beef in skillet.  If you are making with onion, add onion and cook with beef.  Drain off excess fat.  Mix beef with can of cream of mushroom soup (do not add water).  Put beef and soup mixture into a 9x9" glass dish.  Cover top of meat with a layer of tater tots.  On top of tots, put on a layer of cheese.  Use as much or as little cheese as you want.  My rule of thumb where cheese is concerned is more is always better.  Put casserole in oven and cook, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes until tots are crispy and cheese is bubbly.  Eat, either on a plate or straight from the dish.  I promise I won't tell.

Sarah puts frozen onion rings on top of the tots and she says it is wonderful.  I have never tried this variation, but I did make it with Turkey once and it still turned out pretty well!  You will see, as time goes on, that most of Mormon cooking involves at least one can of cream of mushroom soup.  Or jello of some kind.  But never both at the same time, so don't worry.  Jello and cheese: yes.  Jello and soup: never, thank God.

And there you have it!  I know it might sound weird at first, but you should really try it.  It's quick and easy and it tastes so good, you guys.  So freaking good.