Leftover Lady: Deer Taco Soup

Earlier this week I cooked up a pot of Cranberry beans. They basically taste identical to pinto beans, look the same, just named differntly. I don't know about the difference in their nutritional value, but they're yummy. While I love beans, the Preacher Man does not.

He did however, request this pot of beans. But, once he's had his fill he refuses to eat the leftovers. So, I thought I would be brilliant and come up with some other way to use them. I also had leftover cornbread too. I didn't have the ingredients to make stuffing out the cornbread, and was lacking a few necessities to create a "Taco Pile On" too.

So, I scoured the web and found a delish Paula Deen recipe for Taco Soup. I was missing the main ingredient for it too: ground beef. Although I didn't have any ground beef or ground turkey, I remembered we had been given some ground deer meat. I've never cooked deer meat. I've heard horror stories of it's smell and wild flavors. But, I didn't have much of a choice. The Preacher Man loves deer meat. I mentioned I've never cooked deer meat, well I've never tasted it either. 

So, I decided to live life on the wild side and go for it. I took my leftover pinto beans and cornbread and transformed them into this:

(Of course I neglected to take a picture, so this one is Paula's)

The Preacher Man absolutely loved it!
He even went back for seconds, which is a big deal for him with soup!

It's SOUPER easy.

Of course, I tweaked it here and there according to what I had in the cupboard.

 Here's the complete recipe:

Servings: 12 to 16 servings

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 8 hours crock pot, 1 hour stock pot method

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients Jalapenos
Chopped green onions
Grated cheese
Sour cream
Corn chips
1 1-ounce package ranch salad dressing mix
1 1 1/4-ounce package taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup green olives, sliced (optional)
1 small can black olives, drained and sliced (optional)
2 4 1/2-ounce cans diced green chilies
1 14 1/2-ounce can tomatoes with chilies
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 14 1/2-ounce can mexican tomatoes
1 15 1/4-ounce can whole kernal corn, drained
1 15 1/2-ounce cans pink kidney beans
2 15-1/2 ounce cans pinto beans
2 cup diced onions
2 lb ground beef
Directions
Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large crockpot or a stockpot. Add the beans, corn, green onions, tomatoes, chilies, olives, and seasonings, and cook on low setting all day (6 to 8 hours) if using a crockpot, or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a stockpot on the stove. To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, and jalapenos.