Taco Soup

On these 90 degree days, soup is possibly the last thing on your mind. However, if your office decides to balance that out with 60 degree air condition, you might be running to the soup bowl and microwave ASAP. Not to mention when cramps are killer, something warm is much more comforting. When I think of “Taco soup” I often think of some cream-based, grease-puddles, sour cream/cheese/chive/taco chip-topped bowl that leaves you thirsty from the amount of cream and sodium. I love tacos, and I love soup… but I also do not enjoy feeling like crap or getting the 2pm “I need coffee/nap/chocolate ASAP” feeling either.

In the luteal phase, I find it tempting to give into the salt and sugar you crave for the first month, but after that I can honestly say sugar or chips are the last thing on my agenda. So I looked at my “list” of food options and had to scratch my head for a minute. The veggies are not my usual green, leafy kind, so I had to get creative. Fortunately, my loving boyfriend is from a cattle farm, so there’s no shortage of ground beef in my home! Brown rice, celery, onion, ground beef, chickpeas (and I threw in some corn and tomatoes, too) – these are the things on the list that seemed doable, normal and not scary. So… Let’s make a soup!

(I cook in bulk, so I had 8 meals out this recipe)

Ingredients:
1 lb of lean, grass fed ground beef
1 ¼ cups of brown rice
1 yellow onion
5 cloves of garlic (not bulbs, just the little parts of it) or 2T of diced garlic
6 celery stalks
1 can of Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans (low-now sodium is ideal)
1 can of kernelled corn (no sodium added)
1 can of diced tomatoes (no sodium added)
4 cups of non-fat beef broth
3 cups of water

Directions:
In a large stew pot, fill with the liquids (water and beef broth). Dice your onion in as small or large chunks as you’d like, garlic, and celery. Add to the pot, along with cilantro, chili powder, pepper, and any other spices you can take. Try not to make it too spicy, however, because your stomach is likely already uneasy this time of month. Throw them all in the pot and turn the heat on medium.

In a separate pot, cook your 1 ¼ cup of rice with 2 ½ cups of water until rice is andante (slightly undercooked). I like to add in a teaspoon of cilantro and ½ t of garlic powder to the rice while it cooks to give it extra flavor.

Drain your cans of beans, corn, and tomatoes and add those to the pot. While those two pots are cooking, cook your ground beef in a skillet adding plenty of chili powder (I do not use taco seasoning due to the plethora of sodium they add to those packets!), more garlic powder, chipotle powder (just a pinch), and continue to cook until almost done. This can still be a little pink, as it will continue cooking later.

When the rice is done, just let it sit to the side and cool for a while, until it hardens back up. The ground beef can be added to the liquid/veggie pot and reduce the heat to low. Let this simmer for about 30 minutes. Give occasional stirs to ensure the flavors are spreading around. Once that is done, add the rice to the mix and let sit for another 10 minutes on low heat.

Scoop out a bowl (about 1.5 cups) and serve as you’d like! If you might need a little something extra for with this meal, a side of sweet potato fries (another entry) would be my suggestion!

In the words of Julia Child, “Bon Appetite!”