When we were in Banff, we stopped for lunch at
Melissa's Missteak. Soup of the day was a Mexican Soup. Sounded tasty so I ordered it as part of my meal. Let's just say it was gone in record time and I dreamed about eating that soup all day every day for a week, lol! :)
Luckily I'm good a dissecting a recipe as I eat it, in case the need should arise to recreate it. And it did!! Mine was as close to the real thing as I could remember! Here's my knock-off of Melissa's Mexican Soup:
Mama's Mexican Soup:
-approximately 300g of ground beef (that's what I used, and ratio of meat to veggies was good)
-1 package of Taco seasoning (I used the Old El Paso reduced sodium, which is 35g)
-one 796ml can of diced tomatoes (I used Aylmer regular, not Italian)
-approximately 325ml of salsa (I used half a 650ml jar of Old El Paso Thick n' Chunky Mild Salsa)
-900 ml of beef soup broth (watch that it is GF, or make your own. I used a box of Knorr's)
-250 ml water
-half a medium white onion, diced
-3 stalks celery, chopped
-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
-2 cups frozen corn
-2 heaping tablespoons of sour cream
-salt & pepper to taste (optional, I didn't add any)
In a large soup pot brown the ground beef. Once it is brown, drain off any fat. I also smash mine up a bit with the potatoe masher to make the pieces smaller. Just my preference. You can do your own thing.
Add the taco seasoning package to the meat and toss to coat. Turn the heat up and add the entire can of diced tomatoes (including liquid), salsa, water and broth. Give the whole thing a good stir and bring to a boil. Then let simmer on medium-low. While you chop veggies.
I cheat when making soups and chili. I chop my onion, celery and carrots and throw them in a frying pan with a bit of water on the bottom. I cook this over medium heat until they are soft. You may need to add more water as it cooks so it doesn't burn onto the bottom of the pan. Once soft, dump the contents of the frying pan into the soup. It cuts a bunch of time off the cooking process. So, you can follow my method or just put the raw veggies into the soup pot and wait. Your choice.
Once the veggies are soft, add the frozen corn and heat through. Then add sour cream and stir well. You can eat it now, or let it cook for a few hours. I found letting mine cook for a while made it taste better. Reheats well from the fridge. Have the leftovers in the freezer that I need to thaw and test still.
You can also add some red and/or green bell peppers, but I didn't have any. The original soup did have them, diced really small.
Serves 4-6 as a meal is my best guess. I'll pay more attention next time, haha!
I am not ashamed to admit I had 3 bowls of it in one sitting :)
