Taco Soup

I think I'll make this for Christmas. Thanks to Paula Deen at http://www.foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 cups diced onions
• 2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans pinto beans
• 1 (15 1/2-ounce) can pink kidney beans
• 1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomatoes with chiles
• 2 (4 1/2-ounce) cans diced green chiles
• 1 (4.6-ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced, optional
• 1/2 cup green olives, sliced, optional
• 1 (1 1/4-ounce) package taco seasoning mix
• 1 (1-ounce) package ranch salad dressing mix
• Corn chips, for serving
• Sour cream, for garnish
• Grated cheese, for garnish
• Chopped green onions, for garnish
• Pickled jalapenos, for garnish

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 slow cooker or a stockpot. Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, black olives, green olives, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing mix, and cook in a slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a pot on the stove. To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions and jalapenos.

french bread pizza

Ingredients

• 1 (2 foot long) loaf French bread
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 package frozen chopped spinach defrosted and squeezed dry
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 cups part skim ricotta
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 pound sweet sopressata, from the deli, sliced thick, chopped
• 1/2 stick pepperoni, chopped
• 1 sack (10 ounces) shredded mozzarella
• 1 sack (10 ounces) shredded provolone
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Split bread lengthwise and hollow it out. Cut in half across, making 4 shells for pizzas.

Heat a skillet over medium high flame and brown sausage in extra-virgin olive oil. Brown and crumble sausage. Add red bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, add spinach. Remove mixture from heat and season with a pinch of salt and black pepper, to your taste.

Transfer to a bowl. Combine sausage and veggies with ricotta, Parmesan, sopressata and pepperoni. Fill bread shells and top with mounded mozzarella and provolone cheeses. Place in hot oven on cookie sheet and bake until cheese melts and bubbles and bread is super crisp, about 10 to 12 minutes. Top pizzas with oregano and hot pepper flakes. Serve immediately, or snack all night!

Thanks to Rachel Ray and the Food Network!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray

different kind of cookie

I haven't made these, but I've heard good things about them and I don't want to forget!

Flourless, butterless chocolate chocolate chip cookies

3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
piece salt
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 egg whites
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Put dry ingredients into bowl and mix on low speed 1 minute.
In another bowl, combine vanilla and egg whites. With mixer running, slowly add the whites and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed.
With 2-oz scooper, scoop cookie dough and place onto non-stick baking sheet. Make sure to space the cookies about 3 inches apart.
Lower oven temperature to 320 and bake for 14 minutes or until small thin cracks appear on the surface of the cookies. Cool on rack.
NOTE: I made these at Christmas so there would be a cookie that I could have and everyone ate these more than the others. These originally had 2 cups of walnuts and NO chocolate chips. The chips make them.

From crabhappychick on http://www.grouprecipes.com/