Yosemite Trip #2 starts tomorrow and I’ve been put in charge of one of the dinner meals. Normally Basil does the cooking in this household but he pulled a muscle in his back on Wednesday and has been a bit out of commission since. I’m hoping he’ll heal well enough for us to still make it on this trip and maybe possibly hike to Carlon Falls. Is that asking too much? We’ll see.

Initially I had wanted to make this awesome looking Chicken & Rice dish that supposedly recreates and even improves the dish found at the best halal chicken and rice cart in New York (corner of 53rd and 6th) but the yogurt in the recipe gave us pause since this could possibly make the dish go bad before we could consume it on Sunday night. (Link via Ambitious Deliciousness).

So instead I decided to try out David’s Taco Soup Recipe.  Basil took one bite and enhanced it.  Here’s my attempt to record the recipe.  We figure this recipe serves about 8 because I always overcook, so plan accordingly. (I once had 3 heads of lettuce left over after a taco salad party.)

Taco Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
4 pounds ground beef
2 large onions, chopped
1 can chili beans
2 cans whole kernel corn, drained
2 cans stewed tomatoes – mexican style
2 cans Rotel tomatoes
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
2 pkgs. Original Hidden Valley Ranch dressing (dry)

Preparation:
Brown ground beef and onions in a large pan, drain off fat.
Add remaining ingredients and simmer for an hour or so.

So easy.

Below are Basil’s additions which of course improved the dish though I thought it was pretty good as is.  I yelled at him to measure so I could record but he ignored me and moved quickly to add the following:

couple squirts of ketchup
drizzling of worcestershire sauce
ground mustard
cumin
chili flakes
garlic powder
chili powder
paprika
cilantro
bay leaf

We plan on throwing this over some rice, because rice makes everything better.