Taco Soup – or the soup that's sweeping the nation!

There are so many versions of this soup.  I got the recipe a few years ago from my sister, she and I have tweaked it here and there.  It’s very adaptable, so you can do a lot of things with it.  The story starts there.  My friend Kathy at work asked me for a soup recipe that would be great to bring to her lake house.  I gave her the recipe for the soup, she made it for a group, and people asked, “Can I have the recipe?”.  Then some people from that party made it for friends, and those people asked, “Can I have the recipe?”  Then Kathy’s son was going to college, and he has made the soup at school.  My sister-in-law made it for her family and friends, and people asked her “Can I have the recipe?”  So, my friend Kathy and I always joke that the recipe is sweeping the nation!  It is one of my favorite soups.  I could eat it every day for lunch for a week and not get tired of it.  It makes ALOT of soup, so if you are by yourself, or have a small family, feel free to cut it in half.
Here is the recipe!  
·        1 green pepper·1 small white onion
·        3 cloves of garlic
·        2 pouches of Boca crumbles*
·        1 can 99% fat free chicken broth
·        64 oz. V-8 juice (regular or spicey)
·        1 can corn
·        1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
·        2 cans black beans, rinsed
·        1 packet taco seasoning
·        *Optional 4 oz. uncooked rotini pasta, or elbow macaroni  Spray a big pot with Pam.  I puree the green pepper and onion and garlic with my Magic Bullet, otherwise you can just dice it.Sauté in the pot for a few minutes.  Add the Boca Crumbles and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the can of chicken broth, the V-8 juice the corn, the tomatoes (which I also pureed) the black beans and taco seasoning and cook for 30 minutes of so.  I added the pasta and cooked for another 15 minutes or so, until the pasta was cooked through.  I added up all the calories for the ingredients, and it made 15 cups of soup. For each cup is 142 calories, .5 fat and 5 fiber.     *You can also use ¾ lb. of ground turkey or ground sirloin

(Just adjust the calories)

I’ve made it a lot too, without the pasta, and its great too!