Taco Stew - lean ground beef

Method

• Using a large stockpot, brown the ground beef with onions and garlic according to your taste.
• Whisk together tomato sauce and taco seasoning.
• Add to stockpot and stir.
• Add the rest of the ingredients to the stockpot and stir well.
• 1-2 cups of water may be added if it's too thick for your preference.
• I add none.
• Simmer on stovetop for 1 1/2 hours, allowing flavors to blend.
• Or dump all ingredients in a 6 qt crock pot and cook on low 6-9 hours.
• Stir occasionally.
• When serving, you can top with shredded cheese.
• We love this with Fritos on top or tortilla chips on the side.
• Also great with cornbread.
• Freezing is easy.
• My favorite method is to freeze the stew in the soup bowls I will serve them inches When frozen, I pop them out and vacuum seal using my Foodsaver.
• To reheat, pop the frozen stew back into original bowls and microwave.
• A great trick for keeping the FS bag clean is to put the frozen stew into a cheap baggie and THEN put it into a Foodsaver bag and vacuum seal.
• All you will have to do is rinse, instead of scrub that FS bag!
• If you are really short on freezer space, an alternative would be to pour unfrozen stew into a freezer ziplock, let out the air and store flat in the freezer.
• The downside is that you'll have to either let it defrost overnight in fridge or soak in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes before you can pour into a bowl and reheat in microwave.