A few months ago, I mentioned that Love Inspired is repackaging one of my backlist titles into a two in one. To begin with, I’m thankful to have a backlist. I got my box of books last week and it just never gets old. Sweetheart Reunion releases in June. It includes my 
title, Reuniting with the Cowboy and Tina Radcliffe’s Rocky Mountain
Cowboy. I got to meet Tina several years ago at a writer’s conference. As one of the brains behind Seekerville, a blog geared toward helping pre-published writers improve their craft, she’s invited me to write several posts for them over the years.
Once I read a little bit about Tina’s book, I realized why the two are a good fit into one volume. Our stories have similar themes. Both are reunion stories, our heroes are cowboys, and both have food scenes to mention a few.
It surprised me that they used a version of my original cover. It’s closer up, minus the dog. But Tina’s cover has a couple with the little girl on a horse and my book doesn’t have a child. So I guess it was easier to zoom in above the dog than to cut the little girl on the horse out.
Since I’ve never shared a recipe here, I thought it would be fun to share my recipe for Taco Soup. In my book, Ally takes a pot to her bachelor next door neighbor when she realizes he’s nursing a rodeo injury and doesn’t even have a kitchen table, much less anything to eat. And to convince him, she’s over him and seeing him doesn’t bother her at all. Even though it really does of course.
Taco Soup
2 pounds Hamburger, Ground Turkey, or Ground Venison (cooked and drained)
1 can Stewed Tomatoes
1 can Rotel (I use Original)
2 cans Ranch Style Beans
2 cans Hominy (white and yellow) drained
1 envelope Ranch Dressing Mix
1 envelope Taco Seasoning Mix
2 cans water (More if you like it soupier)
Cook meat. Add all ingredients in dutch oven and bring to boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. (You can use corn instead of hominy or one can corn and one can hominy.) Serve with shredded cheese and Fritos.
This book was a lot of fun for me to write. Ally is a vet and runs a no kill animal shelter. I’m an avid pet-lover and considered being a vet when I was younger. Until I realized they have to anesthetize pets. I enjoyed living the vet life vicariously through my character. And since my dad was the announcer at our small town rodeo and I worked in the concession stand, it’s always fun for me to touch on the rodeo life in my books.
Besides my recipe, I’m giving away a copy of Sweetheart Reunion. Print for US and e-book for international. Tell me your favorite soup or casserole to get in the drawing. Deadline: May 21st, 11:59 pm central.
Award winning author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter writes contemporary Christian cowboy romance and has over a dozen published titles. A romance reader since her teens, she hopes to entertain Christian women and plant seeds in the non-believer’s heart as she demonstrates that love doesn’t conquer all—Jesus does. She gleans fodder for her fiction in rural Arkansas where she spent her teenage summers working the concession stand with her rodeo announcing dad and married a Texan who morphed into a pastor. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her husband and son, flea marketing, and doing craft projects.
Hi Shannon, Taco Soup is completely new to me- I don’t think I have ever seen it served here in Australia. I had to look up what Rotel is- we have crushed canned tomatoes, but not the Rotel brand.
Favourites in our family would have to be Potato and Corn soup, and Minestrone Soup. These are great in the slow cooker to come home to on a cold winter day, served with warm bread- yum!
Blessings:)
Hi Shannon! Congrats on your repackaged Love Inspired book. Nice cover. Thanks for the Taco Soup recipe. Our family soup recipe is Chicken Noodle soup. Our two year old granddaughter can’t eat enough of it. She want to eat it for breakfast. Make it every other week for her. Hubby and I also like bean soup, lentil soup, and potato soup. His favorite casserole is Chicken Salad Casserole with rice and water chestnuts, topped with cornflakes and almonds. Always enjoy a book with a recipe included. Best wishes.
Congratulations ?My favorite soup is vegetable soup with homemade biscuits. Thank you for sharing your recipe. Blessings
I love taco soup! I have all those ingredients except ranch mix! It’s what’s for dinner tonight! Glad I read I already didn’t feel like chicken tonight! Thanks! One of my faves is enchiladas, since they are baked, they are a casserole! Right? Fave soup has to be vegetable! Have a wonderful week!
Hi Wemble. Rotel has green chilis and is very spicy. Wow, I can’t imagine a world without Rotel. I used it in tons of casseroles and soups. I love Minestrone. We used to have an Italian Restaurant that had it on the salad bar. So good. I miss that place.
Hey Renate. Your casserole sounds yummy. I love water chestnuts. On Sunday, instead of having a noon service and then a 6 pm service, we have our service at noon and the evening service at 1:30. We have a lot of people who live a ways out of town, so it saves them a trip and we fellowship in between. 3 or 4 ladies make soup every week for us to eat and visit over. I used to make taco soup. But we have a member who is allergic to beef. I have a freezer full of venison. But when it’s processed they add beef to it since venison has so little fat. I started making spicy chicken noodle so he’d have something to eat.
I love veggie too, Lucy. I love cornbread with soup.
I’m glad I helped you out with supper, Jimette. Sometimes I feel like I fix the same five dishes over and over. My family’s favorite casserole is chicken enchiladas.
I love Cheesy Broccoli soup or homemade vegetable beef soup.
Taco soup is the food of my people. :)
I definitely think Tina R. Is a wonderful writer and I’d certainly like to try one of your books too. Thanks for introducing me to your work!
We’re BIG soup people and it’s hard to pin down a favorite! My mom’s chicken noodle soup would rank right up there. Also homemade Ham & Split Pea Soup. A new favorite is a Turkey Meatball Soup.
Rotel has recently come to Canada. Since I can my own tomatoes and am not a lover of heat, I haven’t bought any.
Hi, Shannon! I make a “taco” soup a little like yours. I think it’s my Mom’s favorite! Actually, it’s a mix of two recipes we have, and I made a variation. I don’t use a Dutch oven, though. When I make it, we usually have enough for 4 or 5 days, which I like, since it means I don’t have to cook every day!
Yum, Shelia. Cheesy Broccoli soup. It’s really weird, but our McDonald’s used to serve it. I don’t know if they still do or if any of the other McDonald’s did. I tried to order it once in a different town and they looked at me like I was nuts. But it was so good. I need to see if ours still has it.
Hey Dalyn, two in ones are a great way to try new authors. I think I could live on taco soup.
We’re big soup people too, Valerie. My husband and son won’t hardly eat left overs, but they’ll eat soup, so I fix it a lot. They have mild Rotel and you could use 3 cans of water instead of two in the recipe. The more water you add, it lowers the heat level.
Hey Trudy, I found the original recipe in a magazine. But over the years, I tweaked it to our liking. I love having soup to warm up and not have to cook every time my crew gets hungry. The orginal called for pinto beans, but we like ranch flavored better.
Taco Soup sounds like a winner! I love soup. I think my favorite is butternut squash soup.
I’m not real big on soup but the one exception is homemade chicken noodle soup. It’s hard to beat a bowl of soup and a slice of homemade bread, especially in the winter.
How fun to gtow up in a horsey, rodeo family! When I went thru my horse-crazy phase at about 8 years old, I had my mom on my side. She grew up on a farm and always loved/had horses! It was awesome to ride and compete with my mom at my side.
I love soups of all types but probably none more than potato soup.
I Love Taco Soup Too Shannon it is one of my favorites so yummy ! My Daughter makes an awesome taco soup Thank you for sharing about your book sounds like a great read!
LOVE Taco Soup! Sounds exactly like the recipe I use!
For the last couple of years I have been making a low carb gluten free version of Olive Garden’s Tuscan Zuppe. Cauliflower, swiss chard, chicken & sausage. It tastes great on a cool day!
Oh that sounds good, Sally. I might have to find a recipe for that.
Somehow I only want chicken noodle soup when I’m sick, Jessica. I guess because I like a little bit of spice. I have a recipe for spicy chicken noodle I make sometimes though.
We lived in the suburbs in several different states when I was a kid, Laurie. When I was 12, my parents decided to move back to Arkansas where they’d grown up. I didn’t want to move because I didn’t want to leave my cousins there and my friends. To console me, my parents told me I could have a horse once we moved. They got me one, but he was young, and slightly obstinate.
Once my dad started announcing at the rodeo, we talked about me getting in barrel riding and even set up barrels in our field and trained my horse for it. But one day, he got tired of being ridden and decided he’d rather eat. He took off back to the trough. And we’d fed him so well, his saddle didn’t fit well enough to stay in place when he went around a corner. The saddle turned and so did I. I was hanging on his side for dear life and ended up falling. I landed on my shoulder and tore all the tendons and ligaments I owned.
After that I didn’t ride unless my dad held the reigns and led the horse. So we weren’t really a horsey rodeo family. He just announced the rodeo and I worked the concession stand. But it was fun.
I love potato soup. Oh my goodness, a lady at our church makes the best. So creamy. I need to get her recipe too.
Like I said, I think I could live on it, Sarah.
Like I said, I think I could live on it, Sarah.
So you tweaked yours too, Brenda. The original called for corn, but my husband isn’t supposed to eat corn, so I changed it to hominy. And we like ranch style beans better than pinto.
Yum, Jennifer. You’re making me hungry. I’ve never tried their soup. But soup has no season for me. I love it in the summer too.
I think I’ll have to give you a casserole and a soup. I just can’t seem to choose. I love sweet potato casserole and my husband and I both enjoy cheesy potato soup. We love leftovers and never let a bite go to waste. Yum!
TACO CASSEROLE
1-2 cups diced cooked chicken
2 cups precooked rice
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can milk
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 pkg taco seasoning
1 Tbsp sugar
Tortilla chips, slightly broken up
Stir all together and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
Both excellent choices, Mandy. I love sweet potatoes any way you want to fix them.
Yum, Susan. Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to try that.