Tex Mex Minestrone Soup

A few years ago I wrote about a cheap, quick, and easy crowd-pleaser recipe: Tex Mex Minestrone Soup.  Over the years, I've changed & perfected it to my liking, so I thought it would be great to post the new ideas.  Last year I made a triple batch for a large group of friends coming over & they loved it!  Not to mention it took me about 30 minutes to cook for 16 people, most of which was letting the soup simmer over low heat!

Tex Mex Minestrone Soup

 Basic Ingredients:

-Half a box of pasta noodles. Smaller is better, so macaroni & rotini are your friends.  I've also used penne.  It's a bit bigger, but still works.

-1 jar of salsa.  Regular mild is my favorite, but you can use medium or hot if you like it hotter.  With mild you can always add hot sauce to taste.

-1 can of black beans.  Yep, let all the juice in there, too!

-3 cups of water.  Sometimes I add more if the noodles soak up a lot of it.

Preparation:

Make the pasta as directed.  Then mix all the ingredients in one pot & bring it to boiling.  Then simmer for about 20 minutes (longer definitely doesn't hurt, but 20 gets everything soaked in well).

Ta-da!  $4 and you've fed a family of 4.

Now, the great thing about this recipe is that you can add just about anything you want in.  I love to put some cheese on top once it's served.  Last week we tried it with a pound of ground beef.  Talk about hearty!  Beans give my daughter a diaper rash so I make a small pot without beans for her.

It's also easy to double, triple, etc.  I tend to buy the large jug of salsa that has the handle like a milk jug!  It's the kind of recipe you smell when you walk in the front door & my husband always gets excited.  It's so nice to have a quick, easy, & cheap recipe that everyone gets excited over!  Let me know how your family likes it!

Easy No-Bake Chocolate Cookie Recipe!

I might be biased, but this recipe is delicious!  I looked up a bunch of different recipes online & kind of combined them to make one that fit us.  And from the time I walked into the kitchen to the time I walked out, it was about 10 minutes.  That includes the time it took me to find a stool to reach the chocolate chips!  It's true... I have to put it on a high shelf so I don't eat them all in a day.

This recipe can easily be doubled, too!  There are just two of us & a toddler in the house, though, so this batch made 13 cookies & that was plenty for us.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups oatmeal (I used the quick cooking kind)
1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup butter (or coconut oil)
1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup sugar (optional- all depends on how sweet you want it)


Directions:
Put the chocolate chips, oatmeal, and vanilla in a bowl.  Put the butter (or coconut oil), milk, and sugar (if you're using it) in a saucepan on the stove & cook over medium heat.  It'll boil & froth-- just keep stirring it while boiling for about a minute.  Then pour the mixture over the bowl & mix it all together! Spoon portions out onto wax paper & let harden.  If you're impatient, you can pop them in the freezer for a bit so they harden faster!

Enjoy!