Taco Soup with TVP

Well, I can't say that I'm a health nut or vegetarian, but I like to try new (healthy) things, infact, I've had this 'TVP' for about 6 months and have finally decided how I wanted to try it out. So, really, it took me a while to test it on Mike. Hah. I did pretty good I'd say - as I asked him what he thought it was before I told him - and he thought it was ground turkey. Yeah, that was pretty slick on my part! But he ate it AND enjoyed it, had seconds too.

Some of you may wonder "what is this TVP?" - it's Texturized Vegetable Protein, and has been used as a 'filler' for years with different meat products and used as a substitute, as it has the same texture as ground beef (or turkey) - but it's tasteless and needs to be marinated or spiced-up. It also has similar nutritional value as beef, but without the fat. It's also CHEAPER! You can find it in almost any nutrition section, I bought mine at Fred Meyer.

I thought I'd throw together something from the pantry for dinner tonight and this is the recipie I thru together (this turned out to be awesome!):

TACO SOUP:
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 green pepper chopped
1 cup TVP reconstituted in 1 cup of boiling water, let set for 5 minutes
1 1/2 Cup Black Beans (you could use any bean you wanted, I guess)
1 Beef Boulion in 1/2 cup boiling water water
3 cups V8 Juice
1 1/2 Cup frozen corn
2-4 TBS Taco Seasoning (season to taste)

TOPPINGS:
Shredded Cheese
Sour Cream
Tortilla Chips

DIRECTIONS:
Saute onion and green pepper in oil, add beans and reconstituted TVP and Taco Seasoning, cook together for a few minutes, add V8 Juice, Beef Boulion, and frozen corn, taste and add seasoning if needed, let simmer for about 15 minutes.