Meat to her household...

• She rises while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

I've already mentioned a little bit about "rising while it is yet night" here, and I really don't want to go there right now!

But on to the next part of this verse--giving meat to her household. The Hebrew or Aramaic word used here for meat is "tereph", which in most modern translations is used in this context as "food".

So here I am, bringing my food from afar, rising while it is yet night, and giving food to my household. That can only be interpreted for us modern gals as getting groceries, and planning and cooking meals.

I've always liked to cook. Wait. Let me change that. I liked to cook when I was younger, and I like to cook now, but I did go through a long dry spell when I would have rather taken a beating than to go to the grocery store, cook, and/or clean up afterwards. (rather take a beating is figurative, ya'll!) Part of that was because I was overcommitted, overextended, and exhuasted, and when I did feel like doing anything, kitchen related duties were JUST NOT IT!

Right now I have a little more time on my hands, but even so I don't necessarily want to spend all day every day in the kitchen. Through the years I've accumulated a pretty good stash of simple and relatively easy recipes (my favorite kind), and I'll be sharing some of those with you in this and future "Meat to her household" features.

Todays recipe, Taco Soup, is one of my very favorites, because it's easy and as you'll see, very versatile. The basic recipe is this:

• 1 pound of ground meat
• 1 can of whole kernel corn
• 1 can of beans
• 1 can of tomato paste
• 1 can of cooked tomatoes
• 1 pkg of taco seasoning.

Brown the ground meat, drain, return to pot. Add all other ingredients, plus a can or two of water for the tomato paste. Bring to a "bubble", then cover and simmer at least 20-30 minutes.

We like this with grated cheddar cheese on top. Sometimes we have it with crackers, sometimes I make cornbread with it, and we've eaten it over corn-chips. (It's good with a little dollop of sour cream on top, too, but I'm the only one in my family who likes sour cream, so I seldom have any on hand!)

Over the years I have varied this. My family doesn't really like "chunks" of tomatoes, so I leave that out, and I usually use tomato sauce instead of tomato paste, so I use 2 or 3 cans of tomato sauce in place of the tomatoes and tomato paste. Once in a pinch I used a can of tomato soup and a can of cheddar cheese or nacho cheese soup, and it was delcious that way, too.

I've used several different kinds of beans, according, again, to what I've had on hand. One of my favorites for this is small red beans, but I've used kidney beans, pinto beans, ranch style beans, and canned baked beans. I think it would be really good with a mixture of black and red beans.

You can also varie the meat if you'd like. I've made this with ground beef or turkey, and often use a mixture of both if I have them on hand.

My version that I make most often these days is 2 lbs of ground meat, 2 cans of corn, 1 can of beans, 2 or 3 cans of tomato sauce, and 2 packages of taco seasoning. This makes a big pot full. I've never frozen this, because we usually eat on it for a couple of days, and then have any other leftovers for lunches, but I think it would probably freeze well.

I think one of things I like about this recipe is that most of ingredients are things you can have on hand at all times. Obviously, you don't have to use just canned ingredients. I've made this using leftover cooked pinto beans and frozen corn from my parents' garden. It would also be good with home canned or frozen tomatoes, as well.

I'll be sharing a couple of different easy Tex-Mex dishes soon. So whether it's taco soup or a recipe of your own, all of you virtuous woman (and men) give some "meat" to your household today.

Until next time...

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