There used to be a restaurant chain here in the Midwest called Max & Erma’s that had delicious chicken tortilla soup. It was creamy, lightly spicy and so comforting on a cold day.

Sadly, I think the chain mostly went out of business a few years ago, and the only one still around is at the airport, I think.

This Crockpot Taco Soup is inspired by, but quite a bit different than that restaurant soup. My version is a little lighter (less creamy) and uses ground beef instead of chicken.

Unlike many other crock pot soup recipes out there, this one doesn’t just have a dull, one-note flavor. Deeply browned ground beef, tomatoes, two types of beans, green chiles and lots of seasoning give this soup layers of comforting flavor.

The post Taco Soup Slow Cooker Recipe appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

Fajita Veggies are a nostalgic classic.

If you also came of age in the 1980’s and 90’s, maybe you can relate: fajitas were (are!) THE BEST!

When I was a kid, and we went to a restaurant that served chicken or shrimp fajitas, I was definitely ordering them.

The excitement of them coming to the table in a sizzling skillet couldn’t be beat! Even now, a homemade fajita bar is one of my favorite ways to throw a party.

My family also made fajitas at home quite a bit when I was growing up. And, as was typical for the time, we used a packet of “Fajita Seasoning Mix” to flavor our meal.

It tasted great, but upon closer inspection recently, I’ve realized the packet contained sketchy ingredients like “corn syrup solids” and “caramel color.”

You know what? I’ll pass. The good news is that now that I’m a confident cook with a well-stocked spice drawer, I don’t need the packet. These homemade fajita veggies have all the flavor you need with no weird additives that you don’t.

The post Fajita Vegetables Recipe without a packet! appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

Spice things up with this recipe for Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas

While I MAKE a lot of sheet pan dinners for my family, I haven’t published a lot around here, so I’m working to change that.

All good sheet pan recipes should have one thing in common: you can make a whole meal (or the vast majority of it) on one sheet pan.

But under the term “sheet pan dinners,” some recipes are more complicated than others.

A lot of recipes call for adding different ingredients at different times, and by the time you’ve opened and closed the oven a half dozen times, it’s feeling, well, less than simple.

These Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas are made on one pan (just add some warmed tortillas for serving) and the best part is, you put everything on the pan at once, pop it in the oven, and forget about it for a bit!

The post Easy Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

Pickling Jalapenos at Home

Today, I’m sharing one of my favorite condiments (or is it a side dish?) for summer recipes, pickled jalapenos.

They are so so easy and affordable to make at home, and for some reason, it just feels right to have a batch of them in my fridge all summer long (and they’re certainly welcome the rest of the year, too).

What are Pickled Jalapenos?

Pickled jalapenos are a condiment made by preserving sliced jalapeno peppers in a seasoned vinegar solution.

The pickling process adds tang and tempers the spiciness of the peppers a little bit.

The post How to Pickle Jalapenos appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

This Elote Corn Salad is so flavorful!

Right up there with salmon pasta, this salad is one of the most popular recipes on this site!

I think it’s because it’s a side dish that can be made in advance and has a huge amount of flavor going on.

There’s creamy cheese and mayo, tangy lime juice, herby cilantro and a little bit of heat from cayenne and chili powder.

It can be made with fresh or frozen corn, and there’s substitution options for a lot of the ingredients, making it easy to use what you already have on hand.

My favorite part is that it can be served warmed, chilled or even right at room temperature. It’s equally delicious all three ways.

The post Mexican Street Corn Salad (Elote Salad) appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

If the name of this blog didn’t already give it away, OF COURSE I have a drawer in my fridge that’s always filled with lemons.

They’re cheap and plentiful and are as perfect for making something sweet like lemon curd cake as they are for making something savory like creamy feta dressing or Greek yogurt mashed potatoes.

My drawer full of lemons always means that homemade margaritas to go along with Sonoran hot dogs don’t have to be a “great, now we have to go buy 20 limes” situation.

It’s more like a “let’s have margaritas because we have a few lemons” situation.

Side note – don’t you hate it when you get those dud limes? Like, the ones that have hardly any juice and are all mealy inside? Seems like I ONLY get those when I want to make margs or basil cocktails and really really need juicy ones instead.

Well, we don’t ever need to worry about dud limes again because we have lemon margaritas!

The post Lemon Margarita (Tequila Lemon Cocktail) appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

It’s not unusual for us to have tacos twice a week. On Saturday, we’ll make the classic ground beef/cheddar/lettuce/tomato ones that I grew up eating every weekend.

But we have absolutely nothing against another taco night a few days later – maybe mushroom tacos for Meatless Monday or something different for Taco Tuesday.

What if that something different was ground lamb? It’s the star ingredient in my Greek layer dip and Greek lasagna, and also works quite well for tacos, too.

These spiced lamb tacos come together quickly using everyday ingredients like cumin and chili powder. They might convince you to have tacos multiple times a week, too!

The post Lamb Tacos appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

With as much as we love our fajita vegetables recipe around here, now I’m wondering why I didn’t plant bell peppers in my garden this summer!

I DID plant shishito peppers, so we’re regularly enjoying blistered shishitos. But maybe you DID plant bell peppers, or you just like fajitas as much as we do.

I normally use beef and chicken for a fajita bar for a crowd, and often do vegetarian fajitas for a quick weeknight dinner. But I also absolutely love using shrimp for fajitas.

Because shrimp is so quick cooking, this healthy shrimp fajita recipe comes together in a flash anytime you need a quick meal. Even better, it’s made on one sheet pan!

The post Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajita Recipe appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

Have you ever tried the American-Mexican delight that is the Sonoran hot dog? It’s like a mash-up of a really great hot dog and a really great taco, plus add bacon to the mix.

It sounds crazy, but it just totally works (kind of like how my taco mac and cheese combines two favorites into one).

I first discovered this bacon wrapped hot dog delicacy at a local restaurant and quickly realized how easy and affordable it was to make at home.

You can serve the Sonoran hot dogs with any number of Mexican-inspired condiments and toppings, including refried beans, queso fresco, tomato, avocado, cilantro and sour cream.

So, spice up your summer with this Sonoran hot dog recipe! Serve them with Dr. Pepper baked beans, blistered shishitos, and a beer or a pitcher of cold lemon margaritas.

You could even serve them bar-style, so everybody can assemble their own. The toppings will be really similar to my fajita bar, but you’ll just be using hot dogs and buns instead of tortillas and fajita meats.

These are also great on game day, alongside a football themed charcuterie board and healthy buffalo chicken dip.

The post Sonoran Hot Dogs (Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs) appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

Is there an ingredient you love but often forget about when you’re meal planning or grocery shopping? For me, that ingredient is mushrooms.

I love mushrooms of all kinds – portobello, crimini, and even the humble, ubiquitous button (white) mushroom. But for whatever reason, I often forget they exist until I happen to be eating them in something like beef stroganoff or chicken stroganoff, when I say to myself “I LOVE mushrooms! Why don’t I make them more?”

Perhaps because they don’t fit neatly into a protein / carb / fruit / vegetable category, since they are, after all, a fungus. But they are a complete flavor and umami bomb, and they’re really good for you, too!

So, I’ve been making an effort to include mushrooms at more meals, including savory oatmeal for dinner and my lentil pasta recipe with mushrooms. And today, I’m sharing my favorite recipe for mushroom tacos.

The post Mushroom Tacos appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.