My Hot Southern Mess

I made this recipe nearly as written. I used some chicken breast that I had meal prepped and a large fresh jalapeño (for the 2oz of canned) and 7 oz can of green chiles (instead of 6oz). As written this recipe has issues with the balance of ingredients. 4 chicken breast to 3 can of beans = too much chicken to beans ratio. In addition, 3 stalks of celery is a bit too much. Flavor wise, this was on the blander side for us and not spicy at all. Maybe I had a not so spicy jalapeño, maybe other reviewers are using the full 4oz can of jalapeño instead of half, whatever it was my husband was disappointed in the flavor. Finally as written, the chili was on the thin side and could use something to thicken it up.

I made this nearly as written, my changes were the rice (I know this method works but I wanted to make extra and used my instant pot) and I used apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar out of preference. I did question the thyme in the recipe and chose to use ground thyme instead of dried thyme leaves. I poured all of the sauce over the chicken to bake in hopes it would thicken, but it didn't. I had an abundant amount of thin sauce that I used to baste the chicken with and ladle on top when serving. The end result was nothing like a spiced up sweet and sour chicken and was not a hit with my family. It could use some tweaks like many of the other reviewers have suggested or stated they had done in their reviews.

I made this recipe as written, with the exception being the chicken. I used 2 packages that were just over 1lb each. Measuring out the veggies, it did not seem to look to be enough and when all combined it was not,imo. Veggies could easily be doubled. The balsamic dressing/glaze could be increased as well. Flavor wise, I thought I was going to like this but something was off and it wasn't a hit for my family. I think with some tweaks to the dressing and adding more veggies this could be really good.

I will begin by saying the flavor of your taco soup will depend on the taco seasoning you use. I chose a low sodium taco seasoning because the amount of sodium in the recipe and I think it made my soup on the bland side. Our other issue with the soup was the amount of tomatoes used, 1 can is plenty. Otherwise this is an easy to put together and forget dinner.

I made these nearly as written. My changes don't really affect the taste, they were using gluten free flour and using the microwave method to make my tortillas pliable for rolling instead of warming in oil. Also worth noting is I used white American cheese from my grocery deli as there is a difference between American Cheese and Cheese Food Product. The deli sliced my cheese instead of leaving it in the block form but this was beneficial for rolling the enchiladas. I was able to use 1 slice per tortilla. The end result of the recipe is it had too much sauce/meat mixture that drowned the enchiladas. This could be easily cut in half, the saucy-ness made it hard to get a good picture. Flavor-wise, this was very mild. Having lived in Texas and eaten enchiladas all over the state (tex mex and authentic), these weren't like any i've had in regard to taste/flavor. We weren't the hugest fans of using American cheese either, Queso Oaxaca or Monterey Jack would be good alternatives. Overall my family rated this recipe a 2.5-3.

I made this recipe as written with the exception of the peas, I used frozen (throwing in at the very end helps keep them green) and garlic. Who really uses only 1 clove? For tomatoes, I used Roma tomatoes since type was not specified, only size. As written, it is an okay soup, but for the amount of work you put into it, it is not the best soup ever. Flavor-wise it was missing something. Regarding preparation of the soup, i'm not sure straining the blended tomato mixture is necessary. Lastly, the amount of oil used to sauté the carrots and celery should be reduced by half.