From the Editor-In-Chief

As we head into the end of the year many significant changes take place. The days shorten, the temperature drops, and the leaves transition. We have learned over time to embrace these changes and adapt our own lifestyles. We wear warmer clothes, spend more time inside, and find ourselves drinking such winter staples as cocoa, or, if at the right holiday party, glug. We eat heavier meals, bundle up, and learn to cope with the climate. We adapt. We make subtle lifestyle changes that after years of practice become second nature, a welcomed change. For with these changes come also many missed traditions, well looked for past times, and an opportunity to reminisce on past years of hope, struggle, joy, friends, and family. Traditions embedded in family heritage. At the same time, we learn new traditions, make new friends, and embrace the changes in life.

Traditions, both old and new, liven the spirit, and warm hearts, minds, bodies, and stomachs. While I have picked up a thing or two in the kitchen over the years, there is something to be said for new special recipes. One more recent recipe I have been able to enjoy over the last few years comes from my wife, Lane’s family’s cookbook, is Santa Fe Soup. Easy to make, the key is in the length of time you can keep it on low/simmering in the crockpot, for the longer it simmers the more the flavors meld together and develop. This recipe is sure to warm any stomach and I hope you will consider it on a cold winters’ night to come. I hope you enjoy as much as I have over the last few years, and continue to remember your own past as we look to closing, and ultimately beginning a new year to come; new traditions, new friends, and new recipes!

Lane’s Santa Fe Soup

Ingredients:

2 lbs Shredded chicken or ground beef

1 oz. Package ranch-style dressing mix

2- 1 oz. Packages of taco seasoning mix

1 Onion chopped

1- 16 oz. Can black beans

1- 16 oz. Can kidney beans

1- 16 oz. Can pinto beans

1- 16 oz. Can diced tomatoes with chilies

1- 16 oz. Can tomato wedges

2- 16 oz. Cans white/golden corn mix

2 Cups water

Garnish: sour cream (we now use Greek yogurt, try it in this and you won’t know a difference!), shredded cheese, sliced green onions

Cook meat and onion together until meat is browned. Stir in Ranch dressing mix and taco seasoning. Mix well. Add in remaining ingredients with juices from all. Add water. Simmer 2 hours. ENJOY!