Vegetable Beef Soup/ 8-Layer Tostada - From the Crackpot Who's Still Crockpotting

I know things are getting bad when there is talk of burning the crockpot recipe book and I get questions like, "When are we going to stop having crock pot recipes?" Just for the record, we have thrown in some normal dinners, and I do usually offer something at the table I know they will like--like vegetables. That sounds like a joke, but it isn't. Somehow all of my children like most vegetables. We have to say things like, "Finish your casserole and then you can have some broccoli." Too bad they like junk food just as much. They would pick ice-cream over broccoli.
Here's a recipe we had a few days ago:

Dan really liked this, but he was the only one! My kids usually like vegetable beef soup, so I thought this would be a good dinner night, but I would have to agree that our other recipe is better. Sorry, Dan! I don't know if I'll make it again.

I liked this EASY recipe, but I think it needed more zip. The recipe called for low-fat pepper-jack cheese, which I've never seen anywhere, so I just used RF Mexican Four Cheese mix. I also should note that I forgot to sprinkle the chili powder between layers. So you can see why it was a little bland! Next time I might try sprinkling it with taco seasoning, or even adding seasoned ground beef. The kids ate it reasonably well. They didn't love it, but we didn't have tears, plugged noses, or gagging going on, which is about as good as it gets around here.