That ain't workin' that's the way you do it

Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it

Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb

With budgets in dire straits, need to try to use and not waste as much as possible. A little of this and a little of that... can be turned into something a little fab.

I chopped up some odds and ends from the fridge, in preparation for the new produce order coming in.

Celery, carrots, handful of sweet peppers. Grabbed some items from the pantry.

This soup only takes 2 minor "efforts". The first one is planning. Plan a bean soup the night before. Dump bag of beans into a bowl, cover with water, cover and let sit on the counter over night. With the leftover meat, this big pot of soup will cost @$6.

Money for nothin' and chicks for free.

(Get your) Money for nothin' chicks for free

I grilled ribs a couple of weeks ago. 2 whole slabs... and 2 useless "rib tips" per slab. NO ONE EVER eats these things. They'll eat more salad or just lick the platter where the bbq sauce pooled rather than actually gnaw on one of these things. There's like 2+lbs of bone-in meat here... so I tossed in ziploc bag and then into the freezer until I thought of a use. Enter bean soup.... now tossing into trusty crockpot.

Beans have soaked up all the water.... dump these on top of ribs in crock.

Then dumped chopped vegetables, 1 can diced tomatoes with juice, and 2 boxes chicken broth.

Season with onion powder and Northwoods from Penzey's. Northwoods is good for anything soupy, rustic, comforting or tomato-y.  It will go nicely with the smoked rib tips and beans. Cover and set for 4 hours on HIGH.

The 2nd "effort" is after arriving home. Pull ribs from crock and gently separate the meat from the bones. They are super duper tender... took maybe 10 minutes while chatting with the kids. You could use ham, leftover chicken, kielbasa sausage... then this would be nearly NO effort bean soup.

Add meat back into soup and stir.

I want my, I want my MTV

I really DO want my MTV though... my kids have no idea what a video is!