Too cold and rainy to go anywhere.

I have to confess that while we are trying be frugal in our expenditures, we have a bad habit of eating out far more than we need to. Since my husband usually works evenings we don't go out for dinner every night, but far too often we go out on his days off.

What can I say - you aren't buying a fancy dinner; you're hiring a dishwasher for the evening.

However, last night my husband was going to be home early enough for us to eat together, but I didn't feel like braving the cold & rain. So I made our favorite refried bean soup. This is a highly variable soup, depending on what we have on hand and what we feel like.

Refried Bean Soup:
A can (or two) of refried beans (I use refried black beans, but regular refried beans work just as well)
A can (or two) of Rotel(tm) tomatoes
A couple of cans of chicken broth
Frozen or canned corn
One onion, diced
Garlic, minced or chopped. (or garlic powder, if you're lazy)
Any other canned or frozen veggies that sound good to you.
Whatever leftover meat you might have.

Throw everything in a pot and cook until the onion is cooked and/or you're ready to eat. Serve with tortilla chips, cheese, and sour cream; or any combination thereof.

If you don't have leftover meat, brown some chorizo or chicken tenders in your pot first.

I've made this vegetarian by using vegetarian refried beans and vegetable broth as the base. It was good that way too, and I made sure I had a lot of different veggies in it.

I really like hominy and spinach in this, but my husband not so much.