Wonderful, Wonderful Wednesday

I am nearing the end of my carless week, and it hasn't been nearly as bad as expected. I will back tomorrow to tell you all the things I have learned about myself and saving money during my time at home.

Before that, though, I have to tell you about my unexpected treat in the middle of the week. As you know if you have been reading my blog for a while, I LOVE fountain diet coke. I like diet coke out of a can, but there is something about diet coke from a fountain that just makes my life complete. I love it. And normally Ada and I go to Sonic happy hour everyday when she wakes up from her nap for an 86 cent large diet coke. I look forward to it all day. Obviously we did not go to Sonic this week, and I was having fountain diet coke withdrawals. Not to mention that I am drastically cutting down on my diet coke consumption, so we really didn't have any in the house either. Pair all of this with yet another door to door guy trying to sale me a vacuum (he somehow manipulated himself into my house and stayed for over an hour--I promise, I don't know how he got in) and I was in desperate need of something last night.

Well, in addition to all of the above, we were out of milk. And Ada really doesn't go to bed without her milk. So...when Scott got home from work, he loaded Ada and me into his car--our first time in a car since Sunday!!!--and we went through the McDonald's drive through to purchase two milks and a large diet coke. My hero hubby. All paid for with gathered change. It made my day. In fact, it made my entire week. And it was just what I needed to get me through the Wednesday hump.

To top it ALL off, we had a wonderful dinner waiting on us when we got back to the house--16 bean soup that had been simmering all day in the crock pot. Ya'll, it was so yummy. We all three agreed. Ada ate her weight in beans last night, I think. She loved it. We loved it. And it was actually gray and cool outside. Perfect bean soup weather. Remember, I got this idea from Crockpot 365--please check out this blog!!!

Here is what I did.

I bought a bag of 16 bean soup from the bean aisle at Kroger, for less than 2.00. I dumped that bag into the crockpot yesterday morning. I added a packet of french onion soup mix, and a handful of onions from a bag in the freezer. I then covered the beans in water. At this point I was racking my brain because I knew that ham was supposed to go into bean soup, but I didn't have any. What I did have, however, was some uncooked bacon in the fridge that needed to be used. I cut up three large pieces of uncooked bacon and dumped them in the soup, and I let it cook on low all day. I checked it periodically, and when the water was soaked up, I just added more. The soup was very creamy and full of flavor. And oh so cheap. Right now we are contemplating eating it every week. I am sure we will rethink that, though.

Seriously, you need to try this recipe. And for more crockpot cooking, check out Slow Cooker Thursdays.