Soup Riff

You've all heard the old adage, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." A bit of folk wisdom that doesn't help one little bit when life really is dishing out the sh*t, but cute when all is going well.

It ran through my mind as I was sitting down to my fabu bean soup.

I made it from the soup base that I had begun so hopefully and worked so hard on - and that ended up being more or less tasteless.

To remedy things, all I did was sauté a little chopped onion in a tad of butter, dump in a can of Navy beans and about three can's worth of soup base, then cut up one of my favorite Coleman's hot dogs and immersed the pieces in the soup. When it had all simmered together for long enough to heat the dots of dog and spread their smoky goodness through the soup, it was ready.

It was honestly very, very good. The soup base gave it rich texture and heft, the beans added mild flavor and the hot dog pieces lent their smoky, salty, meaty goodness to the whole. The perfect rainy-day soup, hearty and wholesome and comforting. When life gives you lemons, make bean soup.