**Food Friday!!** Soup-er!

I hate being asked what's for dinner. Many hours may be spent menu planning, making sure each meal is unique and tasty, time taken to write it on the board on the refrigerator and still the first words out of Husband's mouth when he comes home, "what're we having for dinner?" WHATEVER APPEARS WHEN I STICK MY @#&%* FOOT IN YOUR BUTT!

*deep breath* Since most days, I don't know if I'm going to receive a call from the Hotel saying that the cookies caught the oven on fire and caused a short in the circuits, so now the elevator is stuck (oh man, why did I put that out into the cosmos), I try to keep my recipes pretty much attention free. This means we eat a lot of soup.

To me, soup can be the perfect independent food, especially if you're essentially dumping everything into a pot, giving it a stir, bringing it to a boil, giving it another stir, turning down the heat and letting it simmer. We also have soup on those days when I have no clue when Husband is coming home, so having a meal that gets better the longer it cooks works out beautifully. This Fast Refried Bean Soup from Taste of Home totally fits the bill.

In the beginning, there was homemade chicken stock. In the ten minutes, I can get it from the store.

Every trip to the grocery store includes three items: corn, black beans and pop. I hate corn, don't drink pop and put black beans in everything (usually to mask the fact that there is corn, which is the only vegetable Husband will eat).

I heart canned refried beans. Since I have to stay away from red meat, I'm very conscientious about making sure I have enough protein in my diet, especially when I'm working out (another reason for the multitude of black beans). Refried beans are a nice change of pace and are perfect spread on a tortilla and covered with cheddar cheese. They also remind me of canned cranberry sauce...

This recipe made a ton, perfect for FFY (Fend For Yourself) days.

There aren't really any classic snack foods in our home. My way of thinking is if it's not in the house, I can't eat it. I do know how to satisfy the occasional snack attack, and tortilla chips fresh from the oven are tasty treats. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, cut tortillas into triangles (or strips, either is easy when you have you're handy dandy pizza cutter), sprinkle with salt and pop in the oven for ten minutes. At five minutes, flip the triangles over to toast the other side. Presto chango! tortilla chips. **note: corn tortillas may take a little longer. I did mine the same amount of time I made Husband's flour ones and they weren't quite as crunchy.

In the end, this meal took about twenty minutes to complete, although it cooked for an hour or two, which I think allowed the refried beans to thicken it up a bit. Was just missing a heaping dollop of sour cream. Must remember to put on grocery list.

What is your favorite no fuss recipe??