Minestrone Soup...When You Don't Have Enough Ingredients But Have Already Started...

I'm trying to be really, really together in my cooking.  I'm getting quite a pantry put together and am prepared for cooking/baking/nuking almost anything I take a fancy.

So, the other day, I didn't feel too well but hubby needed to go to town.  So, I gave him a list of things I needed. Simple, eh?

Well, trouble is, I didn't really read the recipe too closely and gave him the sizes of canned goods for eight people!!  There are only two of us, plus two Daschies, so we don't need a lot of food cooked/baked/nuked up. 

So, this AM, bright and early, I'm putting the ingredients together in my rather-smallish crockpot, then realizing it sure it getting FULL and I still have the finishing shells, beans and kale to go in at the end of the cooking cycle. 

I reread the recipe and immediately saw my boo-boo.  Thankfully, I have another smallish crockpot, I can put some in there and let it finish cooking.

Anywho, where the really funny part came in, I told hubby to get a can of chicken broth.  Didn't tell him to get the big size *because I didn't read what size the recipe needed*, just get a can of chicken broth.  So, he got the 15 oz can and was happy as a clam.

I'm putting all this together and realized I was supposed to have FOUR cups of chicken broth!!  What to do??  Had already put things in the crockpot and something in me just hated to throw it out, I hadn't even really gotten started!!

What did I do??  I rummaged around in my pantry, looking for ANYthing I could substitute.  Guess what I found!?  I found two chicken noodle cups, the kind you add water to to make the soup.  I whipped up those puppies and then used the liquid in my soup!!  I had JUST enough 'chicken broth' for my minestrone soup! 

I'm telling ya, necessity is the mother of invention in my kitchen!  We'll see how it turns out in another three hours or so. 

I am pretty proud of myself, oh, yes I am...  :-)