I made croutons!

All by myself! Without a recipe!

I was turning the bean salad I made for the 4th into a soup for dinner. (Another talent I'm developing and excited about - turning leftovers of one meal into a totally different meal.) The salad recipe mentioned the idea of soup, served with croutons. I thought, "hmm. I do not have croutons. But hey! I have a quarter loaf of slightly stale baguette. If sliced baguette baked at 400 or so makes crostini, I bet I could make this into croutons."

And I could! I just cubed it up, laid them out on a pan, drizzled them with a tiny bit of olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and a little Italian herb mix, and popped them in the oven.

Then I tasted the soup, decided it was still a little bland, and seasoned it excellently. The soup and the croutons were both awesome.

As a bonus, it was really nutritious - beans, fresh tomatoes and herbs, not too much salt, good bread, just a little olive oil - and I wouldn't have noticed that it was healthy if I hadn't cooked it myself. Which I did!

I feel like I'm finally becoming the person I've always wanted to be, but didn't know how.