Here are a couple of tasty variations in different colors: Red Lentil Soup With Lemon (NY Times 1/9/08) Time: 45 minutes 3 tablespoons olive oil, more for drizzling 1 large onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper Pinch of ground chili powder or cayenne, more to taste 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth 1 cup red lentils 1 large carrot, peeled and diced Juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro. 1. In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons oil over high heat until hot and shimmering. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes. 2. Stir in tomato paste, cumin, salt, black pepper and chili powder or cayenne, and sauté for 2 minutes longer. 3. Add broth, 2 cups water, lentils and carrot. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. 4. Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée half the soup then add it back to pot. Soup should be somewhat chunky. 5. Reheat soup if necessary, then stir in lemon juice and cilantro. Serve soup drizzled with good olive oil and dusted lightly with chili powder if desired. Yield: 4 servings. ============================================================ Yellow Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup (www.wholefoods.com) 1 cup yellow split peas 1 quart vegetable broth 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch slices 7 whole green cardamom pods 1Â2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) or canola oil 1 medium yellow onion, chopped 1 teaspoon garam masala 1/2Â1 teaspoon ground cumin lemon Cayenne pepper sea salt, to taste ground pepper, to taste Soak the peas in water to cover overnight. Drain and rinse. Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a medium pot. Add soaked peas, sweet potato slices and cardamom pods. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for an hour. (N.B. I skipped the soaking and gave the split peas a 15 minute head start and simmered until the peas and potato were falling apart -- less than an hour) Heat ghee in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garam masala and cumin and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. When sweet potatoes and peas are tender, add the spiced onions to the pot. Stir and cook another 5 minutes. Remove cardamom pods and season the soup with lemon, cayenne, salt, and pepper, as desired. Serves 4

arrgghh, apparently I can fail at both egg poaching AND egg dropping. I am one of those people who uses cups to poach my eggs because I end up with egg drop not-quite-soup. But when I try to make an egg drop soup, I end up with egg-thickened broth. I may just scratch the egg from the soup next time. After all, if you believe the latest report, I might as well just have a loaded gun on the table next to my soup bowl (I would have said a smoking cigarette, but I couldn't get past the mental/olfactory image).

I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups candy. Never cared for peanut butter pies, ice creams or cakes that tried to emulate them. It's a texture thing......Reese had the perfect mix of the chocolate and slight graininess of the "peanut butter" inside. But texture is always as important to me as taste as most of my food opinions note.

A bit boring but i've done the same method for years. A roasted chicken dinner, very comforting. I roast two organic chickens using the oven roasting heat. Cut some onions in half, cut side down in the roasting pan for 'feet' under the chickens....add some big carrots cut in large chunks and a few celery ribs. Garlic. Add a cup of water and roast. Another 1/2 sheet pan of mixed veg and root veggies go on the lower rack half way through the chicken roasting. Kale or collards as a side dish. I also have a mixed sprouted grain side and/or a bean, usually white beans. Sometimes black beans. A Saturday or Sunday no brainer dinner but comfort food. Pan juices and veg make a nice gravy. Stock pot is already simmering with veg cuttings and h2o when we sit down for a nice meal. That roast chicken is then picked of meat, usually more than half left over, then the bones, the carcass back, is cracked and broken then into the stock pot. I always have chicken feet, (great pup snacks), in the freezer. And duck paws frozen in packs with duck necks for stock. The other chicken i cut into parts and give it a spice rub and marinade for a bbq style roasted chicken dinner. Pick more of the meat and fridge it. I end up with a dozen or more meals that are not at all left-overs. Chicken salad, a few qrts of soup...add some of the picked chicken to each qrt, then some of the finely sliced greens uncooked i set aside, some rice or some of the beans, fridge those container, then top with the stock/broth once it is chilled, then freeze. A few smaller pints i fill with beans and rice, then top with stock as well for the freezer. Gives me quick options later for soups. I often food saver some picked chicken with a spice rub that can be pulled out of the freezer for tacos or a filling for arepas...easy small sauce pan heat-up with some miropoix and chili sauce. Still have a few pints of just stock i freeze. Produce is expensive. My garden produce is special enough that canned or purchased stock/broth is not worthy. Making our own stock is practically free. Just the stovetop heat cost. And maybe i just enjoy it. I'm making my own choices and using basic cooking skills. I never salt it. Enough sodium in the veg. Celery and carrots and greens have plenty of salt. Fresh greens i may add later when i make soups and stews from the stock/broth have sodium as well. I may add some parm to a soup later. I adjust for salt to the table. A spicy garlic yogurt salsa as a topping for a stew or soup is huge in flavor and i may not want an extra salty. We made sea salt last spring and find a finishing salt much better added when needed, a pinch, at the table, is a better flavor enhancer as a last minute ingredient.