A few years ago, I bought this fabulous cookbook about soups -- Twelve Months of Monastary Soups by d'Avila-Latourrette. It's got some great bones for soup recipes and is absolutely fabulous for those wanting to get into using seasonal produce.

Black bean soups and chilis are great food for the winter, because they're rich and hearty and the spiciness warms you from the inside out. They also reheat fabulously, for those with smaller households or who like to bring their lunch.

This soup is on the thin side as written on the book (with an extra cup of water), but I like my soups on the thicker side. I'm totally guilty of using up half a package of saltines in thin soups to get it to the consistency I like. The photo above was taken on the third eating of the soup, so it's really starting to thicken up.

I've been sick the last week or so, but I've moved from the point where I'm not hungry and have no energy to cook to the point where I'm still feeling like crap, dont' really have energy, but am out of the anything effortless to make (including canned soup).

Did I mention that I really haven't done much grocery shopping in the last month, beyond one major meat restocking?

Anyway, I opened the fridge and saw that I still had some spinach in the freezer, a variety of poultry filets, and root veggies (carrots, onions, parsnips), and was suddenly, the flavors of my last stir fry exploded in my head - the sultry heat from the chiles, the silky bok choy... yum.

I admit that this was not the most exerting soup to make. It's really a non-recipe, but I'll share it anyway. Chop an onion, peel & dice a parsnip, and toss 'em in a pan to soften with just a little itty bit of oil. While it's cooking, run three cloves of garlic through the press over the pot, grab about a half teaspoon of minced ginger from the jar, and stir. Once it looks about right, pour in a 32oz box of chicken broth, about a tablespoon of soy, a teaspoon of chile garlic sauce, a half teaspoon of hoisin, a scant teaspoon of sesame oil, and dump in a frozen turkey filet (about 4-5oz in size). Let it simmer for some time. I really don't know how long it was there, I fell asleep on the couch and then the city inspector came, and the plumber. Anyway, once the turkey's cooked through, take it out, dice it up, and return with two servings worth of whole wheat pasta, and let it cook until the pasta's plumped up nicely. Then add about 2-3 oz of frozen spinach (oh yeah, still frozen because I still am not feeling well -- I use a cleaver to chunk my box into 3-4 smaller containers to freeze what I don't use for things like this), and once the spinach has thawed and warmed, serve.

It was much like stir fry, and filled my belly well (and helped drain my sinuses - always a bonus!). I don't feel like arse so much, either - between this and last night's onion soup, I think I may be on the mend.