While the kitchen is busier than ever, A Veggie Venture is taking a break from blogging . We'll be back on January 1st but until then, every day there will be a new soup recipe, longtime family favorites from the never-seen-online Kitchen Parade archives and perfect for the winter months ahead. Today's soup is Very Very Green Green-Pea Soup , made from ingredients you're likely to already have on hand and great for St. Patrick's Day celebrations and winter lunches alike. Many thanks to Luminous Lens for the soup emblem!

Happy Boxing Day, Everyone! While the kitchen is busier than ever, A Veggie Venture is taking a break from blogging . We'll be back on January 1st but until then, every day there will be a new soup recipe, longtime family favorites from the never-seen-online Kitchen Parade archives and perfect for the winter months ahead. Today's offering is the meaty and beety Karelian Borscht which warms the northern souls of Finland and Russia. Many thanks to Luminous Lens for the soup emblem!

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas! While the kitchen is busier than ever, A Veggie Venture is taking a break from blogging . We'll be back on January 1st but until then, every day there will be a new soup recipe, longtime family favorites from the never-seen-online Kitchen Parade archives and perfect for the winter months ahead. Today's soup is a Low Fat Vegetable Soup to help take off the extra pounds accumulated over the holidays. It makes a bunch and freezes beautifully. Many thanks to Luminous Lens for the soup emblem!

Merry Christmas, Everyone! While the kitchen is busier than ever, A Veggie Venture is taking a break from blogging . We'll be back on January 1st but until then, every day look for a soup recipe, longtime family favorites from the never-seen-online Kitchen Parade archives and perfect for the winter months ahead. First off is a delicious Turkey Sweet Potato Soup that originated with my sister. It's fat with vegetables and perfect for an easy supper on a cold night. Many thanks to Luminous Lens for the soup emblem!

So if I've been a slacker in the vegetable department for the last couple of days, it's because I've been such a champion in the fruit, er, I mean, the cookie department. By the time the last batch came out of the oven and the fish stew was cooked for Christmas Eve and Jesus' birthday cake (a tradition started by my sister when her now lanky teenage boys were toddlers) was baked and iced, it was ten o'clock. I managed (barely) to find 'something' that might, in an expansive holiday fashion, qualify for A Veggie Venture and finally sat down to supper. That said, the simplicity of the cheese and eggplant/red pepper spread on good olive bread really hit the spot. I find the bruschetta at a nearby international grocery where there are maybe a dozen brands priced $1.50 - $2.00 so easy, wallet-wise, to keep stocked. If you count calories, do watch the nutrition labels for the brands vary widely in their use of oil. Merry Christmas, all. Let the Cookie Partie

From all the prepared food on A Veggie Venture this week, you'd think mine was a no-cook kitchen. Instead, it's exactly otherwise: so much cookie baking and cooking ahead for Christmas that there's little energy left for meals! This Trader Joe's product was perfect for a simple lunch, start-to-table in 10 minutes flat and leaving lots of appetite for fresh-warm cookies! (And hey, ignore the sunlight streaming in that's so lovely except when it comes to food photos ... and check out the styling! Pretty good mimicry, eh?) (c) Copyright 2005 Kitchen Parade