The Perfect Pantry®

Recipe for butternut squash, peanut and chipotle soup

Yes, I know, in just a few days the solstice will signal the arrival of infinitessimally more daylight, a few seconds a day, though it won't be obvious to... well, to anyone except my optimistic husband Ted, at least for a few more months. I do not get through the longest, darkest nights of winter with a camping lamp plastered to my forehead. I cook my way through, with soup: rich, thick, sweet and almost always a bit spicy. This butternut squash, peanut and chipotle soup hits all the marks. It's creamy, yet dairy-free, and gluten-free, too. Most important, this African-inspired soup will make you forget all about the darkness and the cold. You'll be too busy licking your lips.

Harissa (Recipe: vegan squash or pumpkin stew with chickpeas and carrots)

First published in November 2007, this updated pantry ingredient post features new photos, links, and a few tweaks to the recipe. Spicy harissa gives this stew a smoky kick; use more or less, to your taste. If you have a tagine, a Moroccan cooking or serving pot with a conical top, serve this in traditional North African style.

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

Ilsa didn't go to Rick's Café Americain for the food. In fact, nobody went to Rick's for the food. Drinking, yes. Smoking, of course. Gambling and trading? You betcha. A rousing chorus of La Marseillaise? Absolutely!

But food? Not a bite, and what a shame, because Rick's, the place to see and be seen in the classic film, Casablanca, surely might have had wonderful food, including couscous and tagines with spicy homemade harissa.

Chicken broth (Recipe: turkey escarole soup)

First published in September 2006, this updated pantry ingredient post features new photos, links, and a few tweaks to the recipe. This popular soup began, as many great soups do, as a bit of a fridge dump. Add or subtract ingredients, and change up the escarole for another dark leafy green, but don't forget the parmesan cheese rind in this make-ahead-and-freeze soup. It makes all the difference.

For a few years -- I'll admit it now -- I was a stock snob.

Only homemade chicken stock would make the cut in my kitchen. No bouillion cubes, no cans, no boxes, no (gasp!) dehydrated powders. I made stock from raw chickens and roasted chickens. My freezer harbored baggies of necks and wing tips, and the occasional smashed carcass.

I felt virtuous.

And then, of course, the day came when I desperately wanted homemade soup, but had no homemade stock. Off I went to our village grocery store, where I read the labels on all of the cans and boxes of chicken broth. I purchased a few different ones, including organic, and did a little taste test. And I discovered Swanson's 99% Fat Free, which is lower in sodium and higher in taste than any of the packaged chicken broths I tried. (By the way, the packaged organic broth all tasted like dish water.)

Recipe for slow cooker vegan spicy pinto bean chili with corn and kale

If there were a beauty contest for chili, this rather odd-colored spicy pinto bean chili with corn and kale wouldn't make it to the swimsuit round. Don't be fooled by its rather modest looks, however. Hiding in this vegan chili are three -- yes, three -- types of chile pepper (fresh, dried and canned), and a whole six cups of antioxidant-rich kale. If that isn't sexy, I don't know what is! As with all chili, you can spice the recipe up even more, or tone it down, to your own taste. My non-vegan husband absolutely loved this chili, which would be a perfect main dish for Meatless Monday, and I'm confident you will love it, too. Make a pot today, and eat it or freeze it.