Well, the weather outside has been frightfully cold and that sends me to the kitchen. I find that if I sit by a blazing fire in the fireplace, I fall asleep even if I'm watching a great football game or reading a fabulous book. So the kitchen is a better place to stay conscious.

So there are some great new books out there for soup and calorie counting recipes and Italian slow cooking and I'm compiling soup dishes that are easy, sort of simple and labor intensive.

But cookbooks aren't the only, or best place for all recipes. I've also turned to Cabot Cheese and Muir Glen Organic Tomato folks for some simple recipes that anyone can make on a weeknight.

I'm even making a light vegetable broth, a first for me.

I'll report more tomorrow.