Last night I made the first batch of winter-soup-made-from-summer-scratch. It may not really be winter, but it was 27 degrees last night so I think that's close enough. This is one of my go-to soups for as long as the ingredients hold out, and it's always extra-pleasing because not only is it colorful and delicious, but we've grown almost everything ourselves. The basic gist is this:

From the root cellar: onion, garlic, potato, carrot, and celeriac. From the freezer: tomato sauce and chicken stock. From the pantry: black beans, canned corn, zucchini and red pepper relish. From the string hanging in front of the window: dried peppers. From the counter: the last tomatillos. From the garden: chard.

Do the onions and in butter or bacon fat or oil. Cumin and turmeric and a little cinnamon are nice, even if you didn't grow them. Add the other cellar veggies and the tomatillos and dried peppers, all chopped in to spoonable bits. (I like to follow Deborah Madison's advice and have the soup water simmering separately with all my trimmings while I do the rest to make a little mini-stock, especially if I don't actually have any in the freezer.)

Add the tomato sauce and stock, and simmer until the potatoes are about done. Oh, and soak the beans the night before and cook them separately. Then dump in the corn and its juice and the relish and its juice and the beans. When everything is warmed through and the potatoes are all cooked, add the chard, chopped up.

Later on I'll add dried tomatillos instead of fresh, and kale instead of chard. Chives are nice to snip on top if you've got some. Chorizo would be a good addition, too, I think. We didn't grow any of that, but there's a turkey farm nearby that does. And some cheddar or sour cream on top wouldn't be amiss, either.

Yum! Hope you all are staying warm, too.