Minestrone: Hello, soup season.

It was in a teeny, tiny old kitchen in Missouri that I first discovered how vegetables, water and spices can cook down into something comforting, and even satisfying.

It was my first month on my own post-college, in a new town where I knew precisely one person. I didn't think much of it that day, but the New York Times recipe for Summer Minestrone I found would set the tone for this season I was entering.

I would feed myself without a meal plan, without my mother, without good friends to eat with. Trying a new recipe to eat off all week would become my go-to weekend escape. In a creaky, sometimes creepy, small space all of my own, I learned what I liked to eat and how I liked to cook, not just what  I grew up with but still building on that foundation.

Five years later, my life looks different, though not drastically.  I am closer to home and have new companions in my day-to-day comings and goings. I share the fruits of my kitchen in different ways than I did then.

But as I  sauté onions and carrots, add tomatoes to simmer, and fill my kitchen with the aroma of Italian spices, once again all by myself, I return to fellowship with a simmering pot, with thoughts left to wander, with solitude.

For a good part of the evening, I don't look at my phone or consider the rest of the world's social plans on this Saturday night. I rest in the moment, in my happy place, and travel back to a mid-day lunch of Summer Minestrone and Parmesan toast in my lil' old grad school apartment. This is me embracing who I was created to be, and no one else.

Mexican Chicken Lime Soup

Let me tell you about the past few days: rain, rain, rain, rain, mist, rain, heavy rain, rain, mist, drizzle. Is this Portland? But hey, I have had soul-warming soup that feels more like a Mexican beach. The first thing I noticed about its taste is the lime. It makes it fresh and tames some of the spice from the peppers in the Rotel.

Plus, avocado makes any day brighter. It always makes my life feel more like summer.

This little experiment is a definite keeper recipe, especially for blah January weather days.

Sweet Potato, Mushroom and Gouda Chowder

Slurping down the first bowl of warm cream-laced soup after jacket weather hits is like curling up under my down comforter with the first escape novel I've picked up in far too long. Hello, stay-inside-more season, I've missed the comforts you bring.

And what better way to welcome you than with mushrooms and sweet potatoes and gouda and bacon? Soup Week at The Kitchn got back in the habit reading its 1,467 daily posts —if nothing else it's worth the screen time to discover links like this.

Now if only there were more time in the day to curl up and read I Capture the Castle for hours at a time with hot chocolate and soup breaks.

This scrumptious chowder is part of my seasonal kick of sweet potatoes and pumpkin and squashes. What fall comfort are you cooking up?

Dinner: Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

The South is taking too many cues from Northern winters and forgetting that people like me choose to live here for a reason. I do not approve of winter temperatures hovering significantly under 50 degrees (I'm spoiled, I know), except that it makes soup taste extra soul-warming.  

I tend to stereotype chicken soups as being somewhat bland. However, if you cook up some fresh veggies first and throw in a bit of half and half at the end for this one, it won't disappoint fans of fresh-tasting, flavorful soups. 

Necessity: Warm, crusty bread.
Bonus: Bakery cranberry bread a very nice person brought home for me.

The wild rice adds a nutty flavor to this thick (not very broth-y) concoction, but the other ingredients keep it from being too overpowering.

Tell me, friends, what are you making to warm you up on dreary winter days? (Yes, this is a comment request, pretty please.)

Dinner: West African Soup

It's a little bit funky. However, if you like the principal ingredient, the sweet potato, you'll like this hearty, nutty soup. I made it for a vegetarian friend, but it's so fiber-packed that it left me more full than many meat dishes. We ate it with crusty, grainy bread.

I'm not sure how authentic to West Africa this recipe really is. Google research told me sweet potatoes and ground nuts are common in traditional African cuisine, so that's something.

Also, beyond chopping the sweet potatoes and onions, the recipe is simple. Just dump ingredients, and simmer.

Is anyone else as excited for soup season as me? I'm all about the ease of comfort food and yields of enough to easily freeze for a second meal.

Dinner: Brunswick Stew

I had tasted Brunswick stew once or twice and not thought much of it, but the ease of this recipe won me over. Its barbeculicious taste ended up quite pleasing the parentals and myself who ate it. Like most stews, you simply dump in a bunch of veggies, let it simmer, and, poof, you have a one-dish meal that warms you from the inside out. Better yet, this one is pretty much barbecue in a bowl with some classic Southern veggies: lima beans, corn, and tomatoes.

I sauteed fresh onions, peppers, and garlic since everything else was canned, but the recipe I based it off called for zero fresh ingredients and the canned tomatoes with garlic and onion instead. Ease or more freshness, you choose.

This particular recipe makes enough to feed an army of 12-15 by my estimates, so either feed it to lots of friends or plan on several meals of leftovers for the freezer. It was also packed with pork, so if you want more than a sprinkling of veggies in a meaty stew, you could cut the meat down by as much as a half. I used pulled pork from my favorite local barbecue restaurant, but any kind would do after you cook it down with all those ingredients.

Recipe: Pasta Fagioli Soup

This soup is the super-fast cousin of Pasta Fagioli, a traditional Italian dish made with pasta and beans (fagioli means beans). A savory tomatoey broth seasoned with basil and oregano envelops its other contents: seashell pasta, zucchini, kidney beans, and sliced turkey sausage. 

I love how easy [precooked] turkey sausage is to prep: just slice and throw in. The sausage and beans made it hearty enough that a certain meat-loving diner at our table (who insists on supplementing veggilicious meals such minestrone soup with something from the freezer) considered it good enough to fill him up. We ate it with toasted bread and salad, just as the Cooking Light recipe suggested.

Pasta Fagioli Soup

12  ounces  turkey sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced

3  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1/2  cup  uncooked small seashell pasta

2  cups  coarsely chopped zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)

1  (14.5-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, undrained

1  teaspoon  dried basil

1  teaspoon  dried oregano

1  (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1/3  cup  (about 1 1/2 ounces) shredded Parmesean cheese

Heat a large saucepan over high heat. Add sausage; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth and pasta; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes. Add zucchini and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 minutes. Stir in    basil, oregano, and beans; cover and simmer for 3 minutes or until pasta and zucchini are tender. Sprinkle with cheese.

Recipe: Tomato Bisque

This creation came (hard) copy of a Ladies' Home Journal recipe for chicken tomato bisque my grandmother gave me a few months ago . I followed her enlightening (pun intended) notes to substitute of half and half for cream and leave out the chicken. The rich tomato, oregano and garlic flavors with a hint of cream stood quite well on their own, leaving no need for meat. A final word of advice: don't get lazy and skip the blender step like I did at first; a creamy tomato soup's taste and texture will best delight your tongue when pureed and left not with tomato chunks. It made for a simple, savory dinner (and side to a sandwich for lunch later in the week).

Chicken Tomato Bisque

2  Tbsp. olive oil

1  carrot, chopped

1  medium onion, chopped

2  cloves garlic, minced

1/4  cup all-purpose flour

1  28-oz can whole tomatoes with juice

1-1/2  cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 tsp chopped oregano

1/2  cup heavy half and half

1  tsp salt

In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine olive oil, carrot, onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally until onion is soft, 6 to 8 min. Stir in flour until vegetables are coated; then add tomatoes. Add broth and 1/2 tsp oregano and stir, breaking up tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook 8 to 10 min.

Working in small batches, puree soup in a blender or food processor and transfer back to pot. Stir in half and half and salt and heat through. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper and serve garnished with remaining oregano. 

Recipe: Lemony Lentil Stew

This stew, like a thick soup without much liquid, features a small, round bean. Lentils pack a whole lot of vitamins and minerals into relatively few calories, and  their small size allows them to cook quickly. They are the only dry bean to date that I have cooked because they are much less daunting than bigger beans. 

Just simmer them down with some other wholesome, flavorful ingredients for a hearty stew that will fill you up. The lemon and edamame enliven the usual onion-tomato-bean combo, and the tomato and edamame add to the color palette. The recipe comes from the Dec. 2008 Cooking Light, but I added lemony to the name because I found liked my end product that involved squeezing my lemon to my heart's content.

Lemony Lentil Stew

1  cup  dried lentils

3/4  cup  frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans) (I substituted lima beans because they were in my freezer)

2  tablespoons  olive oil

1 1/2  cups  minced red onion

3  garlic cloves, minced

1  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

6  tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I didn’t measure, just squeezed a lot ‘o lemon.)

1  teaspoon parsley

1  tablespoon  chopped fresh mint (I omitted this)           

1/2  teaspoon  salt

1/2  teaspoon  ground cumin

1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper

1/8  teaspoon  ground cinnamon

Dash of ground cloves

Place lentils in a large saucepan; cover with water to 2 inches above lentils. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until tender. Drain well, and set aside.

Place edamame in a small saucepan; cover with water to 2 inches above edamame. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until edamame are tender. Remove from heat; drain well. (I cooked lentils and edamame in separate pots at the same time.)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and tomatoes to pan; sauté 6 minutes or until onion is translucent, stirring often. Stir in lentils, edamame, juice, and remaining ingredients. Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring often.

Recipe: White Chili

What this chili lacks in color it makes up for in flavor thanks to green Tabasco sauce and onions and peppers. Together with cornbread (from scratch!), its warm temperature and flavor was perfect on a fall day that decided to act like it was winter. The inspiration for the dish goes to my friend Haynes' white chili from earlier in the week; our regular catch-up chats inevitably include discussing we've cooked recently.

I like how the Cooking Light recipe suggested topping it with plain yogurt instead of say, sour cream. Once you mix it up, all that matters taste-wise is that it's something creamy to contribute to texture and flavor. Yogurt is starting to rival my affair with sour cream, a staple that has long held my heart (I don't think it's normal to enjoy eating it straight). I added green pepper and cut down on the chicken from the original recipe; it gave me four servings.

White Chili

2  teaspoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups chicken broth

5  teaspoons green hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large chicken breasts, cut in halves

2 tablespoons cornmeal

1  (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, drained

plain yogurt

2 tablespoons  thinly sliced green onions (about 1)

Cook green pepper, onion and garlic in oil in a large pot; cook 5 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Add broth, hot pepper sauce, salt, and chicken to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes. Remove chicken from broth mixture; cool.

Add cornmeal and beans to broth mixture, stirring with a whisk; simmer 15 minutes. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and add them to the pot; simmer 5 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring frequently. Top each serving with yogurt; sprinkle with green onions. 

Recipe: Summer Minestrone

The Italian influence of minestrone is what made me like pure-veggie soup for the first time. No sodium-filled chicken stock is necessary for a hearty, savory soup when you cook down carrots, onions, tomatoes and zucchini with basil, parsley and thyme and then add beans and pasta. 

Even though this is "summer" soup, I found the New York Times recipe last fall, and it became the first of my series of fall and winter soup-making Sundays that give me meals throughout the week (and then more meals when I freeze part). I tweaked the recipe a bit for my tastes (no turnips, please) and to simplify fancy pistous and bouqet garni.

Summer Minestrone 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

Salt

4 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, or 1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, with liquid

3/4 pound zucchini, diced

2 bay leaves

Thyme, parsley, and basil to taste

1 (15-ounce) can cannellini or borlotti beans, drained and rinsed

6 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths

1/2 cup soup pasta, such as elbow macaroni or broken spaghetti, or 3/4 cup penne

Pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan for garnish

Heat the olive oil to medium-low range in a large, heavy pot, and add the onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring about three minutes until vegetables begin to soften, and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Continue to cook, stirring often, until tender, about five more minutes. Add the garlic, stir together for about a minute, then mix in the tomatoes. Keep stirring until the tomatoes have cooked down and smell fragrant, about 10 minutes. Stir in two quarts (8 cups) water, the zucchini and spices, and bring to a simmer. Add 2 teaspoons salt. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the canned beans. Taste and adjust salt.

While the soup is simmering, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the green beans. Boil five minutes, until tender but still bright green. Transfer to a bowl of ice water, allow to cool, and drain. Retain the cooking water in case you want to thin the soup. (For a lazier version, omit the green beans or add canned ones.)

Add the pasta to the soup and simmer another 10 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked al dente. Stir the cooked green beans into the soup. Grind in pepper, and adjust seasonings. Soup should be savory and rich-tasting. Remove bay leaves. Sprinkle Parmesan on the top of soup once served in bowls.

Yield: Serves six to eight