Nothing is better on cold winter days than soup. We've been alternating between our favorite Mushroom Potato Soup and our new favorite Beef Barley Soup. This soup brings back memories of my uncle Ernie making this soup after my grandmother's funeral when I was in junior high, and it has always been great comfort food. We found a great recipe in the How To Make Soup book from The Cook's Illustrated Library and have been cooking it for the past month. Thyme seems to be a key ingredient in soups, that and to cook the vegetables first before adding all the broth so they are sauted instead of boiled when you simmer the soup. This little book will definately never leave our shelf.

On the side, we've been eating salads with Wish-Bone dressings. Laura chose the italian and I'm using thousand island, and after looking at the nutritional facts for many dressings, we went with the "Just 2 Good" and "Fat Free" varieties. I've never really tried thousand island before, but I like the ranch/tomato mixture. And on rare occasion, we have a side dish of butter beans, my most favorite bean. I'm not sure what makes them different from other beans, but they taste less mealy.