I know we did zucchini soup recently, but I made some for my family tonight that was so good they finished the whole pot. The zucchinis at this time of year are so perfect. Maybe next week I’ll try some stuffed zucchinis. Here’s the recipe again…

Zucchini soup

Wash and slice zucchinis. They don’t have to be finely sliced—you’re going to puree the whole thing afterwards. Put in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook until tender.

Taste a few slices. I boil the zucchini separately first because every once in a while it’s bitter, and that ruins the whole soup. So better to test it first.

Assuming your zucchinis are not bitter, chop 2 cooking onions, 3 carrots and 1 stick of celery. Chop celery finely, otherwise the fibres stick in the blades of your blender or food processor. Add these items to the pot of zucchini and make sure they are all covered with liquid.

Add 2 Tbsp of salt and a pinch of pepper.

Cook until all vegetables are soft. This takes 15-20 minutes on a high heat, but use your judgement.

Now I’m going to tell you about my favourite kitchen tool. It’s my immersion hand blender. If you don’t have one, it’s worth the $20. It’s the lazy person’s tool of choice. You just stick it directly in the pot of cooked vegetables and buzz. Voila! Soup!

If you don’t have a hand blender you can use a Cuisinart or a regular blender to puree this mixture.

You can adjust the salt to your taste.

Cabbage rolls

• Large head of cabbage
• Ground beef
• Rice
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 egg for each pound of ground beef or part thereof
• can of tomato juice
• 1 Tbsp of sugar

Separate the cabbage leaves. You want to use the large outer leaves. Place them in a shallow dish and pour boiling water over them. Let them stand for about 15 minutes.

Combine ground beef, rice, salt, pepper and one diced onion and mix

Drain the water from the cabbage leaves

Place a small scoop of meat on each leaf and roll up the cabbage, tucking in the ends

At the bottom of a large casserole dish place some cabbage leaves, and put the cabbage rolls on top

Pour over can of tomato juice and sprinkle with Tbsp of sugar

Cook covered on a low heat for 1 hr 15 min, or in the oven at 300 degrees for 1 hr 15 min

That’s it!