Squash, Pear and Parsnip Soup with Maple Croutons.

When it’s too cold to go outside make soup instead

First We Eat: Some say this comfort food has the power to do everything from curing the sniffles to mending a broken heart

When my sweetie caught a cold recently, he asked me to stop in at our favourite Chinese restaurant and bring home some hot and sour soup. “Are you kidding me?” I said. “No way. I’ll make you some.” Next time you slurp some of this Szechuan soup at your fave joint, look at it closely. […] Read more


Cooking the foods of our ancestors keeps heritage alive

Cooking the foods of our ancestors keeps heritage alive

First We Eat: And what better way than with a pot of homemade soup?

One of the great truisms about food is that by cooking the foods of our forebears, we maintain or re-establish a link with our heritage. My mother’s antecedents were off-colony Hutterites who arrived in Saskatchewan at the turn of the previous century from a colony in South Dakota. Earlier, my great-greats and their babes had […] Read more

Primo’s “Rustic Beef Barley” soup. (PrimoHeartySoups.ca)

Soup maker Baxters sells Canadian arm

The Canadian business of Scottish soup and condiment maker Baxters Food Group is back in Canadian hands, including private, public and labour-sponsored Quebec investors. Provincial venture capital firm Investissement Quebec and labour-sponsored Fonds de solidarite FTQ and Fondaction announced Tuesday they would each put up $8 million, plus an unspecified amount from investors led by […] Read more


Chicken soup made with really good homemade broth

Chicken soup made with really good homemade broth

First We Eat: Make a batch of stock and freeze to have on hand when you want to make soup

Our globe tracks a circular route around the sun, and life often mimics that pattern. As does culture. Skirt lengths go up and come down, narrow lapels and three buttons come in and out of style. And crafts too, come in and out of fashion. These days, it’s common to see young people perusing websites […] Read more

Don’t throw out that ham bone

Don’t throw out that ham bone

Prairie Palate: If you served up an Easter ham, I hope you kept the bone to make soup

Sometimes I eat out of the garbage. Case in point: One year as we cleaned up Easter dinner, I asked my sister-in-law what she did with the ham bone. It was a good ham and we enjoyed it immensely. As I was eating it, I thought of the (even more) delicious soup I could make […] Read more