Has it turned chilly where you are?  If so, I thought you might appreciate a sneak preview of a nutritious and delicious winter soup that my omnivorous husband asks for by name.  If so, just click on the soup name below.

This beautiful “White Bean and Kale Stew” hails from The Blooming Platter Cookbook and was featured this week as the Veg Kitchen’s “Recipe of the Week.”  (Thanks, Nava Atlas!)  Not the ubiquitous white bean and kale stew that we all know and love, my recipe is extra special with the addition of fennel and vegan sausage.

Fragrant with that faintly anise scent so appealing and particular to fennel, and “kicked-up” with the addition of winter spices, this stew is like aromatherapy in a bowl.  And it’s very quick to make.

Our family started a tradition of making a special soup on Christmas Day because none of us wanted to repeat the (healthy) excesses of Thanksgiving less than a month before.  Plus we had come not to relish opening presents and then leaping up to hit the kitchen for hours of work–pleasant enough, but work all the same.  Our soup tradition takes any residual stress out of the day and has been enjoyed for several years.  If you have the same inclinations, this soup would make a lovely choice.

Please, everyone, have yourselves a wonderful holiday.  And stay-tuned for my extra special post for New Year’s Eve.  It may be the simplest, quickest and most beautiful “recipe”–if you can call it that–that I’ve posted in Blooming Platter history!

And, quickly, if you are in need of a last minute gift, I would like to suggest running out to your local bookseller and snagging a copy of The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes.  (You can purchase it for 25% off its regular retail price through December 31!)  If you already have purchased one for yourself or others, my sincere thanks!  People’s generous support of TBPC has been extraordinary.