I made another soup tonight. This one is kind of my own invention but with heavy borrowings from other (unremembered) sources. It's kind of one part minestrone, one part bean soup, and one part chili soup (that recipe is not exactly like the "chili soup" that my Northern Michigan relatives used to make [used to, sadly, because they are pretty much all gone now]).

Chili soup, as I remember it, is kind of a thin, less-spicy chili. Generally it did not have meat (though that may have simply been my grandmother's and aunts' preference). It did have beans, though. And it added some kind of small pasta - either elbow macaroni or ditalini.

I've said before how I like to cook. I especially like things like soup, where you kind of go by intuition and if you have to use a can that's a bit bigger or bit smaller - or if you want to change the seasonings - you can't go too far wrong. It's fun. It is, in its own way, a bit like the fingerpainting or messing about with clay that I got to do years and years ago in Art class.

(I think grown-ups should be allowed to have Art class during the day. And recess.)

(Now I'm smiling, picturing myself and my colleagues out on our back lawn playing kickball or smear-the-politically-incorrect-term-that-isn't-used-by-nice-people-any-more.)

Anyway. I like cooking for reasons beyond mere fun. It gives a sense of accomplishment - for me, a lot of the stuff I do is so delayed-gratification (months for a sweater, years for a journal article) that it's nice to have something that can be made in a couple hours. And to see it turn out so fast, to be able to clap your hands in delight and say "Oh, this is good!"

I also find that cooking is a good antidote (oddly enough) to bad scary news. I'd been scanning about a bit this afternoon, trying to school myself a little in what the bailout means and what might happen in the future - and some of the folks, even discounting for hyperbole, are saying kind of scary things. (A few are even using the big-D word, which honestly scares me, because that is about the only way I could actually LOSE my job, short of committing some act of monumental stupidity like having an affair with a student in my class).

But when I go into the kitchen - and start to work - things are Right. Things work. The world can't possibly be too screwed up if I can pull a couple cans off the shelf, and mix them with some veggies and spices, and make something that's not only edible, but very good.

So here's a "pithy"* version of the recipe.

As always, substitute at will and season to taste.

Take 1/2 cup chopped onion (can use more but I had a half onion wrapped up waiting in the fridge). Heat some extra virgin olive oil - maybe a tablespoon and a half - in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. (It will need to hold at least 3 quarts to avoid boiling over).

Dump the onion in, add a chopped up clove of garlic if you like. Saute over low-medium heat about 8 to 10 minutes or until the onion is soft.

(An aside: I think onions being sauteed in olive oil is one of the best cooking smells there is. It holds the promise of so many good things - from homemade spaghetti sauce to French onion soup to the embellishments to pot roast).

Add two 14.5 ounce cans of chicken broth (I prefer the Swanson's low-fat, low-salt), and one 15 ounce (or so) can of stewed tomatoes. (Or, if you want a thicker soup, reverse the proportions: one can of broth, two of tomatoes. I might do it that way next time).

Add whatever Italian seasoning you like. I used 2-3 teaspoons of Penzey's "Tuscan Sunset," which is mostly oregano, basil, pepper, and fennel. Add a little salt and a little pepper (to taste).

Bring to a boil, boil for a minute or so, then turn down the heat to a simmer. Simmer for a half hour.

At the end of that time, let the soup cool a bit, and then run it through a food mill (to get rid of the tomato skins or tough bits of tomatoes/peppers/other veggies that were in the stewed tomatoes). Or let it cool more and blend it.

Return the soup to the pot, raise the temperature. Add about 3 handfuls (maybe a cup to a cup and a half; I have sort of small hands) of whatever pasta you like (small pasta is best). Add a 15 ounce can of drained, rinsed cannellini beans.

Let gently boil for 8 to 10 minutes so the pasta can cook to al dente or slightly beyond.

I also added a chopped up turkey kielbasa I had on hand at the last minute. I think that really did a lot for the soup - added a nice smoky flavor and gave another texture to it.

Of course, you can modify this - add more veggies if you like. Use veggie broth instead of the chicken (or just water and extra tomatoes). A vegetarian version of this might be good with portobella mushrooms thrown in at the last moment like the kielbasa was. Or cook some zucchini in with the pasta and beans.

It made maybe eight cups, which is a good amount- that's enough to put some away yet I can probably eat that up over the course of the coming week.

(*for the non-knitters: Elizabeth Zimmerman, who was kind of the Julia Child of knitting, used to give what she called "pithy" instructions - where not every line was written out or ever detail given. The idea was, she assumed her readers would be guided by their intelligence and experience to fill in the gaps).