Stuffed cabbage soup is not the most photogenic dish I've made recently. While it lacks the prettiness or sophistication of other meals, it makes up for it in flavor and comfort. I love stuffed cabbage, but it takes too long to make on a workday. So I took all the ingredients of stuffed cabbage and transformed it into an easy to make soup.

I basically made a cabbage soup with ground beef and served it over rice. The steamed rice is made separately and not cooked in the soup. A typical Vietnamese family-style meal usually consists of bowls of rice, a meat or fish dish, stir-fried vegetables and a bowl of soup (canh). The soup is ladled over the rice. Two examples of canh are bitter melon soup and sour shrimp soup.

Naturally, I applied this canh concept to my stuffed cabbage soup and had the rice on the side. The soup is a cinch to prepare and can be ready in thirty minutes. I wanted to use ground turkey in the soup, but my butcher ran out early, so I used ground sirloin instead. To allow the cabbage to shine, I only put a small can of diced tomatoes in the recipe. Remember, I have a low tart tolerance and I love cabbage.

I have a lot of friends who love Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham). When they ask me for the recipe, I tell them it's a closely guarded family secret. However, I have finally received permission from my parents to disclose the formula. It took a lot of groveling on my part and even a few tears were shed, but I got their blessing.

Okay, I made the last part up, but wouldn't it be more special if it really was a secret? Anyway, every Vietnamese family has a dipping sauce recipe. The ingredients in nuoc cham are generally the same, but the proportions vary based on personal tastes and regions in Vietnam. According to Vietnamese cookbook author, Andrea Nguyen, "as you move south the sauce gets sweeter, hotter, and more garlicky."

This may explain why I don't like the nuoc cham made in San Francisco restaurants, which are generally too sweet for my tastes. My family is from the middle part of the country and I was born in Da Nang. It all makes sense now.

Last August, my parents came out to visit me in San Francisco. One of our excursions was to the Serramonte Farmer's Market, our favorite farmers' market for fresh fruit. My mom was very excited when she saw the fabulous blueberry vendor. She immediately bought a couple of quarts of blueberries and made three blueberry kuchens for us and friends.

The kuchen was simple to make and it was absolutely delicious. Hungry Bear got the recipe from my mom, but sadly, we didn't make a kuchen before blueberry season ended. We thought we'd have to wait until summer before finding high quality, reasonably priced blueberries again.

A few days ago, we were trying to survive the craziness at Costco and stumbled upon big packages of fresh blueberries. Hungry Bear declared that we should buy some blueberries and make a kuchen! It turns out the blueberries are from Chile and the growing season down south is November to March. So much for eating local, as the blueberries looked too good to turn down, and we needed a blueberry fix badly!

In our quest to eat lighter and less rich meals, I made Italian white bean and spinach soup today. It's been rainy and chilly in San Francisco, so a nice bowl of warm, comforting soup was perfect for dinner.

I wanted a quick fix meal and opted for canned cannellini beans. Sometimes you just don't want to presoak beans or simmer them for an hour. And instead of using the traditional pancetta or ham, I replaced it with healthier ground turkey. It's a super simple recipe that can be made in thirty minutes or less, definitely less if you aren't snapping pictures.

The soup has great flavors from the herbs, onions, garlic and ground turkey. Add a dash of hot sauce, and it's even better. We had crusty Italian country bread with the soup. It's a simple, satisfying soup that's easy to make. What else would you want, besides a bowl right now?

On a cold day, nothing beats a warm chocolate pudding cake for dessert. This is our "go to" dessert during snowboarding trips. It's easy to make and doesn't require a mixer, which may not be available in a rental house kitchen. After a long, chilly day outside, this old-fashioned dessert really hits the spot!

I saw this recipe on a Martha Stewart show many, many moons ago. Please don't ask me why I was watching it. I'm not a fan of Martha, and I never intentionally watch her show, but the pudding cake caught my eye while channel surfing. Well, anyone can get my attention if these words are spoken... warm, chocolate, pudding, cake.