I ran into a friend yesterday, who tells me that he should be harvesting eggplants from his garden any day now. Of course, this got me thinking about Caponata, the famous Sicilian eggplant and tomato stew.

This is a terrific 'contorno', vegetable course, and also a great topping for 'bruschetta', Tuscany’s grilled bread. Of course it's one of the quintessential Italian antipasti too. And when you can walk into your own garden and harvest the vegetables to put it together, Caponata becomes all the more magical.

Italians have a particular fondness for 'le primizie', the smallest of the first crop of vegetables. So if you have access to a garden—either your own or a friend's—or if you can get to a farm stand, now is the time Sicily's Great Eggplant-Tomato Stew Recipe

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Coffee …Most Popular Beverage Of All Time

by Mary Chambers

Long ago it is said that a lone shepherd and his flock came across a strange and mysterious plant growing upon a secluded and forgotten hillside. Before he could stop them some of his herd had began to gnaw away at this unusual berry. After about fifteen minutes or so the herder started to notice that his sheep were behaving in an odd manner. Not only were they unusually alert but they also appeared to be extremely hyperactive. Now being a little weary and extremely tired the shepherd decided to try the berries and see if the end results would be the same for him as they had been for his flock. To his pleasant surprise the shepherd began to feel wide awake and he too became very alert. After a few hours had passed along came a wandering monk who, Coffee …Most Popular Beverage Of All Time Recipe

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Pleasures of Soup

by Merrie Schonbach

Often our diets change during the cold weather. More hot foods then cold sandwiches grace the dinner table. Our schedules do not slow down so we seek out hardy, quick to prepare meals.

Making a pot of soup is a perfect solution for a healthy, hot meal. There are dozens of different soups that you can make.

Make your meal different then chicken noodle or tomato soup, why not try a creamy wild rice mushroom, white chicken chili, cheesy potato with bacon, country bean or even Italian wedding soup.

You do not have to make these wonderful soups from scratch or pour from a can, purchase a soup kit and add fresh meat for a great home made taste.

Soup kits provide all of the dried ingredients, spices and instructions. The ingredients yo Pleasures of Soup Recipe

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