There is little better than a bowl of hot soup during the winter months, and while the misnomer runs rampant that homemade soup is only for those who truly love to cook, I would encourage all of you to put down that can of Campbell's (although I must confess, Campbell's condensed Tomato soup -- made on the stove top -- with 2 percent milk-and grilled cheese sandwiches-brings back some very fond childhood memories) and pick up your largest pot and plop it on the stove top.

The greatest cooking advice I got from my mom was to always take a portion of the leftover holiday ham or turkey (or even better, the ham on the bone or the actual turkey carcass, but only if you can pop it in a pot of water, veggies and seasonings for stock the next day) and save it for soup. Leftover veggies from a meal? Those can also go in a Ziploc bag and spend a week or two in the freezer to be thrown into a pot of stock later on.

These days with the advent of 30-minute meals, singles on the go, and families with duel bread-winners, we almost have to have that jump start to cook … I know very few people who spend the whole of their Sundays doing the prep for a week's worth of meals as my grandmother did some 25 years ago.

Regardless, you can make a damn good pot of soup with little effort and a couple hours on a Sunday, or even a weekday evening, that will last you through the week.

Here is one of my favorite soup shortcuts. The key is to always keep the basics of a mirepoix on hand in the fridge: onions, carrots and celery. If you do not eat a lot of carrots, the little baggies of baby carrots will work fine, they are just a little harder to chop up, but they may force you to pack some with lunch, which is good for you; remember, the only portion variable the FDA and cult diets have not messed with in the history of the food pyramid is that you are supposed to have five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Always keep stock on hand. I watch for sales on the boxed pre-made stocks and quite literally "stock up" if I do not have time to make my own, or in a pinch, the old bouillon cubes do quite nicely in a measuring cup of water in the microwave.

And lastly, pop for the fresh herbs. They're decidedly more expensive, but well worth the investment on a trade off in flavor.

Black Bean Soup

6 cups chicken stock
1/8 cup Sherry (don't buy cooking sherry in the supermarket; get this in the liquor section, the cost is the same and the flavor is better)
3 15-oz. cans of black beans, drained
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 handful of cilantro
1 tbsp cumin
1 cup leftover cubed ham
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
Hot sauce or diced jalapenos to taste

In a large soup pot, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Add the celery and carrot and cook until the carrots start to soften. Add all other ingredients except the cilantro and the ham and simmer for about an hour. Ladle the soup into a blender and blend in batches until the soup is thickened. Add the ham and chop up the cilantro and heat until warmed through. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

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