My Word for 2014 and Revisiting Stefano's Mom's Minestrone

My word for 2014 (- no, it's not inertia or enervate -) is 'action'!
No - I'm completely serious. Maybe I'll have a little more action than I did dignity (my word for 2013).
It's the 2nd of January and I'm staying home today because the dishwasher guy is coming and my truck looks like this:

I'm cooking up a batch of Stefano Faita's mom's minestrone  If you've tried this recipe before, you know how easy it is to make it your own with the  additional ingredients you prefer. For me, this soup now begins with the following:


A honey-baked hambone simmering with onions sautéed in olive oil and bacon fat



I pretty much follow Stefano's recipe with the following changes: I usually omit the leeks - not a crowd favorite.
In winter I use canned greens I got from the country grocery down south instead of fresh  in the original recipe. When I'm using fresh greens, I'll go for chard instead of kale simply because we prefer it.
If you don't have all the herbs don't sweat it - the soup is very flavourful without them- but I do insist upon a bay leaf or two!
This soup freezes beautifully! That's fortunate because the recipe makes enough to feed a small battalion.
I have a new hair-brained scheme: Japanese knitting. I'll share some of it with you in my next entry - that is, if I haven't committed hari kari over it in the meantime.
Have a wonderful New Year!