Soup

Soups are the obvious place to start for those thus in domestic goddess mode. Soups, of course, are some of the quickest meals that you can make. Somehow the home-made soup, lovingly prepared in advance, is no longer popular. I think it comes down to stock: our disinclination to make it from scratch, together with our disdain for cubes. It is important to stress that even though the better a stock the better a soup, it does not follow that no good soup, no superlatively good soup, can be made with stock cubes. Naturally, it depends on the kind of soup: no consommé or delicate broth should be made with anything but home-made stock; but a hearty vegetable soup can, frankly, be made with water; and in between these two extremes, use stock cubes. I am keen on the Knorr Italian ones or bouillon powder (the ones made by a company disconcertingly called Marigold. But if you want to make your own stock, please refer to here for instructions.