''Wow, the year is coming quickly to it's end!''

''Once the barameter begins to plumet, that can only mean it's time to warm up the kitchen with some yummy good eatting!''

''Hi, I'm Vandilyn. Welcome to my kitchen. Today, I am going to show you how to make one of my all time favourite dishes, perfect for those cold winter days. It's my very own Zucchini Cream Soup! It serves 6 hungry people.''

What you'll need:

8 - 10 Medium Zucchini
1 Onion
1 Clove Garlic
2 tablespoons Vegtable Stock powder -OR- 1 12 ounce can Vegtable Broth (liquid) -OR- 2 Bullion Cubes
400 gram Cream Cheese
Salt & Pepper
A Pinch of Nutmeg
6 Fairly Large Bread Rolls (about the size of a soup bowl)
Garnish - explaination pending... read on...

First, rinse the Zucchini in cool water under the tap, but do NOT peel it. That's where all the vitamins are as well as the nice green colour for the soup! Dice the onion, garlic and Zucchini and toss it in a pot big enough to hold it with room to spare. Now, fill the pot with water just until the mix starts to float off the bottom of the pot. Be careful not to fill with too much water. If you are using liquid broth, please add it first then the water as or if needed.

If you are using bullion from cube or powder, add it now. (I prefer the powder, as I don't follow any exact amounts of weight with the Zucchini, so I add as much or little as is needed for the amout of soup I am making.) Now, cook on a medium heat until everything is soft. Ok, you can poke it with a fork and it's no longer raw in the middle.

(Now if you live alone or are only a couple, this is a perfect spot to allow the soup to cool and freeze what you don't need!)
If you are making it to eat now, (or you have pulled some out of the freezer) add the cream cheese, (naturally if you've only frozen a portion of the whole pot for single meals later, add less cream cheese than the whole 200 grams to your personal preference.)

Naturally, if you are watching your waist line, what with all those christmas cookies in circulation at this time of year, you can use light cream cheese! Isn't that just the best?!!
Also, if you like, you can serve this as an appitizer at your holiday meal... the lovely green shade matches nicely to the seasons celebrations!

Toss in a pinch of Nutmeg. Add salt & pepper to taste. MmmmmMmmmm! Yummy!

Using a blender, gently mix the soup so its nice and creamy!

PLEASE be very careful as the soup is hot! I don't want anyone having to make a visit to their local E.R. with a nasty burn!
I personally perfer to use a type of mixer I have that is called a Zauberstab... Magic stick in english. This is a type of blender that looks more like a long stick with the blender part on the end, making a sort of bell. Be sure it is completely under the surface of the soup mix the entire time you are blending it and only pull the mixer end with the blade above the surface of the soup when it has completely stopped rotating.

Now, if you've taken a container of the soup you made earlier out of the freezer, simply warm it in a pot on the stovetop or microwave... toss it in the blender with some cream cheese and go from there!

Now serve hot inside the bread rolls on a plate or in a bowl. Just cut the top of the bread roll off, pull out the bread from inside, eat it or save it for another yummy recipe I will share with you next time! Kids just love that they get to eat their 'soup bowl'!

Garnish the top of the soup with any of these or your favourite combo!
Roasted Onions
Crunchy Bacon Bits
Fresh Grated Parmesian Cheese
A Sprig of Parsley
A Thin Slice of Lemon
A Decratively Cut Carrot
2 - 3 Decratively Cut Cherry Tomato's (perfect if you are serving it as an appitizer to your holiday meal as the red compliments the green so perfectly! Just set them to the side of the bread roll on a lettuce leaf.)

My cat and I wish you and your's the best holiday celebration ever!