Italian Zeppole Dessert
Easter will be here in early April this year and I can remember the excitement and anticipation of this holy celebration among Catholics starting with Ash Wednesday. My Mother and my Aunts, the blue ribbon cooks in our family, would plan and prepare some delicious meals, including desserts. There were many meatless dishes that were prepared during the forty days of lent.
As children, most of us would give up eating sweets during those forty fast days. Come Easter Sunday, a full course meal of meat, pasta, and salads and pastries, pies, and cakes were a child’s dream after the 40 days of giving up sweets. I can still smell the aromas coming from the family cooks on the days prior to Easter. They would be preparing for days the scrumptious feast for this special holiday.
It is amazing to see how many versions of Pasta e Fagioli are printed in cookbooks or on the Internet. I searched many recipes for this delicious Italian traditional dish, but could not find one that was similar to the recipe my Mother made and taught me.
My Mother made lentil soup often and a pot of lentil soup cooking on the stove still reminds me of those cold, snowy days growing up in New York City and the warmth and delicious aromas of our kitchen linger with me today. Mom’s recipe for lentil soup was a meatless dish and with her knack of adding a pinch of this and a pinch of that made this a very flavorful dish. 
Winter has hit most of the nation with quite a punch and nothing can warm the tummy better than a hearty bowl of hot soup. My version of a quick vegetable soup came to me one cold day when it was snowing and sleeting outside. It was getting late and I wanted the family to have some hot soup when they came in from the cold at the end of the day.