Eating from our cupboards and freezers is one of my main resolutions for January. All such foods put up during late summer and fall harvests should factor prominently in anyone’s seasonally-minded kitchen from now through March.

So out came my 50-pound bag of flour, and after digging through the chest freezer (whose un-labeled contents now mystify me), frozen sweet corn kernels emerged. A potato and onion were grabbed from their bins, a garlic bulb unlaced, and the chopping knife gleaned in anticipation. Hearty soup and bread were waiting for creation.

For Corn Chowder (2-person recipe) you’ll need: 1/2 yellow onion, chopped; 1 small-medium potato, chopped and boiled till soft; 4 cloves garlic, chopped; 1 rib celery chopped (we had some fennel lying about); 3 Tbs olive oil; 1 tsp thyme leaves; 1 tsp salt; fresh ground pepper; 2 1/2 cups veggie stock; 1 1/2 cups frozen sweet corn kernels; 1/4 cup cream or milk

To prepare, heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Saute onion, garlic and celery for 5 minutes or until transluscent. Add salt, pepper and thyme, stir in. Add broth, potatoes, frozen corn and other soup items if desired (more veggies?). Let the corn get warm and mixed into soup, over low-medium heat (remember – potatoes are already cooked!). Finally add the cream, stir to combine, then remove half the soup to a blender or food processor to puree. Add puree back to remaining soup, test for seasoning and heat. Serve with the following bread. Consider chopping some roasted red peppers (stored in an olive oil by you back in the fall) to toss on as garnish.

No-Knead bread (Thanks poppa Newc for the recipe!) – these types of bread are quite popular due to much less time spent kneading and generally working the dough. You must adhere to the long resting/rising times, however, to achieve desired results. Bread is an incredibly satisfying, creative food to make – each time you do you’ll be in awe of chemistry.

Stir together: 3 cups un-bleached white flour, a strong teaspoon of salt and a strong 1/4 teaspoon of yeast. Add 1 3/4 cup water to this, and stir all together gently with a wooden spoon, in a large bowl. When the dough has roughly gathered together, put the bowl in a 70 degree room and let it sit for 18 hours (I put my bowl next to our wood stove, on a desk). Cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap.

Next, knead the dough with a little flour as possible until it gets less sticky (I ended up using more than 2 cups to achieve this). Heat the oven to 450 degrees, with a clay baking dish inside (or a pizza stone). Let the dough rest for 10 – 15 minutes, covered. Spread wheat germ, semolina flour or corn meal on a clean dish towel. Knead the dough into a ball and put on the towel. Put the towelled bread back in the bowl and cover with another moist towel or plastic wrap. When the oven has heated, pull the bread pot out, flip in the dough from the towel, cut a couple shallow slits on the top of the loaf, put the lid back on and cook for 30 minutes. Then cook for 8 to 15 more minutes with the lid off, until it sounds hollow when tapped. Yummy. This bread stays good and moist for several days.

You can also hold back some of the starter that was let sit for the intial 18 hours, refrigerate it, then make another loaf in several days.