2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium leek, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large zucchini, halved and thinly sliced
4 cups vegetable broth
2 sprigs thyme
1/2 cup wide egg noodles
1 tablespoon parmesan, grated
salt and pepper

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the leek and sauté until tender.
2. Stir the garlic into the pot, then zucchini. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and cook the zucchini until tender.
3. Add the vegetable broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Add the egg noodles and reduce heat to a gentle simmer.
4. Continue cooking until noodles are tender, then ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with parmesan and a pinch of salt. Serve with Parmesan Phyllo Crackers.

Makes 4 servings

6 sheets phyllo dough
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup parmesan, grated

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Stack the phyllo sheets and roll into a cylinder. Slice the stack at 1/2" intervals, unroll and break up into thin strands in a large bowl.
3. Gradually drizzle the butter over the phyllo strands, constantly tossing to coat them evenly.
4. Sprinkle the parmesan over the phyllo and toss to coat.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the mixture on top.
6. Bake until crisp and browned, about 10 minutes.
7. Allow to cool, then break or cut into pieces.

Makes 4 servings

Everyday Italian, Giada De Laurentiis' show on the Food Network, always used to be on when Shannon and I were getting ready for work in the morning. I kind of grew to despise her show, because it seemed like every episode was end-on-end tomatoes, basil, parmesan and pasta with some other Italian element thrown in. I've come to realize that's sort of the beauty of Italian cooking though, it's just simple variations with quality ingredients. The idea behind Everyday Italian is great to me now, because I really could eat Italian every day and since I have to come up with new things to cook every day too, I can just scan her repitoire for ideas.

Tonight I made a variation of one of her soup recipes with Parmesan Phyllo Crackers or croutons. I'm not really sure what the crackers reminded me of, maybe a flaky cheese sandwich, but they were a very nice compliment. Actually, I'd say without it the soup would be lacking something. The Zucchini Noodle Soup was very delicate. It reminded me of my mom's turkey soup when I was growing up, mostly because of the flavor of egg noodle and broth with a bit of extra salt. The parmesan has such a strong flavor, but it definitely adds to the soup rather than being an overbearing one.

I really love the way that leeks smell when they're sautéing. I guess that's why it's considered an aromatic vegetable. Unless that's just celery and I just assumed someone had dubbed it that. The original soup called for the addition of artichokes, but I omitted them. This was entirely by mistake because I swore I had canned artichokes in my cupboard and in mid-preparation of the soup I scanned the cupboard and discovered there were none. I suppose this stands to reason as we're currently emptying the contents of the cupboards for the move and why would I have something like artichokes left over? There's nothing but canned salmon and black olives in there.