Here we are in the dead of winter, and the long nights and cold days seem to have just about sucked all the joy out of life. When you get home after fighting a freeway full of equally cold-grouchy folks, all you want to do is find a warm spot and something hot to eat. However, that winter lethargy has you feeling just about as energetic as a three-toed sloth after a hard night of partying.

What you need, my shivering friend, is a hot bowl of soup.

The holidays just might have left you with the makings for a couple of classic soups that will, with a nice loaf of crusty bread for dunking, warm you up and leave you feeling just about human again.

My personal favorite, split-pea soup, has gotten something of a raw deal over the years, mostly thanks to that charming "Exorcist" movie and Linda Blair's violent reverse peristalsis scenes.

Far from being a movie prop, split-pea soup is a hearty, delicious concoction. If you, like me, had a Christmas ham and still have the bone stuck in the back of fridge or freezer, you've got the beginnings.

Ham bone from Christmas ham, or 4-5 ham hocks

10 cups water

1 med. yellow onion, finely chopped

2 ribs celery, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground pepper

1 lb. dried split peas

2 tsp. chopped fresh parsley

1 bay leaf

Combine all ingredients in pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for three hours, covered.

Remove ham bone or hocks from pot and carefully cut meat off, into bite-sized chunks. Remove bay leaf. Return meat to pot and simmer, uncovered, for another hour or until desired thickness.

YIELD: 8-10 servings

My personal preference has always been to eat this soup the day after cooking, after it's been in the refrigerator for 24 hours and the flavors have mellowed.

If, after chilling, you find the soup's a bit too thick, just add a couple of tablespoons of water when reheating.

TIP: When cooling a large amount of something, like a pot of soup, you can't afford to let it cool at room temperature. It will spend far too long in the "danger window" for bacterial growth.

Use an old restaurant trick: fill your sink with a half-ice/half-water mix and put the soup pot in it. Make sure the water doesn't come over the top of the pot, of course. The soup will cool to a portionable heat in no time.

For those of you who indulged in that most decadent of beefy pleasures, the prime rib, for a holiday dinner, if you were savvy enough to save the bones, you've got the makings for a good beef stock. Set the bones on to boil and add your choice of bouquet garni (that's a bundle of herbs tied with string to the non-food-snots in the crowd).

If your bones are a bit overcooked or small, ask your butcher for a stew bone or two to augment the meaty component.

Put the bones in your stock pot and add enough water to just cover them. Add the bouquet garni and bring the stock to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for at least two hours.

Remove the bones and strain the stock through cheesecloth to get out all the meaty bits, then put the strained liquid back on the heat and reduce until the taste is what you'd like.

This stock can be kept frozen for up to three months, and can be used for a myriad of purposes. I like using it to replace some of the water when making rice for a beef dish.

I'm sure all of you have your own favorite soup recipes. Dust them off, grab your stock pot, and spend a Saturday filling the house with aromas that will have the neighbors sniffing about.

Questions or comments? Recipe you'd like to share? Drop me a line.