All Winter long, I've been on a relentless hunt for Vacherin Mont d'Or, the oozy, ripe cheese that's made from the Winter milk of Swiss Gruyère cows. But it soon became clear to me that it wouldn't be so easy to track down a version of the alpine cheese in tip-top shape; when I asked cheese fanatics for advice over Twitter, many of them urged me to try American alternatives.

A quick trip to San Francisco's Cowgirl Creamery cheese shop led me to Harbison, a similar cheese produced by Cellars at Jasper Hill, a creamery based in idyllic Greensboro, VT. Much like Vacherin, Harbison is a wintertime-only cheese with a blooming rind and an extremely soft center; like its French counterpart, Harbison is also meant to be eaten by slicing off the top rind of the cheese wheel, then dipping in with crackers, bread, and other accoutrements.For the holidays, I went with another traditional Vacherin preparation by dotting my Harbison with garlic cloves, adding a couple of glugs of dry white wine, and then baking the cheese until runny. I served it with squares of salami and tiny gherkins for dipping, and the experience was not unlike that of an Alpine raclette. Who knew such a French experience could be replicated with American cheese?

A good stock is the key ingredient which great soups are built upon. Whether you make your own stock at home or use store bought versions, the foundation of flavors provided by the stock is what keeps soups from being bland and uninteresting. Having stock on hand is really convenient if you're ever in a pinch for a quick meal. Grab the whatever leftover vegetables you have in your refrigerator, toss in some meat if you like, and you've got a heartwarming (and nutritious) meal in no time at all.

Homemaking stock is a simple and great way to make your leftover chicken carcass useful (and I love to find a purpose for seemingly useless items). Homemade chicken stock takes hours to make (a great weekend project idea) but the result is well worth the effort. Homemade vegetable stock takes much less time and is an important ingredient for vegetarians; it's so rewarding to make yourself. Stock freezes well and is easy to defrost making it easy to store and use.

A few basic stock-making tips include cooking the ingredients with cold water (to extract the collagen) and skimming off any scum in meat stocks. If you want to remove fat from your stock, cool it and spoon of the solidified fat that collects on top.

Do you have any stock tips that you swear by?

Source: Flickr User FotoosVanRobin

• Watch Emmy Rossum sing Conan an aria for a hot dog — The Daily Meal
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• Marcus Samuelsson offers healthy foods on a budget — KitchenDaily
• Meet jambon-beurre, France's most iconic sandwich — Saveur

I know it's January and all of the indulgences of the holiday season should be behind us, but when it comes to chocolate, I refuse to give that up. Typically I am a fan of really rich, deep dark chocolates that have complex and slightly bitter flavors. My one exception to this rule is with Milka chocolate.

While you can find Milka in the United States, the European version is so much better. The chocolate is creamier and has more depth of flavor than its American counterpart. In fact, I'm so obsessed with this chocolate that I practically beg my mother-in-law to bring me back a suitcase full every time she comes to visit from Slovenia.

You may be wondering what makes this chocolate so special. The secret is, apparently, in the milk, which comes from Alpine cows (literally, from the Alps).

For more, keep reading!

I'm a big fan of broth soups loaded with satisfying ingredients. CheesePlease offers this recipe for navy bean and kale soup with turkey sausage, and it sounds like the perfect meal on a cold January night.

A simple and healthy soup with navy beans and kale. A pinch of cayenne pepper and spicy turkey sausage adds a touch of heat. Grate some fresh parmesan into the soup and you're ready to kick off all those New Year resolutions.

If you've gotta have this recipe, go visit her blog, and upload your recipes and photos into our Kitchen Goddess group.