Soup or salad can be a perfect starter, but also can be a great main dish.
Unless I'm doing a more formal meal, soup is usually a main dish in my house.
Soups are a wonderful dish for cool weather and can be especially easy to prepare. Keeping some basic ingredients on hand helps in preparing them at the last minute. Make broth yourself or keep on hand cartons of Imagine broths in Vegetable and Chicken. They are almost instant soup in themselves. You could use Swanson canned broth just as easily, but it doesn't have the depth of flavor. DON'T use the so-called "healthy" broth or stock unless you know you like the flavor. They are usually awful! You can't make good food with bad ingredients. You can also keep a stock base such as "Bovril" or "Better Than Boullion" for the times you neglect to replenish cartoned stock. (These also make great sauces and gravies.)
In some parts of Europe, salad will end the meal. I prefer it first, but with food, anything goes.
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