Black Bean Soup...Panera Style

One of  my favorite soups from Panera Bread is their Black Bean. So one day when I was there and enjoying it, I thought to myself, "this cannot be difficult to make". I looked online, yep...definitely easy to make! I got the recipe from Spark People Recipes. The only changes I made was that I cooked my own beans while they used canned; and I used vegetable bouillon cubes instead of chicken. I was so pleased with the results of this soup that I used the same recipe base but I subbed the black beans for red lentils. Again...delicious.

The final product with some sour cream, avocado, cilanto sprigs
& a side of corn bread

Cooking my own black beans...remember to soak overnight if
you decide to take this route

The soup ingredients

saute, saute, saute

All done and ready to be eaten :)

(p.s.- for the soup recipe click on the Spark People Recipe link in blue above ;)

Pickling Party

As always I try to meet up with my girlfriends when visiting Toronto, and attempting to see as many people in those few days as I can. I was delighted to hear that my co-workers were getting together for a Pickling Class. Thank you Corinne, for organizing the event! It was a blast :)

Prepping the cucumbers

Cucumbers galore...everyone took bags of extra cukes home!

The Gang

Everyone helping to peel the garlic 

overhead view of our massive kitchen, took the pic off the mirror

ingredients prepped, on to make the brine

Brine before boiling it

Brine after it has been boiled

Fill 'er up!

A very important step: boiling and sealing the jars

 You will need:

•  24 wide mouth jar with NEW lids (can’t reuse your lids because the seal will have broken down over time)
• 4 Liters of vinegar
•  6 - 8 bulbs of garlic (2 to 3 cloves per jar, peeled and cloves left whole)
•  2 to 3 cups of chili flakes (this is to taste, so omit if you want but the spicier the better!)
•  lots of fresh dill flowers and sprigs! (two sprigs per jar, rinse flowers and sprigs before using)
•  half a bushel of cucumbers from your local Farmer! or whatever else you want to pickle
•  box of salt
   

Brine formula:
32 cups water (8 liters)
8 cups apple cider vinegar (2 liters)

8 cups white distilled vinegar (2 liters)
 32 tbs salt (2 cups)
32 tbs chili flakes (2 cups)
  = 48 cups of brine
 

Steps:

1. Wash cucumbers and store them on ice for up to 24hrs.
2. Sterilize jars by running them through an extra hot dishwasher, with heated dry cycle or boiling them.
3. Sterilize jar lids in a pot of boiling water.
4. In a very large pot, add all ingredients of the brine (water, vinegar, salt and chili flakes) and bring up to a low boil, make sure all the salt has dissolved.
5. Add to each jar one to three cloves of garlic (depending on the size) and a few fresh dill flowers and springs (rinse your dill first!)
6. Pack cucumbers in a circle around the jar, fill the center and then pack the top with smaller cucumbers.
7. Fill one jar with the HOT brine, being careful to just cover the cucumbers and with a bit of space at the top (to leave room for expanding steam (as the brine is hot hot hot).
8. Using tong, take the lids out of the boiling water and place on top. Tighten that jar lid!
9. Fill all of your jars!
10. In a big pot of water, boil the jars for about 10min to seal and preserve the pickles.
11. Within a day or two the seals on the jar lids should pop inwards. This is proof you have a good tight seal! Store for at least 4 months in a cool, dry area. Eat until you find they are too soft (like over two years...) (if you make them now, you can start eating them in November)

Hope they are tasty :)