Copycat

 

Today is my return to What I Ate Wednesday posting.  I have been gone for far too long so let’s get started!  Breakfast was meant to refuel me after my lifting session this morning at 6am.  Weirdly there was already a crowd in there.  I was amazed and then I remembered it’s January and resolution season.

No wonder.  Anyways, I broke my fast with a hard-baked egg sprinkled in curry spice mix alongside some peanut butter waffles with chia seeds.

It was a yummy first meal of the day.  Not super front-loaded but better than yesterday.  My second class was cancelled today, much to everyone’s delight, so I spent the extra time getting a few more tons more visual aids.  My binder seriously weighs at least six pounds I swear.  Haha.  I ate lunch while I caught up on old prenatal lectures about first and second trimester testing.  I had an egg salad sandwich with cheddar cheese and some [rather ashy] baby carrots with edamame hummus to dip.

Sadly, the sandwich fell short, really short.  I couldn’t taste the cheese and the egg salad was in desperate need of salt and pepper.  Maybe garlic too, or onion powder.  On the way up to my prenatal clinic site, I treated myself to a rice krispy treat.  The subsequent afternoon was spent editing template letters and observing one session.  To give you an idea…there were six patients scheduled.  Yea, it was one heck of a no-show, reschedule-me, I-don’t-need-genetic-counseling afternoon.  Oh well.  I’ll get some more observation in tomorrow.

I wasn’t terribly hungry for the majority of the afternoon but I snacked on some jerky on the way home around 5:15 when I started to get a wee bit rumbly.  I probably should have had more because I planned on making some copycat Panera black bean soup.  It started out with lots of rainbow-y vegetables: onion, celery, red pepper, and yellow pepper.  Some garlic in there too.

Next up came the double strength vegetable broth.

That simmered and then I added some black beans before pureeing in Vera the Vitamix.

That went back into the pot and got a can more of black beans added to it.  Then we stirred in cornstarch and lemon juice.

Simmer, simmer, simmer some more to thicken… Then decide you want cornbread.

I whipped up a quarter recipe to make three little muffins.  And, beause I was silly and hadn’t preheated the oven, I snacked on an apple while everything was heating/cooking/simmering.  I was so hungry, I couldn’t wait anymore.

For actual dinner, I had some cornbread, cut in half, slathered with butter and drenched in honey.  Oh my gosh.  It’s been so long since I’ve had honeyed corn bread and I couldn’t get enough.

The soup was incredible too.  I honestly will be making this again.  Not to mention having a helping tomorrow for lunch and maybe even for dinner…haha.  I love it when I find something so yummy.

Questions: What’s your favorite Panera soup?
What’s your best copycat recipe?