Here's the kicker: It's off the back of the barley box!! I have never had a recipe off the back of a package that I loved as much as this soup. Now here are my notes:

The first time I made it, I followed the recipe to a T (except I used frozen corn). It was divine. This is a very important note:  The cheddar cheese and sour cream are an absolute requirement to achieve said divinity.  It made quite a lot, so DH and I enjoyed as much as we could (well - I picked every last teensy weensy little black bean out of mine because I'm a wiener like that) but other than that, we enjoyed it. There was really quite a lot leftover, so I froze it. DH is still taking it to work with him.

Today, I made it again, with changes. Some changes were deliberate, others were due to circumstances.  I doubled it, because I was planning to can it. I omitted the black beans, because I don't like them and DH doesn't like to pick them out of his teeth. I only had one can of chicken broth, so I used that plus 2 chicken bouillon cubes plus 2 cups of water. (No real change there) I was slightly short on barley, so this time around isn't quite as thick as the first time. This makes a very thick, chowder-like soup. I cooked a whole chicken, specifically for this recipe, and ended up with only a little more than half the chicken I needed, so there's not nearly as much chicken in it either.

Oh, one more note. I used our own tomatoes, and our own corn, and our own GREEN tomato salsa. I think that's possibly what made it so delicious. Lemme know if you want that recipe. So anyway, I doubled the recipe, and I got 10 pint jars, plus a nice small bowl for me to snack on while I was finishing up. Put soup in clean hot jars, wipe rims, put lids on, process for 75 minutes at 15 lbs pressure. I'm thrilled with how it came out, because this was my first experience canning soup, and it wasn't a recipe that was specifically for canning, so I experimented, and it worked!

So Michele, there you have it. Fantabulous soup!  :-)  If you try it, let me know what you think of it.

On the HS-ing front ... we had the week off. DD5 went trucking with my parents for the whole week. This isn't the first time she's done it. She goes with them pretty often (another plus for HS-ing!) She enjoyed the week off, as did I. I was hoping to get lots and lots of sewing done, since we didn't have school, but DS2 and I found ourselves running errands all week long! Figures ... I did finish my denim jacket though!  I will post a picture of it another time. It's late, and I must get to bed.

Someone remind me in a week or so that I said I'd post a picture! :-)

G'night all...