I LOVE this soup! It's easy to convert to vegetarian; just sub veggie broth for the chicken broth. The flavor does not suffer for the substitution. My only suggestion/recommendation would be to finely chop the apricots before adding; you don't want big chunks of them in the soup. (Use a greased knife or oiled scissors for this.) DO NOT omit the lemon juice; it adds a very important flavor dimension. Thank you, Karena, for a terrific recipe!

Reviewed On: Mar. 8, 2010

I love that this recipe is extremely forgiving. You can follow it to the letter and have an awesome loaf of banana bread, or you can tweak it and have similarly awesome, but different, results. My favorite tweaks: substituting protein powder/flax seed/oat bran/wheat germ for some of the flour; substituting whole wheat flour (I ALWAYS do this); substituting oil for some of the butter; reducing the butter from 8 TB to 6; reducing the sugar or substituting agave nectar/honey/Splenda; using fewer bananas (i.e., what's turning black on your kitchen counter!). Sometimes my results have been a little drier, or a little denser, or a little less sweet, but NEVER have I had an unsuccessful result. To me that's the epitome of a keeper recipe. Try, tweak (or not), and enjoy!

Reviewed On: Mar. 8, 2010

I made this based on the positive reviews. As I am here in my kitchen, I can hardly breathe from all the fumes from the peppers. And I LOVE spicy food; everyone in my family knows I do. I couldn't believe a recipe could call for 20 peppers, 12 of which were incredibly hot, and still be edible, so I cut the jalapenos to 2, the habaneros to 2 (all with seeds out), and the Anaheims to 2 (few seeds in). And this turned out nearly inedible. I am hoping I can salvage it by adding something else, but what? The only thing I can smell and/or taste is the spiciness from the peppers. I should have stuck to my tried and true, Reno Red, from the Chili Madness cookbook. This chili has more than one flavor dimension, and it's spicy but very, very good.

Reviewed On: Dec. 23, 2009