Beaches and Eats!

Hi everybody! I've been such a bad blogger, I'm sorry! I just completed my first full week of school, complete with labs, homework and gluten free birthday celebrations! To those of you who were wondering, YES it was my birthday, which I thought was obvious from my post, but apparently it wasn't! Now you know :)

Beach! The sun was out for a while before this photo.

In case you didn't already know, TODAY'S LABOR DAY! Which means... NO school! No classes! So therefore, my friends and I took full advantage and went off to the beach. It wasn't great weather, but it was super fun to be together. This particular beach had some KILLER stairs. It was definitely fun walking up and down; I welcomed the extra exercise. But unfortunately, no bathrooms? since it was a private beach, and it was in a completely residential area which made it a little bit difficult finding restrooms. And I even fed a seagull with my bear hands!!!! Apparently seagulls like Goldfish crackers! They have trouble eating them though if they are colored, so if seagull feeding is in your near future, make sure they are normal orange Goldfish, not the multicolored ones, haha!

After the beach, some warm dinner was in our future. We were actually craving Italian, and had been talking about it all day, (in contrast I've been craving Mexican food for days- weird) but we did not even end up going somewhere Italian! I had actually packed some dinner so I wouldn't have to buy anything or worry about finding a place that I could eat at with my allergies, which makes it easier for the crew, but everyone wanted to go to Pei Wei, which is branch of P.F. Chang's and if you are gluten free, you know P.F. Chang's is good. This is my first time having Chinese food in over 4 years! It was a very monumental moment. Sweet and sour chicken is one of my favorites! It was really nice to have some safe Chinese food and be eating the same thing as my friends, which doesn't happen often. I ordered extra broccoli and minimal rice. It was a lot of food and I ate the whole thing and I probably should have saved some for leftovers. It was definitely a good value for how much I paid. Next time I am going to follow my friend Natalie's advice and get the child size! As far as taste goes, I do wish the sauce had been less ginger-y, which is odd, because I love the taste of ginger.

Have I told you how much I love broccoli? :)

I totally owe you an update about my birthday and everything which happened that day. For now, let's suffice to say that it was one of the best birthday's I have EVER had! Usually people forget about my birthday so I don't typically celebrate it much, and this was a very nice change :) I am so blessed and thankful to have such wonderful friends!

Also, I have received some interesting proposal from a large company and I will be hosting a large GIVEAWAY soon! I'm so excited. My very first giveaway!! In the coming months I also hope to help them out with some product reviews. Double double excitement!

How was your labor day... relaxing? I hope so!
Have a good week!

Summer in a Day

All my favorites in one day...

Friends, Rainbow sandals, new bathing suits, beach, sunshine, Sprinkles cupcakes, Whole Foods Market, good food, gelato.

GIANT sandal!

They're cute :)

View before the water.

Real FOOD + SALAD = delicious. delicious. NUTRITIOUS.

I know, I haven't been around much lately. So much has been happening and I haven't had any time to tell you about it! I finished up work and fun stuff at home, and am now back in California. This day was kind of like the last hurrah before the new semester begins. Tomorrow I start classes. My course load is quite full again. I am taking Physics + lab, Neurobiology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Theology I, and Bowling as a PE class. I am looking forward to most of my classes but NOT physics, since I know that math has never been my strong point and I will struggle with it. I would really appreciate your prayers as I start. I can do this if I set my mind to it, and get some good tutoring :)

Hopefully I will have a few moments in the coming week to get some more blog posts up, though I don't anticipate finding time. There is a lot of content that I've been wanting to share with you. I appreciate your patience and the fact that you keep stopping by, my lovely readers! I've also been having too much fun seeing friends and getting moved in to blog. Starting classes is always really hectic time.

Until next time,

How have you been ending your summer?

Red Vegetable Soup

Waiting to share this recipe with you has been agonizing! The original post was actually created on April 8th! I did not have lots of time over the school year, and so I am finally posting up this wonderful dish. This recipe is probably one of the simplest dishes I have ever made, and yet it is extremely flavorful. It stands as one of my most favorite meals I have ever had. I love this soup! I know you will too.

I created the recipe when on vacation in La Jolla over spring break. It was an instant hit in our family. I vowed to make it went I returned home, I did, and it was just as tasty as before! I made up a ginormous batch last week and had it with extra pulled roast chicken for dinner each night before my early morning bakery shifts. It was nice and easy on the tummy, satisfying and so delicious. [Notice the yummy crispy roasted chicken skin in the picture.]

Roasted Chicken and Roasted Red Vegetable Soup

3 large sweet potatoes, washed and quartered

2 large red peppers, washed, seeded and halved

3/4 large vidalia onion, peeled and quartered

1 bag of organic carrots, cut off ends and washed

1 small fresh chicken

4 cups chicken stock

olive oil as needed

real butter as needed

salt

pepper

To make your soup:

1. Open chicken from bag, rinse well with warm water. Take out the giblets/organs and set aside.

2. In a large roasting pan (for oven), place chicken in the center and cut up veggies around the chicken on the sides.

3. Sprinkle the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Pour olive oil over the top and rub into the chicken, top and bottom.

4. Arrange the red peppers so that they have the skins down and the insides facing up, making a cup shape. Place the rinsed giblets inside.

5. Drizzle veggies with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

6. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes, then add about a cup or more of chicken stock and cover, roasting until vegetable are tender and chicken juices run clear.

7. Remove pan from the oven, let the chicken rest in a separate dish lightly covered with foil for about 10 minutes as you prepare the soup.

8. On the stove top, bring remaining chicken stock up to a simmer on medium heat. Take the cooked vegetables and place into a food processor, blender or Vitamix and process in batches until totally pureed. [You can also place all the cooked vegetables right into the pot with the stock and use a hand blender, I think this method works best.] Add 2-4 Tbsp of butter, and salt and pepper to taste to the soup and simmer until ready to serve.

9. Uncover the chicken and break it down, separating the wings, thighs and cutting off the breast meat. Save the bones for making stock later and remove as much of the meat and fat from the bones as possible. Be frugal!

10. Serve the soup in bowls, with chicken on the side. Or if you prefer, you can shred the chicken further and stir it into the soup.

This picture is from our stay in La Jolla. I served the soup and chicken with roasted spaghetti squash and some local gluten free cornbread. I was more than satisfied, however, with just soup and chicken.

Be sure to serve this soup with lots of real butter, because the good fats in the butter help you absorb all of the nutrients from the vegetables, like fat soluble vitamin A.

One final note: This is a thick, pureed soup. For a thinner consistency, add more chicken stock, water or raw cream.

-Update 2/23/10-

Here are the most recent photos of the version I made when I was at home.