Randomness

1. School and clinicals started today. Goodbye, free time...and hello, stress! ;)

2. My mom made the most amazing Italian pasta salad for me yesterday. Recipe to come...stay posted! She also made pumpkin cookies just for me! How awesome is that?!

3. I managed to drink a whole bottle of plain water today, thanks to this:

I got a pink Bobble at Whole Foods in WA, because I've been wanting one ever since I heard about them when they came out. THEN, come to find out, they're on sale @ Target for HALF what I paid for it in WA! Oh well. It's beautiful, and makes water delicious, and it's BPA-free. Also, it's great for the planet if you're one of those people that still buys water in bottles and throws them away. 

4. I got a letter in the mail saying I made the dean's list this semester. :) Plus, the program director told me my grades were quite an accomplishment. :) Nice to have some praise once in a while. ;)

5. I get to see mah babies this weekend! (My nieces...for those of you that don't know...2 month old twins) :D Yay! AND it's a 3 day weekend! Thanks for having a birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr! :D

Anyways, that's all on my mind for now. I hope everyone is having a fantabulous week! :)

Love Grows Where Rosemary Goes

 I finally got to go to a Whole Foods while I was in Tacoma visiting my mom! Not just one, but 2!!! I was ecstatic! I tried a soup at the first Whole Foods that was a revelation. It was so simple yet so delicious. I knew that as soon as I got home, I had to recreate it! It is something I never would have come up with on my own if I hadn't been inspired by that soup at Whole Foods. I tend to overthink soups and throw everything I can think of in them. Then I picked up some roasted rosemary potatoes at the second one for my mom to go with her dinner, and luckily she saved some so that I could try them! I was fascinated by them too, so while I had the rosemary, I decided to make a duo of soup and potatoes. Without further ado...


Kale, White Bean, and Rosemary Soup
3 stalks kale (take kale off stalk)
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cans reduced sodium white beans
1 stalk fresh rosemary (take rosemary off stalk)
1 tsp vegetable bouillon
Salt and Pepper to taste

Reserve some of the vegetable broth. Combine the rest of the vegetable broth and bouillon in soup pot on stove on medium. Using a food processor, blend some of the vegetable broth and the rosemary for a minute or so until the rosemary is in tiny particles. Pour into pot. Put the rest of the vegetable broth in the food processor with the kale and pulse just until the kale is in smallish pieces. Add to the soup pot. Finally, rinse the white beans and add to the soup. Season the soup. I brought the soup to a boil and simmered soup for about an hour to really develop the flavors, but you can cook however long you want. Enjoy! :)


Roasted Rosemary Potatoes
Baby red potatoes
Rosemary
Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut baby potatoes into four pieces per potato. Toss with some oil (I used grapeseed oil), salt, and pepper. Tear the rosemary off the stalk and sprinkle over the potatoes. Cook for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. It might take more or less time, depending on how many potatoes you have. Enjoy!