She Wrote a Book and Cooked Some Soup (Italian Wedding)


If  you've read my blog for a while, you noticed that the focus shifted from just health/fitness, to being about fashion/travel/our lifestyle/ and health and fitness. I still love fitness, and recipes...but it's not my whole life. It does power a lot of our decisions(fashion and travel) and lifestyle choices though...so it all kind of impacts each other.

Lately, I have been so PUMPED to bring out this second book. The first, Paradise of Exiles, was kind of a test for myself. I wanted to see if I could write a book. I wanted to learn the publishing process. And, although I am still proud and happy with my first book...the second one is like my child.  It's beautiful and lovely and wonderful. I was much more open to help from editors and with the revision process and I'm so enthusiastic to share it here with my readers when it comes out. I receive my FINAL proof in the mail in a few days, and when I give the publishers the A-OK-it will be available on Amazon a week later.

Let's just say it's about: insanity, asylums, memories, relationships, pain, suffering, mystery and redemption. It's set in the 1930's in Chicago and Traverse City. I used a real asylum that is near my Dad's house as the backdrop.  Here's a picture:

Can't you just imagine creepy things happening there? Anyway, I will provide more details for ordering as I get them. Get excited though!

Besides that, I have been using autumn as an excuse to go Soup-Wild. I accidentally bought some Quorn Meatballs, meaning to buy their ground "meat" for a recipe. When I realized my error, I decided to twist this into a positive and scoured the internet for good Italian Wedding Soup recipes. In the past, I haven't had good luck with them. I needed something that was REALLY flavorful, and wouldn't matter if it was made vegetarian. So, I found this amazing recipe from Giada, who, obnoxious accent or not, knows her shit when it comes to food.
Giada's Italian Wedding Soup
I switched up the recipe some, obviously using my vegetarian meatballs and then I added carrots, garbanzo beans, celery, onion and quinoa, substituted vegetable broth for chicken,  and used spinach instead of escarole. The eggs drizzled into the soup really gave it a robust flavor and texture. Adding the extra veggies gave it a little more "muchness" if you know what I mean, and it fed us three Alex sized bowls and two Terrence sized bowls. (Which means I got to eat some for lunch the 3rd day!)
You could easily substitute ground turkey/chicken for the meat in Giada's recipe, or make it vegetarian like I did. It was amazing and delicious and I can't wait to make it again.

Try the soup, stay tuned for the book-- and be well!
xx


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