This Crazy Delicious ‘Gimme More’ Minestrone Soup is fit for a Goddess and thinfully delicious.

The idea? Be creative and use what you have in your kitchen for dinner.

I looked through my fridge and realized I had nearly all the fixings for a creative minestrone soup (i.e. minestrone soup… my way). I threw this soup together, chopping included, in under 30 minutes. Delicious & nutritious food doesn’t have to take a long time and you don’t need to make that extra trip to the grocery store for missing ingredients. Learn to work with what you have!

When you do go grocery shopping… remember this: VEGGIES, VEGGIES, VEGGIES! Your body will thank you.

Hopefully this video will help inspire you in the kitchen:

South Coast Winery vlog review:

Winery: South Coast Winery

Location: Temecula, California

Wines: A very wide variety of reds, whites, and roses. There’s sure to be something for everyone…syrah, cabernet, grenache, chardonnay, merlot Rose, merlot blanc, porto,  zinfandel, sparkling wine, and many more…

Cost of Tasting: $12 for 5 tastes. $15 for the premium tasting which includes 5 tastes off their premium and regular wine menu. While most wineries offer 2 for 1 weekday tasting coupons, I couldn’t find any for South Coast Winery.

Ambiance: This is the perfect place to bring several large tour groups at once as South Coast Winery appears to have been built with this exact purpose in mind.  Their large, austere wine tasting room does not provide a cozy and intimate atmosphere, if that’s what you’re seeking.

Katie’s Take: The judges may have spoken, claiming South Cost Winery to have the best wine in California. However, my taste buds have also spoken and proclaim that statement false. I know my own tastes. I’ve had better California wines and even better wine at other places in Temecula who aren’t yet big enough to have awards. South Coast Winery doesn’t make bad wine, they just, in my opinion, make very average mass produced (by Temecula standards) wine.

South Coast Winery might be a really great place to go if you’re looking for an all-in-one Temecula experience. Stay in a villa among the vineyards, treat yourself to a massage at the GrapeSeed Spa, and take a trip to the tasting room to decide which wine you’ll be drinking with dinner. You can have all of this without ever leaving South Coast Winery.

While wine should be the drink of pure pleasure, it has unfortunately been used as the beverage of apprehension, confusion, snobbery, and head-scratching.

These quotes elaborate on this head-scratching confusion…

Wine is bottled poetry.
-Clifton Fadiman

“Wine is the most civilized thing in the world.”
-Ernest Hemingway.

“Wine is the drink of the gods, milk the drink of babes, tea the drink of women, and water the drink of beasts.”
- John Stuart Blackie

…leaving us beasts humans bewildered. Obviously John Stuart Blackie didn’t have a very clear understanding of women.

Quite often, wine can be much ado about…something, but perhaps you aren’t quite sure what.

What is considered good wine? What’s all this talk about labels, vintages, bouquet, and those grapes nobody dares to pronounce? How do you know what wine to like?

Fresh off the Novice Grapevine is here to take the snobbery and confusion out of wine!

GOLDEN RULE OF WINE- NEVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD LIKE

You like what you like, no excuse necessary. Buy and drink to your taste and completely ignore any horrible wine sommelier (aka the restaurant wine expert) that tries to talk you into buying a type of wine you know dislike (i.e. you’re so not a red wine drinker and s/he won’t listen).

This being said, however, don’t be afraid to push the envelope a little bit by tasting new types of wine. You just never know…

DISCOVER WHAT YOU LIKE

Red, white, rosé? Sweet or dry? You don’t know until you try! Tasting a wide variety of wines both alone and with food is a great way to discover the wines you like and build your wine palate.

Taste, take notes, and start your own wine journal.

A SOCIAL OCCASION

Blind tasting parties, in which each participant brings a bottle, are an excellent way for you to taste a large variety of wines at once. Invite your friends or co-workers over for an evening of indulgence.

Wine tasting in the privacy of your own home with unpretentious friends will help ease you into the world and yes…art of wine.

Stay tuned for more wine talk Fresh off the Novice Grapevine.