Hey guys, thank you all so much for the sweet comments yesterday about my asthma diagnosis. The comments really mean a lot to me, and now that I am mostly done with a school project that has been sucking the life out of me, I am very excited to get to comment back to everyone. It feels weird to me to consider myself as having asthma since in my day to day life I have no lung problems, and for that I should feel really lucky. I know that as long as I’m careful when I’m running or exercising intensely this will be no big deal. To me, this is the best case scenario. I think it is a great personality quality when someone can take a negative and spin it in a positive light. It is definitely not something that comes easily to me but with practice I’m getting better.
For instance, one of my closest friends Maile was in town on vacation recently. She lives in Hawaii now so it’s easy to focus on the negative that I never get to see her. But since she was in town for a few weeks I focused on the positive that we got a few girls nights together. Another negative was that it has been frigid lately. I’m not a lover of cold weather. Instead of thinking of the dark and dreary days winter brings as a bad thing I focused on the positive: cold weather brings comfort food!
So to combine two positives into one Maile and I decided to meet up for a girl’s night at Panera and shiver away the cold weather with some warm soup. I love Panera, if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you know I go there pretty frequently. And as much as I love it Josh loves it even more. He has giftcards galore for Panera, it’s one of his favorite places to go and do schoolwork. I was really excited when Panera sent me a giftcard and asked if I would review their soups. I never need an excuse to enjoy Panera!
I love walking in to all the bakery items. They make me feel so happy and tempt me every time.
Maile and I were super indecisive about what soups we wanted to fight the frigid air and our cashier was so helpful and patient. He offered us the soup menus, described them in more detail to us, and never once rushed us or cut us off. He even posed for this picture! Panera’s customer service gets two big thumbs up in my opinion. If you’re ever wondering what Panera’s daily soups will be (they rotate some while others are a daily item) check out their soup website. My favorite soup is a daily item now but I remember when I first started coming to Panera and it wasn’t. Checking the soup website is helpful so you know when to go to get your soup fix on.
After much deliberation about getting another soup I ended up ordering the one I always order. Why mess with perfection, right? I love Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup. Whenever I’m craving soup it’s the first one to come to mind, when I’m sick it helps me feel better, and it is the perfect hearty soup for a cold day.
I was so excited to try the broccoli cheddar in a bread bowl. As popular as they are I’ve never tried Panera bread bowls before. It was really filling and the broccoli cheddar was as delicious as ever. It was also nice to have built in bread to dunk into the soup! 
Maile got their Sonoma chicken stew and loved it. We had fun girl chatting and hanging out while we ate. I love the atmosphere of Panera and how it just feels like a nice place to spend time.
And now sadly Maile is back in Hawaii but we made the most of the time we had while she was here. Life is busy and the holidays are extra hectic. Take some time to relax and enjoy the season, take some time to girl talk, take some time to take a friend out to lunch. You’ll be glad you did. 
Question of the Day: Are you a Panera fan? What’s your favorite item on their menu?
Panera Bread sent me a giftcard to review their soups and is sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own. And my opinion is that Panera Bread rocks.
I love Panera! I haven’t had their broccoli cheddar soup in ages, but I loved it in college. I think it may be time for me to give it a go again. It looks so delicious, as always!
I hope you get some soon, it’s so good!
I love Panera. There is nothing I don’t like there. Their soups are incredible. I love the veggie, but you’re right about the broccoli cheddar. I also love to get a bagel and coffee in the mornings, their pastries are to die for and their sandwiches are sooo yummy (LOVE the Mediterranean veggie!)
Now I’m really craving Panera.
Mmm I love Panera bagels! There’s always so many options!
Love Panera and their food. I’m a big soup fan, so I need to get over there soon and have some–a winter favorite!
Soups are perfect winter foods!
It’s so funny! I am not a big soup fan, alas I am in love with panera’s! Always have been!! I love the black-bean, chicken wild rice, and chicken noodle the best, I think! I really adore the bagels too! The asiago cheese and cinna crunch ones are to die for!! Although once I lit my toaster on fire while toasting the gooey delishyness of the cinna crunch one! Hahah!! Whoops! Oh, and I love the salads there too! I just had one this wkend w roast turkey, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and walnuts! So yummy!!! (can u tell I’m a panera fan yet??) lol!!
I love their fuji apple chicken salad without the chicken! It’s so tasty, and their sandwiches are so good too!
I LOVE their broccoli cheese soup! It is my favorite! I have never tried it in bread bowl…but I think I must!
I definitely recommend it!
I know you will never believe this, but I am eating panera broccoli cheese soup right now! I swear! I wish I could take a pic. I am home sick from work and a friend just brought it! It is delish!!!
What a small world! haha I hope you feel better! You also won my last contest girly, email me!
My son is constantly asking to go to Panera. He loves their broccoli and cheese soup. I believe it may even beat pizza.
It’s so good!
I love the Broccoli Cheddar soup and used to get the breadbowl all the time but they now make the hole in the breadbowl so small there’s barely any soup in there :/ I end up always throwing most of the bread away and I just love the soup so I just get the cup instead now. During the summer, they also had a vegetarian summer corn chowder which was AMAAAAAAZING.
Ohh I can’t believe I missed the vegetarian summer corn chowder! Hopefully they bring it back next year!
I LOVE Panera! Went there for lunch today as a matter of fact. Today I had the BBQ chicken salad but my fav soup is chicken noodle.
Isn’t it great? It’s one of my favorite lunch spots!
ummm I LOVE Panera! I spent so many days there studying during my first and second years of school haha! The black bean soup is my go-to but anything in a bread bowl is about 92384284 times better!!!
I’m loving getting to share my Panera love! It is a great place to study, although most of the time I just end up there with my nook! haha
Very fun to be able to do this!
Before going gluten free, I was a huge You-Pick-Two fan: salad and soup every time! I still to the salad now to be as safe as possible, but my hubby still loves the bread bowls!
They’re salads are just as good as their soups! I love everything!
Be careful, Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup is not actually vegetarian! It has a sneaky chicken broth base, which most vegetarians like to steer clear of.
Oh yes, that is very true. I tend not to worry about the broths my soups are prepared in or if something has gelatin in it but I know this is something many vegetarians are concerned about.
I’ve been a Panera fan for years! Best of all, they
donate all of their unused items to a local food pantry
at the end of the day.
My favorite is their chai tea latte!
I did not know that, that makes me love them even more!
Panera is amazing! And let me remind you that the REAL name is St. Louis Bread Company (still called that in STL!). Everyone in STL is obsessed… with good reason!! And their broccoli cheddar soup is SO good!!!! So are there salads… and sandwiches… and bakery treats… ok everything!!
But….you do know that Broccoli Cheddar isn’t vegetarian, right?
Yep I do. Every time I post about eating broccoli cheddar soup from Panera people ask me about it so I’m pretty used to explaining. I was raised eating chicken and meat and now that I’m a vegetarian I don’t eat those things but I don’t worry about the broth a soup is made in, or gelatin. I know for many people who are strict vegetarians or who have been vegetarians their whole lives they would never do this but as there is no meat on my plate I am happy with eating soups made from stocks as long as they don’t contain any actual meat parts/pieces. It works for me.