5 Springfield Eats for When the Cold Won't Quit

We had a "snow" day last week sans snow, which happens more frequently than the school systems would like, I'm sure. But whether or not we've had any snow to speak of, it's definitely been cold. I'm piling on sweaters and wearing waaaay more turtlenecks than usual—if my 10-year-old self saw me now, she would be appalled.

Cold weather means staying in a lot, but when we go out, I have one priority: Staying warm. I will sacrifice my style in favor of being warm any day. And when we go out to eat, I want comfort food. Here are a few of my local faves for the winter—

Grilled Cheese + Tomato Soup from Cherry Picker

This one comes with no surprise—Cherry Picker's Orange & Tomato Bisque soup + Leland's Grilled Cheese is one of my absolute favorite things to eat when the weather gets chilly. The environment is cozy like a snow globe, and my mouth is literally watering thinking about the blue cheese crumble on that sandwich. As I'm typing, I said to Austin, "we should go to Cherry Picker tonight". So good.

Casper's

Casper's is one of the places I don't go as often as I'd like. It's in a teeny Quonset hut which fills up quickly, so you have to plan a lunch out right to make sure you're not standing to wait outside in the cold! In college, my dad picked me up from school and took me to Casper's pretty often, and it's one of my favorite traditions with him. They have a lot of menu items, but my favorite is a traditional small bowl of chili. 

J.O.B. Public House

J.O.B. is another good place to stay cozy in the winter months. My favorites to share are the Cheeseburger Cubicles and the Kentucky Hot Brown Cubicles, which taste like a perfectly packaged Thanksgiving meal—definitely a comfort food. We like their traditional brown sugar fries or cheese fries on the side (plus, get fry sauce on the side!).

Druff's

Winter is practically made for breakfast for dinner. Or breakfast for breakfast, or breakfast for lunch. You get the point. Breakfast food is cozy, and cozy is my main winter goal. My personal favorite at Druff's is the Swipe Right Breakfast Bowl—and you can think of it like a salad, with hash browns instead of lettuce.

Karai Ramen + Handroll

(This part is about ramen!!) My favorite at Karai is their Old Skool Ramen—it's a bit savory, not too spicy, and if you get it, you must order the soft-boiled egg as an add-on. Sorry, it's just the rules!! I know this post has been a lot of soups, and while ramen may or may not technically be a "soup"—can you blame me?!

Stay warm out there!

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Queen City Gems, Vol. 11

Happy Tuesday! Here's a quick update on some things I'm loving lately in the Queen City.

1. Team Taco is OPEN (yaaaaay! 🌮🎉)

Austin and I checked out Team Taco last week during their soft open, and I am happy to say it exceeded all of my expectations — and then some! I'm not too hard to please when it comes to tacos, but even if you are, I have a feeling you'll like it here. The guys behind Team Taco REALLY know their stuff when it comes to food & flavor; I saw this firsthand when I interviewed them a handful of times for Feast. I've tried a handful of these tacos by now, and the Groundskeeper is my favorite. All veggies and so delightful!! Branding + design are also on point. 

2. Brian and Jenna Bulger Release Dreamy New Tunes ✨

Late to the party on this (as evidenced by the EP's title "July" and this post being written in "August"), but I love seeing these two collaborate and hope to see more from them in the future. Got to hear them serenade a packed-out Cherry Picker a couple weeks ago, and it was a sweet summer evening I won't forget soon.

3. Say "Aloe" to Hickory Lane Plants 🌿

Spotted this lil cutie on Instagram and had to go check it out in person at the C-Street farmer's market. If you've checked out the Ozark Mtn. Flower Truck (which I talked about way back in volume 1 of this series!), this is like the same idea — but for plants! I enjoyed checking it out & snagged a succulent for our sunroom. It's fun for the experience (and definitely good for a last minute gift)! You can find their schedule on Instagram. 💕

That's all for now! xo.

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Mint and Citrus Sun Tea

Welp, friends. Labor Day is coming up, which means everybody who loves fall will be crushing my spirits on the daily, with reminders of #PSL, pumpkins, Christmas and this meme. Hobby Lobby has already gone and done it by stocking Thanksgiving supplies. What nerve!

Anyway, you already know I love summer. But did you know I love making sun tea in the summer???? Maybe you did. Maybe that's obvious. Maybe it takes one look at me to say, "hey, that looks like a lady who loves making sun tea in the summer." I wear my heart (food) on my sleeve.

Ok, ok. Here's the recipe and such. I highly recommend you make sun tea before the sun begins to set too early — it's the easiest, and it makes you feel like a champ when you have a whole pitcher of tea to drink!

Ingredients:
- 2 family sized tea bags (or one per quart of water). If you're using regular, smaller tea bags, the general rule of thumb is about 8 bags per gallon of water.
- Water
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 3 sprigs mint

So then you slice up that lemon and add mint, tea bags and water to your pitcher. That's it! Go put the pitcher outside in direct sunlight (preferably in a pretty garden), and leave it for about 3 hours. You could go to a hair appointment and come back in that time if you wanted, or you can supervise your tea. It probably won't move, but it might.

....And, voila! It's tea!

Enjoy for 5-7 days, if it lasts that long! The lemon and mint add the best flavor to this tea, so you may not even need a sweetener. If you do, I recommend just a dash of honey. Hope you enjoy the tail end of summer! xo

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Watermelon and Mint Salad (15 Minutes!)

Hi guys! It's #NationalWatermelonDay (lol who makes these things up?), so I wanted to show you one of the easiest, tastiest recipes I make at home. This is one of the best summer salads out there; watermelon is a summer food. Friendly reminder to each of you who keep saying it's about to be fall. Please don't crush my summer-loving dreams yet!

Bonus points: It's pretty healthy unless you're a non-cheese eater! And if you are a non-cheese eater, you could skip the cheese and add a dash of pepper. If you try that version, let me know. I think it would taste good, but I'll be honest, I just made that up off the top of my head — so it is *not* tested and approved.

Here's the tested and approved recipe.

Ingredients
- 1/4 watermelon
- 1/2 cup feta cheese
- 3 sprigs of mint (bonus points if you pick them from your own garden!)

This recipe serves two as a side salad, or one for lunch. Or if you're REALLY healthy, this could be a great dessert. I'd rather have cheesecake for dessert, but I'll be impressed if this is your dessert.

Directions
Chop up watermelon into bite-sized pieces. Add feta and mint leaves. That's literally it! Eat it!

I honestly don't think this would even take 15 minutes if you're a fast chopper. 15 minutes is more like the time it takes to fix it and eat it. The recipe is easily doubled, tripled, quadrupled, etc. to feed a big gang, too! I've made it for baby showers and wedding showers, and it's always a hit.

Oh, also, my mom showed me how to make this. She's the best.

Anyway, let me know if you try that pepper thing! xo!

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Date Syrup Iced Coffee

I'll admit something about coffee. When it comes to caffeinated beverages, I'll try anything once. My go-to is a vanilla latte (hot) or a honey latte (cold), but I've been known to brake for lavender, rosemary pear, or maybe even a little gas station coffee if I'm feeling really wild.

All that being said, I was recently introduced to date syrup. Yeah, you know where this is going...

Date syrup is a really great alternative to many processed sugars. It's all natural, even vegan. So my friend Beth is a barista (and extraordinary photographer, but we'll get there). I brought my bottle of date syrup to her one day and said, "think we can make a latte using this?" We were skeptical. We tried it. It was good. I think Beth's exact words were, "If this were sold at Whole Foods or something, I'd probably buy it." And that, my friends, is a solid testimonial.

So, since not everybody has access to an espresso machine, I'm giving ya the easy-breezy version of the recipe, which doesn't require much explanation. Beth came over to my loft and snapped the photos of our new recipe!

Start with cold brew concentrate.

Add cream and date syrup to taste.

Stir.

Enjoy!

P.S. Beth has shot some really gorgeous weddings recently — you should check them out here.

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5 Quick-Fixes to Boost Energy

So winter is still a thing here in Missouri, and we've been seeing grey skies far more often than sunny days. It's so easy this time of year to feel groggy when you're missing out on all the Vitamin D and blue skies, so when it's 3 p.m. and you're feeling it, here are some food/drink options to help you through the mid-day slump. 

1. Water

Moms everywhere love to remind us to drink more water. Well, mom was right. According to the Mayo Clinic, the old "8 glasses a day" rule is still a good standby, but they have modified it to include 8 glasses of fluids. So, the whole detox water craze is good for this reason (encouraging people to drink more water), but I also don't feel bad about counting a cup of tea. (This is good news for me personally because I have a really hard time making myself drink enough water.)

2. Chocolate

Chocolate. There is a fact about chocolate, and it's that it tastes better than water. Experts recommend dark chocolate with a cacao content of at least 70% to tap into all of the magnesium that can be gained from this sweet snack. Like I learned last year, chocolate also helps to boost seretonin if you're feeling blue during the cold winter months.

3. Apple

Have you heard that there's as much caffeine in an apple as a cup of coffee? Well, that's a lie. But there is quite a bit of sugar in apples, so that is why people often think there is caffeine. Eating an apple boosts your energy while your body digests the fructose and therefore raises your blood sugar. Plus, they taste good.

4. Mixed Nuts

Aw, nuts, still feeling groggy?! (Sorry, I had to.) Nuts are great snacks because they're packed with protein and magnesium. Walnuts especially help with getting in your Omega 3 fatty acids--One serving is said to have as much as 90% of your daily intake of Omega 3. Read all about why Omega 3 is good for you here (but it's a Web MD article, so be careful not to click around too much on there and decide you have some incurable health problem.)

5. Coffee

If you've ever clicked around on She Learns Things, you know I'm a coffee-holic. (Proof here, here, here.) So of course I'm going to give coffee the last word on energy boosts. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory, but the important thing to remember is to be careful you don't drink too much coffee in the morning. Drinking one cup in the a.m. and one in the afternoon better distributes your energy so you don't have that infamous 3 p.m. crash and burn. 

Ok, well I'm going to go drink a mocha iced coffee (technically has water and chocolate in it, right?) and eat some apple pie and those sugar-walnut things they sell at the mall. Later, guys, but you can text me to hang out because I'm sure I'll have energy for days.

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Friendsgiving Toll House Pie

I have no idea where the name "Friendsgiving" came from, who came up with the idea, or why we haven't started calling the fourth Thursday in November "Familygiving." 

This whole "Friendsgiving" thing has gotten pretty trendy over the last couple years, and I personally think it's great. Thanksgiving may very well be my favorite holiday, so I'm not mad about having a little extra community over turkey and stuffing. My family has a looooong tradition (over 30 years) of going to a friend's house for Thanksgiving, so I guess you could say my parents were the original Friendsgiving hipsters.

I love our family Thanksgiving traditions. We tell the same stories each year, but they never get old. We usually see a movie (we had some great years when all of the Harry Potter movies came out in late November), and we always have pie. You knew I'd get around to talking about the pie eventually…

So, here it is. Toll House Pie. If you've never heard of it, it's like a chocolate chip cookie pie. If you've never tasted it, it's incredible. 

I'm not sure if this is the original recipe for toll house pie, but this is my mom's recipe, so it's the only one you'll need. 

Ingredients

- 2 eggs

- 1/2 cup flour

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

- 3/4 cup butter, melted & cooled

- 1 cup sumisweet chips

- 1 cup chopped walnuts

- unbaked pie crust

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Don't do like I did and drop half the egg into the sink on accident, but if you do, use another egg.

The chocolate chips are the best part of this pie, but it's not time to add them yet. After beating the eggs, beat in the flour, sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the melted butter. Finally (FINALLY!), stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. If you don't like walnuts, I suppose you could remove them from the recipe, but I recommend you learn to like walnuts and leave 'em in.

Pour the mixture into pie shell, and set the oven timer for 55 minutes. It's a long time, I know, but it's worth the wait. 

Serve warm to friends or family, with whipped cream on top. 

I hope you all have the loveliest giving season of all!

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But first, Coffee.

National Coffee Day, huh? Most people like coffee, and those who don't are crazy. College students, employees and bosses alike are equally likely to drink coffee—often in different forms and at very opposing times of day. Cream, no cream. 11 a.m., 11 p.m. Hot, cold. No matter how you like it (or if you don't), it's likely that the word "coffee" isn't going to be escaping the English language anytime soon.

So, whether you use four at-home brewing methods like my barista friends, or you like your Folgers Classic Roast watered down a little bit (because the Classic Roast is just too strong), let's ask ourselves the important questions: Why is it National Coffee Day, and where did this stuff come from?

National Coffee Day was first celebrated in the U.S. in 2005, and as is the case with most Hallmark-created holidays, nobody knows where it came from or why it is September 29th. We just do it for the coffee.

The origin of coffee itself is highly debated, but many give preference to the legend of Kaldi. Kaldi was an Ethiopian goat herder who noticed that his goats went crazy when they ate berries from a certain tree. The goats jumped around and wouldn't sleep at night. (Spoiler alert: It was a coffee tree.) According to the legend, Kaldi took the beans to a monk who made a drink using the berries and confirmed that after drinking it, he was easily able to stay alert for his overnight prayer sessions.
If you wanted to go out on a limb here, you could say that drinking coffee is a holy practice. I think that's a logical conclusion from the legend of Kaldi.

According to the LA Times, 1.7 billion cups of coffee are consumed daily, and 35 percent of the world's coffee consumption occurs in the United States. Santa Fe Springs, California, is likely responsible for a good chunk of that statistic, with a whopping 560 Starbucks locations within only 25 miles. Starbucks also claims 87,000 drink combinations. ABC News says that the average American spends $14.40 per week going out to coffee shops, totaling $1,100 each year. That doesn't include the cost of drinking coffee at home, either. The National Coffee Association also tells us (in bold) to "never reheat your coffee." Oops.

Think you might be over-caffeinated? The problem is historical. In the 1730's Johann Sebastian Bach (BACH, guys) wrote a satirical cantata on coffee-obsession. The title is Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, or "Be still, stop chattering" for you non-German speakers.

Translated from German (I didn't translate it… I haven't learned German yet), a stanza in the cantata reads as follows: No suitor comes in my house/unless he has promised to me himself/and has it also inserted into the marriage contract,/that I shall be permitted/to brew coffee whenever I want." Satire or not, I have to agree with this. I couldn't marry a man who won't let me have my mochas!

So the moral of the story is this: Drink and be merry. But first, make sure he likes coffee.

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Caramel Apple Parfait

This post was inspired by wisdom teeth surgery (ow), McDonald's, and all the girls longing for fall.

Spoiler alert: It's still summer until September 22. I know we all want it to be fall, like, yesterday, but I personally really love summer. So, this treat is a summery snack/dessert/breakfast (or dessert for breakfast) option for those of us who are enjoying summer yet longing for the upcoming crunchy leaves and caramel apple season.

So, back to wisdom teeth. I had 'em removed recently, and as you likely know, I wasn't allowed to eat anything afterward. I mean, I could eat ice cream, and soup, and parfaits, but that's about it. I couldn't eat apples, or pretzels, or heaven forbid I try to eat a hamburger. It was a low point in my life.

So one day I'm eating a McDonald's Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait, and I decided it wasn't half-bad! (Did I just lose all of my "food blogger" internet cred?) I got to thinking about how I could make an at-home version of the snack, but with a twist.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup vanilla yogurt
- Apples, chopped (I used Granny Smith and Red Delicious)
- Pretzel crumbs
- Caramel

Little bit of trivia: "Parfait" got it's name from the French word for "perfect," and their origin dates all the way back to 1894. Parfaits are different all around the world, too. Don't order a parfait in the UK unless you want "a very smooth meat paste (or pâté), usually made from liver (chicken or duck) and flavoured with liqueurs." (Ew, right?) But this recipe won't be like that. It'll be good. Promise.

The best thing about parfaits is that they're so easy to make. That's probably why the French deemed them perfect. They're a quick-fix for a sweet tooth. Or if you're like me, a sweet+salty tooth.

Instructions:

Start by drizzling caramel in the bottom of your dish. Next, add a layer of the yogurt on top. Add some of the apples you've chopped, and sprinkle some of the crumbled pretzels on the same layer.

To finish off the parfait, simply add the same layers again! Caramel, yogurt, apples, pretzel. You could repeat these steps indefinitely if you're really hungry and want to eat a punch-bowl-sized serving, but my recipe only required 2 layers of parfait to fill the dish.

Drizzle some more caramel just for kicks, and you're ready to eat up!

I hope you enjoy this treat, friends! Let me know if you try it; I would say it is parfait for this time of year. Happy late-summer-almost-fall!

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