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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