Lentil Soup

My mom makes a really delicious lentil soup. Hers is a little rustic, with a thick broth and chunky vegetables. This is a bit fancier (but not really fancy at all...) It can be served as an appetizer, dressed up with some parsley and parmesan. But I like it best on a chilly night in front of the tv. Just add a little garlic bread and some grated cheese and you're in business!

Another Lunch @ Noodles & Company

So Noodles is my go to lunch spot these days. It's quick and sorta cheap and I don't feel uncomfortable eating there by myself. With my hour lunch/dinner break I have plenty of time to eat and usually some extra minutes for errands. I posted about Noodles & Company back in '08 but since I still eat there pretty much once a week, I figure a recap wouldn't hurt. Plus I've got some pictures to post!

Spicy Peanut Noodles

These yummy noodles are a bit addictive. My mom used to make them for our family when I was younger. Then in high school it was one of the first (and only!) recipes I cooked myself. The noodles are based on a recipe from one of my mom's old Moosewood cookbooks. I tried to find the exact recipe online, but the one I found on the Moosewood website was a little different than I remembered, it doesn't have garlic or ginger. So I improvised a little, adding the minced garlic and ginger as well as some honey to balance out the salty/spicy flavors.

Pumpkin Bread with Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

It's fall, my favorite time of year! And Fall means pumpkin in all forms. A few weeks ago I made Molly's Banana Bread from "A Homemade Life" and liked it a lot. I couldn't help but wonder how a pumpkin version would taste. So I modified the recipe, substituting pumpkin for banana, removing the crystallized ginger but adding a bit of powdered ground ginger, as well as cinnamon and nutmeg. I also stole a bit from another of Molly's Banana Bread recipes from Orangette, and added a bit of cinnamon sugar on top of the bread.

Molly Wizenberg's Banana Bread

I have very limited kitchen space and even less cooking equipment, so I don't cook or bake that often. But lately I've been really trying to make more of my meals from scratch. I've had some success so far, with various soups and pasta dishes. But this weekend I got the urge to bake! I'm reading A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, creator of Orangette, and basically all of the recipes in the book sound amazing and delicious.

Blu Boy

Blu Boy Chocolate Cafe and Cakery popped up a year or so ago right downtown, next to the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. It's a cute little shop with friendly employees and delicious desserts. The location is really great, right in the middle of downtown. Perfect for an after dinner treat on the weekend or a sugary snack during the day.

Blu Boy is one of the few places in Bloomington to find cupcakes. They use a very rich, creamy buttercream which, while delicious, can get a little overwhelming. In the past they swirled the buttercream super-high, but have recently downsized, in my opinion, to a more manageable and proportional amount of frosting. See these cupcakes; Blueberry vs Cinnamon Hazelnut Chocolate. My favorite cupcake ever at Blu Boy was the Banana Chocolate. The cake was a light, moist white cake flavored with banana. And the addition of shaved chocolate to the buttercream was melt-in-your-mouth amazing. I also recently had a Cinnamon Hazelnut Chocolate that was fabulous. I've had a few underwhelming cupcakes at Blu Boy, with dry, crumbly cake, but overall they've been quite good. The flavors rotate so you never know exactly what will be available, usually there are 2-3 options.

Sweet Grass

Sweet Grass is a brand new Bloomington restaurant with a focus on Southern, Carolina cuisine. I tried it out last Wednesday evening with my friends Chris and Katy. The restaurant wasn't packed by any means, but it seemed like a nice crowd for the middle of the week. The waitstaff were very friendly and attentive. Although our waiter was a little slow to bring the check (he was busy closing up the outside dining area) he made up for it by splitting the check with no problem.