Foodies at Home: Chunky No-Cook Tomato Soup via The Cooking Club

We made THIS delicious soup the other day for dinner. It is served cold, with feta on top. And, we had some yummy multi-grain bread with it. It was SO GOOD! Refreshing, crisp, and surprisingly filling. And, it couldn't have been easier. If you like tomatoes, try this out. We are having leftovers (there were lots) for dinner tonight. YAY!

That is all.

Little Foodie Lately

Checking out the menu at the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange

First Trip to the Farmer's Market

Enjoying the Farmer's Market

Not old enough for a beer at Bell's just yet. I guess this water will have to do!

Walking with daddy in the Bell's beer garden

Covered in blueberries and getting sleepy!

Kalamazoo Beer Exchange (for Dinner)

A few notes before we dive into this exciting post...

1) This is our first sponsored post! Thanks, Downtown Kalamazoo, Inc. for your support of Kalamazoo Foodies. You like us, you really do! ;)

2) I am excited to introduce the newest addition to the Kalamazoo Foodies blogging team... PAUL, aka Mr. Foodie.  Mr. Foodie joins me for most meals, and though he won't accept the title, is also a total foodie. I believe he will bring a great new perspective considering he is male AND he eats red meat - not exclusively, but sometimes. . . like at this meal where he had the meatloaf!

Little Foodie checking out the beer board

What Kate Ate: Bar Chips with House Made French Onion Dip and Roasted Wild Mushroom Crepes

 This was not our first trip to the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange. We went a few years ago for Paul's birthday and had appetizers and beer. We've also been a few other times for drinks. We have always liked the beer menu as we typically are able to find some of our favorites, but had not really had much off the menu. We had a free evening and the opportunity to dine in Downtown Kalamazoo, so we thought that we would give the menu a shot.

As you can see, Little Foodie was along for the ride. You may be thinking, 'a baby at the Beer Exchange? That seems inappropriate!'   You know, we weren't even sure about it, so we called ahead to make sure they had high chairs. What do you know, THEY DO! This place is GREAT for kiddos. It's loud enough that your child doesn't bother others with noise. There are lots of things to look at and distract them. Only warning... when the market crashes, there is a very loud siren that may startle your child. Hopefully, they will rebound quickly like ours did, but it definitely was scary for a minute or two.

Bar Chips with French Onion Dip

Alright, onto the food... we splurged a bit and went for the Bar Chips mainly because, well, we don't get out a whole lot anymore and they sounded good. GOOD SPLURGE. When they arrived, Paul and I looked at each other with that, 'there is no way we will eat all of these .' However, we made a pretty sizable dent. The chips are perfectly seasoned, not too greasy, just the right cut/thickness and hard to resist. Add the French onion dip and you have an unbeatable combo. I highly recommend this zero calorie (yeah right!) treat!

Roasted Wild Mushroom Crepes

Now let's talk dinner. I was intrigued by many things on this menu. There are some tasty sounding sandwiches, a salad or two that had some prime ingredients, but the Roasted Wild Mushroom Crepes just kept calling me back. One reason... the caprese salad on the side. You know how I feel about a caprese salad, right? Then, the description of the crepes themselves (spinach, boursin, balsamic drizzle) contained all things I love. So, the crepes it was. This dish was really great and really unexpected. Previously, when I thought of the Beer Exchange, I thought about bar food, maybe glorified bar food at best. So wrong. This plate could have been served at any number of fine dining establishments. The caprese was fresh and really everything you could want in a caprese - thick slices of fresh mozzarella. Huge basil leaves. Firm but still juicy tomatoes, and a balsamic drizzle that danced over the crepes as well. And the crepes? I took my first bite and was floored. No ingredient stands out, they dance together nicely wrapped up in the light crepe. Only possible complaints were that the mushrooms took FOREVER to cool down, and the spinach was in large pieces which slid out when trying to grab a bite. The spinach issue may be fixable. Mushrooms stay hot, I get that. But, honestly, this dish was a real surprise and one that made me move the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange up on the list of places to go for a great meal in Kalamazoo.

And, special shout out to Cody, our fantastic server. He was super  knowledgeable about both the beverage and food menus, made great recommendations, seemed like he is a big fan of the food (which I think shines through clearly for some servers and is something I love to see personally), and was really friendly. He even got some huge smiles and played "peekaboo" in with Little Foodie.

All in all, a great dining experience. I do believe we will be hitting up the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange again -  hopefully soon!

four golden forks out of five

What Paul Ate: Bar Chips with House Made French Onion Dip and Home-style Meat Loaf

I would echo Kate's take on the Bar Chips.  They were just the right thickness, seasoned perfectly, and fried without being greasy.  I could have eaten them all night long.

Great outdoor seating... perfect for festival watching

Now as to my entree, I happen to be a meatloaf connoisseur, or at least think I am.  I've had it in lots of greasy spoons and in many a sports bar.  My mother makes a good meat loaf and I make a mean turkey meat loaf (yes, I still consider that meatloaf).  The Beer Exchange's version happened to be very good, but it was the sum of the parts that made it great.  

The meatloaf was seasoned nicely without overpowering the meat itself.  The mushroom and onion ragout had a deep, dark, red tint and unique taste, almost like they deglazed the pan with burgundy.  The garlic mashed potatoes were fluffy and delicious.  The peas and carrots were, well, peas and carrots.  However, they didn't have that fresh from a can taste; they actually tasted fresh.  

There was so much on my plate I could not finish it all.  I'm sure that gorging on Bar Chips prior to the main course had something to do with that, but this is a meal that will certainly leave you satisfied.  

I will also say that Cody was a great help, especially with beer selection.  I am sure a lot of you may disagree with me, but hoppy beers are awful.  Much to my chagrin, it seems like the "it" thing for brewers to do is add as many hops as they can to their beer.  Some day they will brew quintuple hops brews and I will cry.  But I digress...I told Cody what I did and did not like in a beer.  Cody suggested the New Belgium Heavenly Feijoa, and he was on the money.  Crisp, clean, refreshing, slightly fruity, tart, and completely pleasing to the palate. It went well with both the chips and the meatloaf.  I will have to track this one down in the future.  The only bad part was that I purchased it prior to the price drop a few minutes later when it was $2.00 cheaper.  That's what you get when you play the Beer Market, I guess.

I had a great time and a great meal.

four golden forks out of five

Little Foodie endorsed!

Check out the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange for yourself!

Kalamazoo Social Media Week

It's Kalamazoo Social Media Week. That's pretty darn cool. Today, Tuesday, is Foursquare Day and one of the events is a Food Truck Lunch featuring our local favorites. Wish this Foodie didn't have a lunch meeting so she could go visit them! If you can... you SHOULD!

In other news... Kalamazoo Foodies has been nominated for a Social Media Award for Best Blog. That is super cool and very unexpected. Thank you for the nomination. We are sad we won't be able to attend the award ceremony but are very grateful for the nomination.

Crow's Nest

What I ordered-Captain's Ration Omelet with seasoned red skin potatoes and an English muffin

So as you can see by this post, I had visited the Crow's Nest before. A long time ago. Like almost 5 years ago (woah! Have I really been in Kalamazoo this long?). And, was unimpressed. For awhile now, Mr. Foodie has been saying that we needed to go there for breakfast. That opportunity finally arose when we both had a day off and dropped Little Foodie off at daycare so we could be productive. First stop, the Crow's Nest.

The decor and atmosphere is just as I remember it. Kitschy. Cutesy. Divey. And other words ending in "y". The menu,  however, seemed different to me. My  memory of this place is VERY divey. With a plastic cover menu with too many things on it. That is not what we got on this visit. So, now I am asking myself if my memory is way off, or if things have changed a lot in the last 5 years!

The breakfast menu is so awesome sounding, in fact, that I had trouble deciding what to order. A lot of trouble. I landed on this gem of an omelet with basil walnut pesto mixed into the eggs, sausage, sun dried tomatoes, and provolone inside, and a really great red pepper aioli on top. Add the side of potatoes (YUM) and the house made English muffin (SUPER YUM) and you've got yourself quite the breakfast.

The omelet was truly fantastic. The flavors all came together in such harmony. Not one really stole the show, though the pesto stood out. But, if you know me, you know I love pesto! The sausage was great and added to the hardiness of this meal. I really probably shouldn't have finished this whole thing but (don't judge me!) I did!The potatoes were really well seasoned and with a little of the housemade ketchup were really yummy. I tried them with the red pepper aioli too... that was super tasty.

I was really blown away by the English muffin. I LOVE English muffins and have never ventured into the English muffin making place. And, knowing that these gems are available around the corner makes me not want to. The outside had the right amount of crisp. The inside was the right amount of chewy. So, so very good.

One surprise was the pricing. With this being such a hot spot for college students in the area, I expected it to be uber cheap. It was not. I didn't have to take a loan out to pay for breakfast, but it was pricier than I expected. It is absolutely worth the money, but that took me a back a bit.

Had this been my first trip to the Crow's Nest, I probably would have gone with 5 forks, but I can't forget that other trip. So, let's average it out, and 4 it is.

four golden forks out of five

Frona's Pantry, Richland

What I ordered- Housemade granola, fruit and yogurt cup with a side of bacon and coffee

Little Foodie and I met a friend for breakfast at this little place on Gull Lake. I had never heard of it, but she highly recommended it. I tell you what, we will be back!

A little off the beaten path, Frona's sits right next to the lake. The decor is kitschy with the feel of an old diner. The pastry counter beacons when you walk in with yummy looking treats. Though, I did get the sense that this is where the locals really are. So, when I walked in, I felt like the whole place, which isn't really that big, looked at me wondering who we were. But, I got over the pretty quickly.

We found a table and waited for our friend. The one high chair they have was in use, so Little Foodie and I played a bit until it was available. I also tried to look at the menu when he wasn't trying to put it in his mouth and was immediately torn. Prices are GOOD. Really low. And, once I say the servings sizes, I realized they are really low as you get a good plateful of food. So many things sounded good. Pancakes? French toast? Housemade bagel? What did I want????

It came down to decision time and I, of course, still had no idea, so I went with what I looked at first. And this, my friends, was the granola (also housemade),  fruit and yogurt cup. But, wanting so more protein, I opted for a side a bacon as well... GOOD CALL!

My goblet of goodness arrived with my granola on the side. Fresh strawberries and bananas over a very creamy and thick vanilla yogurt. The raisin-free (this is a thing for Mr. Foodie) granola was loaded with nuts. I dumped it on top and mixed it all together. Now, maybe I was super hungry. Or maybe this was one spectacular start to my day! Light and fresh and creamy and yummy. I could eat this every day!

And, let's not forget about the bacon. I am new to bacon eating. Until recently, the last year or so, I was a turkey bacon girl. I have been converted, however, and this bacon tops my list of best bacon I have had so far. Thick cut. Slightly peppered. Crispy. Substantial. So good.

While I didn't order the most complex or special thing on their breakfast menu, I was thoroughly pleased. The ingredients were of high quality. The service was good. And, I understand that when the weather is warmer, they have a lot of outdoor seating, which sounds like a dream.

We will be back to Frona's Pantry. There is no doubt in my mind.And, you should go too! It is worth the drive.

four golden forks out of five

Little Foodie getting big!

Our little foodie is getting so big!
Look at him helping daddy with his delicious homemade sweet potato puree!