Big G Eats and Farm-to-Table Dishes (and Cocktails) in Minneapolis

Over on FBG a couple of week ago, I shared a bit about my recent bloggers’ trip to General Mills in Minneapolis and mentioned how dang well they fed us during the trip. And today, at long last, I share those yummy eats! I actually went to the University of Minnesota for grad school, so the food scene in the Twin Cities wasn’t entirely new to me, but seeing that I haven’t been there in, like, four years, well, things have gotten awesomely better. And they were good to begin with!
My foodie adventure began at Mill City Museum, where Big G hooked us up with some snacks, many of which were gluten-free. Hooray for me!

I wasn’t super hungry when I arrived, so I went for a coconut water and a little of this yumminess.

It powered some seriously good and cool discussion on nutrition, cereal and health with Big G and my fellow bloggers—Kath from Kath Eats Real Food, Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point and Emelie from Baby Loving Mama. Lovely ladies!

Later that evening, General Mills took us out to Spoonriver, a fabulous organic restaurant that supports local growers and serves the freshest—and tastiest—food possible. Award winning Spoonriver chef and restaurateur Brenda Langton even stopped by our table for a quick chat and welcome. She founded the Mill City Farmers’ Market and is super passionate about serving fresh, local and just plain good food. Loved her!

We started by sharing a few apps. Like the Soba Noodle Salad. Um, YES.

And “Spoon Dips” that included hummus roasted red pepper dip, walnut paté, veggies, olives and foccacia. (They had tons of really amazing vegetarian, vegan and g-free options.)

For my entree, I decided on the special of the day: the arctic char. With asparagus, a radish salad and peach-blueberry salsa, fabulous doesn’t even begin to describe it.

And I paired it with one of Spoonriver’s fabulous cocktails: the Pear Ginger Martini. It was wonderful, too!

And, confession: I forgot to get a photo of dessert, but it was wonderfully delicious, chocolaty and rich. Perfect with a cup of coffee.
As was my next stop of the night: Marvel Bar, the “secret” speak-easy style of bar that’s hidden underneath and behind The Bachelor Farmer, another restaurant in Minneapolis that gets rave reviews. Marvel Bar was swanky, dark and way hip. I met a couple of old grad school buddies there (Hi, Raiza and Jill!), and we sipped on their awesome cocktails, including the house punch and this concoction. It was dark and hard to read the menu, so I’m not exactly sure what was in it besides deliciousness. And that it made me feel like I was living in The Great Gatsby for a moment, which was pretty awesome.

That next morning, my day began at Big G HQ, where they had quite the spread of General Mills goodies for us to choose from, including lots of cereal and this chia seed pudding!

Here’s what I loaded my plate up with. And, yep, I ate it all—especially the Liberte yogurt. That stuff is RICH and so damn good.

And Big G had an even larger spread that they broke out for lunch. So many healthy and yummy options!

 I was particularly fond of the kale and sprouted salads.

I loaded my plate up with lots of roasted veggies, salad, Brussels sprouts, potatoes and Chex-coated chicken. Like fried, but not!

And dessert. Oh, the dessert.

Later that afternoon, I noshed on some Sweet and Spicy Honey Nut Chex Mix that was spicier than I expected, but pretty dang addictive. You can get the recipe here—I definitely plan on making some in the future.

It was seriously such a great trip, and I’m dying to get back up to Minneapolis for some more foodie fun. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as I share a few more fun tidbits from my trip, including tips on how to take really good photos of food (!) and recipes. Oh, so many recipes to share.
Ever been to Minneapolis? Where do you love to eat? —Jenn