Friday Faves

Happy Friday and cheerio-s friends!

This week I made my way to the midwest, to Minnnnnesoooota for a press visit with General Mills. It was surprisingly not freezing-your-hiney-off-cold. Thankfully the trip didn’t happen the week prior during those zero degree temps. I mean, I’m used to the cold, but please!

Because of flight schedules I flew in the night before so I could meet a few fave local Minneapolis food bloggers for dinner at Melissa’s The FauxHouse and had some seriously decadent brown butter caramel krispie treats thanks to Lindsay, who better get that recipe up on the blog pronto!

The next day I joined these blogging buddies in downtown Minneapolis and we were then whisked off to General Mills HQ.

There, I learned about cereal, General Mills history (I’m sure you can imagine the amount of memorabilia!) and their dedication to company culture. Stand-up walking desks for employees to reserve for working-walking breaks, coffee-shop style work areas (complete with baristas), kiddie day care, an on-site Aveda salon, their own on-site health care and a cafeteria that rivals most of downtown’s fine eateries.

But where real change is happening is in the initiatives they’re making at the requests of their customer. Customers like me.

They’ve already rolled out their reformulated, completely overhauled techniques of milling flour to providing gluten-free Cheerios. Yes to the O! And by the end of 2016, Jim Murphy, president of General Mills cereal division, assured us that artificial colors and flavors will be removed from 90% of all of GM’s cereals (they’re diligently working on solutions for those little Lucky Charm marshmallows) and replaced with natural ingredients like radish juice for reds, turmeric for yellows, annato spice for oranges.

These and more natural ingredients still give the familiar flavor profiles we all loved but gone are the recipes and formulations made with artificial ingredients.

It hasn’t been an overnight change, over 4 years of development went into this series of changes, but they’re changes parents like me and kids like Smudge can feel good about waking up to.

In between learning all of this, we had a blogger cooking challenge where my armpits got sweaty and I started to hyperventilate, I channeled my main man in the kitchen via my husband to develop a Reese’s Puffs Crusted Thai Coconut Shrimp Curry Thing that was nothing short of awesome evidenced in the pic at the top of this post.

There were also photo shoots with the General Mills pro team, Golden Graham lattes (I’m going to have to share that one on the blog) and a seriously inventive dinner at Minneapolis’ Travail restaurant that ended up in a bit of a karaoke rap session.

There was also quality time to get to know each of my fellow bloggers a little better and find out what their faves are.

So without further adieu, here’s this week’s of Friday Faves!

Alice can’t live without her fingerless gloves from Anthro. Warm it up!

Monique’s fantasy is coming true with this birthday present on Valentine’s Day. Get ready to Snapchat that!

Jane says she she’s given this as a wedding/birthday/house-warming present more times than she can count. It’s her all-time fave.

Jenny said this is her hands down favorite workout DVD.

While Shawn said she shreds to this.

Stephanie (her cookbook is THE BEST!) couldn’t say more amazing things about this once-in-a-lifetime swim she took.

Anne-Marie and I share a not-so-secret vice to get us moving in the morning. We both need this!

Alyssa swears that following this is the best way to shed the baby weight, or pretty much any weight you want to be rid of.

Sarah says this is her favorite coffee maker, with this flavor of coffee and a splash of cream. I’ll try!

Alexa LOVES this face wash. “It’s so refreshing.”

Calling all moms! This video above is funny (and too true)!

One of my FAVORITE Instagrammers does it again, check it out! She is SO DANG creative!!

This cake looks like the be-all and end-all of all cakes! It’s my dream cake for sure.

Okay, brilliant. How to pair wine with your girl scout cookies.

Fact: braided danishes = better than braided hair. Have mercy!

This little girl is the cutest! Ariel would be proud.

This is a resolution I need to follow. I’m a collector hoarder!

I think it’s safe to say this guy had the most fun out of anyone during Jonas!

I’m not normally fond of the hotel bath amenities because they usually go on the cheap. But the Radisson Blu in Minneapolis showcased this line. Great typography that matched it’s great product. I’m a new fan.