What is this guy hanging out on the log?

Did you know that there are more than 10,000 varieties of mushrooms found around the world? Shiitake mushrooms are traditionally found in east Asia and grown on logs (like the one above) while truffles are found just beneath the woodsy forest floors in Italy, France and Oregon.  Any way you slice ‘em, mushrooms add a rich depth of flavor and texture to most any dish.

Turns out, there’s more to these little treats than culinary bliss; Mushrooms are a nutrition powerhouse.  They’re full of B vitamins, which help your body break down macronutrients (fats, proteins, and carbohydrates) and support the nervous system. They’re also the only natural source of vitamin D that is found from plants. Vitamin D helps your body absorb other essential minerals such as calcium.

For an added nutritional punch, and a wonderfully meaty texture with earthy flavors, check out one of our dishes that already features this treasure. One of our favorites is the Japanese Pan Noodles, loaded up with shiitakes. The meaty texture pairs well with the thick, chewy udon noodles, and the flavor is smooth with the spicy dish. Do you have a favorite way to enjoy the foodie fungi?

We Have a United Stakes of Salad Winner!

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been watching garden stakes pop up across the country to see how our Summer Salads are growing in the United Stakes of Salad. We wanted to see which salad would win in each state, and chose one fan to receive Noodles for a year – that’s enough to get you through til the next season of salads rolls around!

More than 30,000 of you planted your virtual garden stakes to vote for your favorite Summer Salad. Our lucky winner Scott D. of Columbus, Ohio, staked his claim and reaped the reward.

As for our winning salads, it seems the South lives up to its reputation of knowing a good BBQ when they taste one, as the Backyard BBQ was a particular hit! The plains and mountain states, along with the upper Midwest, have a fondness for the summery goodness of Spinach and Fresh Fruit, making this one a winner – on purple mountain majesties, and among amber waves of grain. Our newcomer this year, the Chili-Lime Ginger Salad, left a strong impression on guests everywhere! All in all, it was a very close race.

Here’s the final count:
Spinach and Fresh Fruit 38%
Backyard BBQ Chicken 35%
Chili-Lime Ginger 27%

Summer Lover Contest

You say you’re a Summer Lover? Now’s your chance to prove it by sharing your end-of-summer-super-send-off plans. And on Monday, September 24th, 2012, we’ll pick the 10 most unique and creative across the country to reward with our Summer Lover 2012 fun pack.

Here are the rest of our 38 ideas…now it’s your turn!

4. Get up early one morning and watch the sun rise.
5. Check out your local Farmer’s Market for the ultimate in fresh produce.
6. Grab a Crave Card – not as a gift – but to use so you don’t have to cook!
7. Sign up for that 5K you promised yourself you’d do.
8. Teach someone how to ride a bike.
9. Have a picnic with your family and friends. Throw in a few Square Bowls to make it easy on you.
10. Make a Strawberry-Lemon Mojito.
11. Pick up a great summer read like The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
12. Or check out the Twilight series instead…
13. Play Frisbee with your dog (doesn’t work so well with cats).
14. Learn how to play the harmonica.
15. Go for a zip-line ride.
16. Make popcorn the old fashioned way (try it without the lid for extra excitement).
17. Fill up water balloons and have a water balloon fight.
18. Take a road-trip with your most favorite people.
19. See a baseball game (don’t forget the suntan lotion).
20. Fry up some bacon naked.
21. Learn Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” Dance.
22. Rent your dream car for the day (or take a test drive).
23. Make a funny video and post it on YouTube.
24. Send out postcards from your hometown.
25. Try a food you’ve never tried before.
26. Volunteer.
27. Learn how to juggle (don’t start with fire).
28. Paint your nails a funky color.
29. Learn how to play disc golf.
30. Visit that weird touristy place you always wanted to check out.
31. Dust off the bike and go for a ride.
32. Build a birdhouse.
33. Stay cool and learn how to drive a zamboni.
34. Dump a cup of ice water on someone in the shower.
35. Feed a giraffe.
36. Do a cartwheel. Do another.
37. Enjoy a movie at the Drive-in. Don’t have one near you? Make your own screen and rent a projector.
38. Build the biggest sandcastle you can imagine.

By submitting an entry via reply comment below, I understand that I am agreeing to be bound to the Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor. To review the complete rules, please go to www.noodles.com/summerlovers.

Did you add a comment and don’t see it below? Don’t worry, we’ve got it! Our comment list is so long, we just can’t show them all…

Tessa’s Tips: ¡TESSARITAS! and Watermelon Gazpacho Recipes

¡TESSARITAS!

Fill a blender with 1-inch cubed watermelon pieces, add juice of 1-2 limes, about 1-2 tsp of hot sauce (depending on how hot you like your food, Cholula is my favorite), ¼ of a seeded jalapeno (optional), juice of ½ orange, and tequila to taste.

Blend until watermelon is broken down, then strain to remove the pulp. You can add a little bit of simple syrup if you like your margaritas on the sweet side (I don’t have a sweet tooth so I usually leave this out). Serve over ice, in a glass rimmed with a mixture of salt and chili powder. Enjoy!

Watermelon Gazpacho

• 6- 8 cups small, diced watermelon
• 2 cucumbers, peeled and seeded
• 1small finely minced shallot (or about ¼ cup small diced red onions)
• 1-2 pounds of garden fresh tomatoes, small diced (same size as watermelon)
• 3 TB red wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 TB olive oil
• ¼ cup minced green herb of choice (I like cilantro but basil or parsley would work just as well)

How to:

Combine all ingredients in a medium to large sized serving bowl, reserving about 1/3 of the mixture to blend in a food processor. This gives the soup body and a “broth” of sorts while leaving visible pieces of the ingredients intact.

Chill soup completely before serving. Soup actually tastes better if made the day ahead and held cold in the fridge—this allows the flavors to marry a bit and be more cohesive.

Do You Know Judo?

With the London games upon us, it’s impossible to go anywhere without hearing about the competition. Sometimes this means watching sports you’ve never seen before. Somehow, despite how little we may know about the rules of certain matches, we’re drawn in and riveted – and want to learn more!

Kayla Harrison’s gold medal win in judo inspired us. Not knowing a whole lot about judo ourselves, we went on a fact-finding mission to better understand the sport.

Judo is the second most widely-practiced sport worldwide, following right behind soccer, and is the most widely practiced martial art. With roots in Japan, it was based on the martial art of jujitsu.

The match takes place between two players on a mat, with three referees watching closely to score the techniques. The goal is to score an ippon. similar to a boxing’s knockout or wrestling’s pin. There are many different techniques for achieving an ippon, and each move is scored by the referees. In order to prevent any serious injury, referees pay careful attention when a player moves to take another in a chokehold or armlock, and can stop the match at that time. Though the sport is very physical, the intent is not to cause any serious harm to another!

What other sports have you learned about watching this summer’s competition heat up?

Growing Our Garden

In the midst of a heat wave, a vibrant vegetable garden popped up overnight on the Plaza in Kansas City this weekend!

Many thanks to all those who beat the heat and struck a pose to show off their green thumbs in our garden in the city! If you took your photo in our garden on the Plaza, don’t forget to share on our Facebook wall and on Twitter with hashtag #noodlessaladsinthecity – we’ll be selecting our favorite photo to win a dinner for four!

Summer Salads in the City

Ever been part of a chalk art masterpiece?

Our fans in the Kansas City area can join us Saturday, July 28 and Sunday, July 29 to get their chance!

Beginning at 11 am, be one of the first 100 people to snap a photo of yourself in our Summer Salads in the City 3D chalk drawing – and you’ll walk away with a coupon good for a FREE Summer Salad.

Colorado chalk artist Mark Cline will be in front of Noodles & Company on the Plaza creating a special 3D version of a community garden in calk on the sidewalk. So grab a friend and join us!

Don’t forget to share your photo on Facebook, and use #noodlessaladsinthecity to tweet about it! This is one 3D picture your friends and family won’t need special glasses to see.

We Celebrating 300!

We recently opened the doors of our 300th restaurant!  We have such a strong following in the Midwest that it was only fitting that it be in Waterloo, IA.  To celebrate the major milestone, we invited hundreds of our closest friends to create a GIANT 300 to capture an aerial photo.  Check it out!  Thank you to everyone who supports us.  Cheers to 300 more!!! 

Make Our Salad Your Salad

I love a good salad especially one made with lots of different flavors, textures and ingredients. However, how I like my salad might not be how you like yours. If you’re looking for ways to make a few changes, check out my tips below. And don’t worry about that special order request, we love to customize to meet your taste and dietary needs.

• For portion control ask for dressing on the side. Then grab a fork and drizzle it over your greens.
• Substitute our Fat-Free Asian Vinaigrette dressing on the Chili-Lime & Ginger Salad. You’ll save 190 calories.
• Hold the wonton strips and crushed peanuts too…and save an additional 210 calories.
• To reduce sodium, fat and calories, eliminate bacon, blue cheese and croutons from the Spinach & Fresh Fruit Salad. Try adding some carrots for crunch!

To learn more, check out our Summer Salad nutritional guide.

Chef Tessa’s Patriotic Picnic Parfait

There’s nothing too original about putting some fresh fruit and yogurt together to make a parfait but sometimes the oldies make the best goodies. In this case, it’s the homemade granola you’ll be making for your favorite 4th of July fans that makes this simple dessert stand out.

This is what I call an “-ish” recipe— the ingredient are mere suggestions. You can mix and match these ingredients, adding some of your favorites, taking out others—all to your own liking. That’s my kinda living.

For Fourth of July Picnic Parfaits, layer red raspberries, blue blueberries and white yogurt and top with this granola. To stash in a picnic basket, put parfait ingredients in a recycled plastic to-go cup with a lid and bring some spoons from home. Easy peasy.

Ingredients for Homemade Granola

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut (Dessicated coconut is just a type of unsweetened, super-dry coconut where extra moisture has been driven out. I think it makes for a crunchier granola but if you can’t find it you can use regular flaked or shredded coconut. It’ll still be tasty)

1 cup sliced almonds (I really put a lot more nuts than this in my granola. Makes it hearty and helps me climb up these Colorado mountains a little easier.)

1 cup pecans  (see above:-)

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon (fresh grating the cinnamon really makes it stand out)

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (ditto)

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1/2 cup honey (I grew up in the south and my gramma used to put molasses on our buttermilk biscuits. I love the flavor so much that I actually prefer using it in my granola over honey. Some folks don’t like the bitter taste it imparts so a blend of honey and molasses might better suit their tastes, or just honey alone)

2 cups mixed dried fruits such as cranberries, cherries, currants, golden raisins, apricots, prunes, and/or dates (You’ll want to add these about half way through the cooking process. They can get a little too dried out if cooked the whole time and I think they’re better a little chewy)

Other things you can add: a bit of orange juice will make it zippy, a drop or two of vanilla makes it taste really breakfast-y and a pinch of salt will help balance the flavors.

Here’s the how to:

Put all dry ingredients in a big bowl (except the dried fruit) and stir until everything’s easily distributed.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Turn off heat and add sweetener of your choice (and juice if you’re using).

Add butter mixture and dry ingredients together. Spread evenly in a sheet pan—not too thick or it won’t get crunchy all over. Bake in an 350 degree oven until it turns toasty brown and smells up the entire kitchen, remembering to add any dried fruit you’re using closer towards the end of the cook process.

¡Buen Provecho!