Michigan Day Two!

Alright, my friends! Here it is!! Day TWO of my Michigan Raw Trip! The festival was only that Saturday, but Dave and I got to spend that Sunday in the wonderful company of Carla and mark!

And what better way to get all pumped and ready for church than...

a green smoothie, of course!

This had to be one of the most fun smoothies to make - getting to dance around the kitchen with Carla as we soaked, chopped, washed, and pitted. And then got a smiling nod from BOTH men! They agreed it was one of the best tasting smoothies they had tried! (Mark and Dave said Carla and I just need to hang out more so we can continue making these lovely creations.)

And what, you may ask, was in this smoothie that our men enjoyed?

We called this our Apple Pie Smoothie

3 honeycrips apples
1 banana

2 plums

1 pear

about 1 cup almonds (that we soaked over night)

1 stick of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

a small piece of fresh ginger

as much fresh kale as we could put in without the guys groaning! (probably about 2-3 cups?)

water as needed

We first blended up the almonds and some water, as that was going to be the toughest part to make into a smooth consistencey. But her heavy duty blender had no fear! And we soon added the remaining ingredients to our breakfast drink.

Almonds are a common nut used to make crusts of raw pies, so mixing that with the apples and spices turned this into a holiday decadence! (Though it's not quite holiday season... so I imagine this baby will be making a comeback over the next few months!)

We poured the lovely smoothie into travel mugs and bolted for church. And what a beautiful place that was! Sadly, it didn't cross my mind to take my camera into the church, so I have no photos. But it was so bright and cheery, and Carla sang with the choir, making it just such a meaningful day!

Afterwards, we wanted to grab some lunch... and of course, by this time - after more than 24 hours of NOTHING BUT RAW - poor Dave was caving! My man wanted MEAT!



Dave enjoying his big ol' grease burger!

And the waiter was so flexible for us! I wish I remembered his name and could send out a giant THANK YOU to him!! I wanted to try to stick to the raw deal, as I was feeling amazingly energetic! So, looking through the recipe, there weren't too many options other than salads. So, how to spice up a salad? Just ask!

I asked him if I got the "Chicken Salad" without the chicken, could they instead add some extra vegetables to it? He said, "Sure! We have zucchini, beats, cucumbers... what would you like?"

To which I simply responded with an emphatic, "umm... YES!"

He got the idea, and in came my salad loaded with extra veggies!

I just drizzled it with a little of the honey-mushroom sauce which would have been topping the chicken. (Ok, that may not have been raw, but I didn't use much!)

We finished our meal with good food, good chats, and headed to the Apple Cider Press of the area! Ahhh, fresh apple cider... there's nothing like it!

You can see the two men standing at the apple shoot here. Somewhere else, apples are loaded into a blender of sorts, and the apple bits come tumbling down the shoot onto these cloth-covered trays. Tray after tray is stacked, then a huge machine compresses them all, squeezing out all that lucious juice! Sad to say, I asked what happened with all the left over pulp, and they said it just gets pitched. How sad!! Apparently they used to try to compost it, or do some other things with it, and it just wasn't working for them. So it became easier to trash it. (Hmmm.... perhaps there's an opportunity for some Michigan resident to get free apple pulp.....)

The juice then runs through tubes to various dispensing machines, and right there, they'll fill a half gallon jug for you to take! It doesn't get much fresher!

So we bought a half gallon, and (*gasp*) just HAD to try the fresh cinnamon-batter donuts that they sold, to go with the cider. Oh, so worth it! Soft, warm, and spicey - perfect pair for the cider!

As we enjoyed our treat, we wandered through the isles of fresh apples - so many types! It was amazing!



Dave picking out a bag of apples for us to take home

You better believe some of those apples went into a smoothie that next week! In fact, my dad had come to visit, and so I thought that the Apple Pie Smoothie had been such a hit in Michigan, that he just may like it! And he did! He had his entire 12 ounce glass! Go dad!!

And so ended our trip. It was getting on towards evening, and so it was time for us to buckle up and make the drive south to home.

What a wonderful time, wonderful memories, and new friends! Again, I cannot thank Carla and Mark enough for their loving hospitality! What beautiful people!

Have a great week, everyone :) See you back here with more doses of natural goodness soon!

~Katie

***EDIT: Thanks, Carla!!  She's got the better memory ;-)  The restaurant was Hogans.  Yum yum doodle dum!

End of the Veggie Run!

Welcome to the end of the work week! (For most, that is.)

I am here to give you the update on how our final Fruit and Veggie Run went!

Wednesday I was feeling great - still loving the abundance of fruits, though admittedly a little tired of salad with no dressing ;-) But I just kept at it - last day, right?? And we had dinner plans with the dad, meeting at Applebee's.

Uh-oh. That sounds tantalizingly dangerous!

So, what's a good little nutritionist do? She plans ahead! I scour their website and hunt down the menu to see what would be acceptable for me. Lo and behold, a beautiful salad is part of their menu! The Asian Crunch Salad - romaine lettuce, cucumber, red onions, roasted red peppers, and sweet peas! I decide to just order it without the chicken and almonds, and dressing on the side.

I don't need no steenking dressing! I has my lemon!

(Mine came without the chicken though!!)

So, with that plan in mind - off we go! The only splurge I make is to keep the almonds - I am hungry and the salad just doesn't sound filling enough without some extra protein. So there it is! A lovely salad - and I devoured that sucker!

....and then we sat there for another hour conversing and laughing and having good times, and Dave had half of his burger sitting there, taunting me.

Evil burger.

A chink in the armor - I ate that half of that acid-forming burger.

Then a damaging blow to the armor!

The men wanted dessert - and oh what a dessert it was! A Maple Butter Blondie and a Chocolate Chip Cookies Sundae staring me in the face.

My rational mind began telling me all the reasons that I didn't want those resplendent foods: they're not really food, they're just "edible foodlike substances," I have worked too hard to bomb that heavily; processed food junks up the system, dairy can cause mucus formation for me... ok, well maybe one little bite....

And those men and their small stomachs! They couldn't finish their desserts! So I did. Ah well, it was enjoyable and tasty - though quickly past the pleasure of the taste buds and then just sat like a brick in the stomach. And that dairy and/or burger sure did affect my mucus production. I felt more congested and drainy that night than I have in a long time!

My body began working to digest all of that, and I don't know if it was just coincidence, but I was so tired! I couldn't even stay awake on the drive home! Thankfully Dave drove!

And the next morning, I woke with a lethargy like none other, and still some mucus buildup in my throat. And no appetite. By the time lunch rolled around, I felt somewhat hungry again, so I enjoyed a fresh veggie salad - but something was still undigested. That salad felt like it just sat there, blocked, and I felt all bloated and cramped. Yuck!

So it's back to my lighter fair again! Yesterday I went back to fruits and veggies and a few nuts. And this morning - so much better! I went to the gym, did my 3.1 miles on the treadmill - and didn't want to get off! So I just kept a'truckin'! Then for the last few minutes, I even cranked up the pace a bit! My 3.1 miles turned into 4.85!! Ahhhh, the body just seems to function better on lighter, colorful foods!

I have a luscious alkalizing green smoothie with me today (my happy desk companion as I type!) and some soaked wild rice to wrap with spinach and sprouts for lunch.

To quote my dad's old-time computer game hero, Duke Nukem: "Ahhhh, much better!"

Happy Friday! Lots of love :)

~Katie

Loving Cafe, Vegetarian Foods

Happy Weekend!!!!

As a weekend treat, instead of slaving in the kitchen, Dave and I decided to go out to eat!

The Loving Cafe is a volunteer-based (read: "more affordable for the customer!") vegetarian/vegan restaurant that promotes "green" eating - local, organic, sustainable foods! So, of course, I had to go try them out!

And it is such a nice little place! A small back room is bright and spacious, with a cute little waterfall set up. Service was friendly, and the food was declicious!! ...Not necessarily healthy - after all, refined grains, abundant soy cheese, and oils for deep frying are technically vegetarian...

But it was still a fun experience, and even Dave LOVED his vegan steak burger! (He was more surprised than anyone!)

And I just went with the sampler platter: salad, spring roll, veggie wrap, soy mac and cheese, soy ziti, and various forms of mock chicken, including a BBQ drum stick and chicken fried rice.

I will opt to avoid the processed soy in the future most likely, but the salad was good, and they do have many other recipes that looked great! Raw pizza, kelp-noodle veggie pasta, Black Rice burger... all sorts of fun things to experiment with!

On their website, The Loving Cafe lists some of their reasons for "Why Go Veg?"

BENEFITS OF A VEGETARIAN / VEGAN DIET
Conserves up to 70% clean water
Saves over 70% of the Amazonian rainforest from clearance for animal grazing
A solution for world hunger: Free up 3,433 million hectares of land annually Free up 760 million tons of grain every year (half the world’s grain supply)
Consumes 2/3 less fossil fuels than those used for meat production.
Reduces pollution from untreated animal waste
Maintains cleaner air
Saves 4.5 tons of emissions per US household per year
Stop 80% of global warming
Lower blood pressure
Lower cholesterol levels
Reduce Type 2 diabetes
Prevent stroke conditions
Reverse atherosclerosis
Reduce heart disease risk by 50%
Reduce heart surgery risk by 80%
Prevent many forms of cancer
Stronger immune system
Increase life expectancy up to 15 years
Higher IQ

So, there's some food for thought :)

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, and getting plenty of water! It's a HOT one!

~Katie

(Sorry! I didn't think to photograph my plate till after I'd already eaten some of it!)

More Restaurant Yumminess!

Well, I don't want to be too much of a food police, taking away foods you may like... but, I do think you may be interested in knowing what you're eating! So, first it was a study about the fountain drinks... now it's the burgers. I must admit, I enjoy the taste of a good steak, or the summer grill foods. But, well, always good to know what's going in to your body!

So, this article was sent on to me from a dietitian colleague who specializes in food sensitivities. The article was published in Daily Dose with William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

Enjoy! ...and maybe threat yourself to some good organic, local, natural-fed beef if you're really gonna go for that burger :)

~Katie

The ugly truth behind ground beef

I hope you're not having hamburger tonight...because this story might change your dinner plans.

One of the key suppliers of hamburger "meat" is coming under fire...as tests show a disturbing number of E. coli and salmonella pathogens, according to a disturbing report in the New York Times.

Want to know why I put "meat" in quotes?

Are you sure?

In an ideal world, a butcher runs a piece of steak through a grinder, and you get hamburger. That's how I get mine, and if that's how you get yours then you've got nothing to fear.

But fast food, supermarket and even school lunch burgers are made differently. They use "meat" from different sources, like trimmings.

Trimmings are scraps of fatty pieces left over in the slaughterhouse after all the good cuts of meat have been taken. Believe me, I love beef -- the fattier, the better. But this is awful garbage that I wouldn't touch.

Once upon a time, this stuff was destined for pet food. Today, it's added to burgers from coast to coast, thanks largely to a company called Beef Products Inc.

The company developed a technique that liquefies the trimmings, runs them through a centrifuge to separate the fat from the protein, then injects it with ammonia in an attempt to kill pathogens.

Then it's turned into blocks and chips that are used to beef up hamburgers. The company sells 7 million pounds of it every week, and school lunch burgers are now 15 percent trimmings.

Did I mention that it's really, really cheap? It better be -- after all, it was practically worthless when they found it on the slaughterhouse floor.

The Times found one message from a USDA microbiologist who called this junk "pink slime" and wrote, "I do not consider the stuff to be ground beef, and I consider allowing it in ground beef to be a form of fraudulent labeling."

Naturally, he was ignored. So were the other microbiologists who were disgusted by this process.

Instead, the USDA approved this technique and then decided it was so foolproof that they could leave the company in charge of its own testing.

You can see where this is going now, right?

The Times investigation found a disturbing pattern of E. coli and salmonella contamination...one that could force changes on the system -- someday.

But as of now, "pink slime" is still in your burgers -- and it's probably here to stay.

The lesson here is to avoid all factory meat. Buy only meat from grass-fed cows from a quality butcher or small farm -- and only eat hamburger when you can see a fresh cut of beef go into the grinder yourself.