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!