Farm to Plate with no guilt!

Last week I finally made it to the new(ish) Red Haven Restaurant that has been taunting me on social media with its amazing food pics for months!  What I found unique about this restaurant is that it advertised as farm to plate and is considered a small plates restaurant.  If you have never eaten at one of these the idea is small portions to share so you try multiple dishes among your couple or group.

You all know by now that I love anything that supports the farm and even local for that matter.  I was hesitant to what I would see when I went inside. I just imagined that since it sets right in the heart of East Lansing/Okemos, which for those of you that don't already know it is the epicenter of the one and only Michigan State University, their would be some agenda being pushed.  I assumed since local was their forte I would walk in to a menu that screamed organic, grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free, natural.....etc.   You get my point.  Having me sit there feeling guilty that I would rather have grain finished over grass fed and not caring if it was given hormones or antibiotics because I understand animal agriculture and trust those that raise my food and know they are doing what is best for the animal.

Once I walked in and looked around and got a good glance at the menu I was nothing but relieved, excited, and thankful!  None of my initial thoughts were validated.  I was able to try some amazing food and enjoy an atmosphere that didn't consist of fear marketing or pitting one industry against the other......Just good local food and for that Red Haven I THANK YOU!!!!!!

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against organic, natural, hormone/antibiotic free etc.  They all have a place in this wonderful food system we have.  I just get annoyed when people use fear marketing to sell a product.  It was refreshing to go somewhere of that caliber and the only agenda being pushed was Local (first).

Now onto the important stuff..........the FOOD!!
My taste buds haven't been on this type of overload in quite some time.  Everything I tasted was out of this world delicious and just to help you understand I took pics of everything I consumed so you can drool and instantly want to make a reservation.

Disclaimer: I was so excited to try the food many of these pics may not be the best quality because all I cared about was getting the food into my mouth.

We started out with these 2; the ravioli stuffed with chevre with a butternut squash sauce.  I hate goat cheese because it legit tastes like a goats udder smells, but this was phenomenal.  The cheese was mild and the sauce was pretty much amazing.  We also tried the truffle fries with a poached egg on top.  Sounds crazy but dipping the fries into the yolk was delish and lets be honest......truffle makes everything better.

This was by far my favorite dish of the night! Mini fajitas however the sauce they used is what made this dish.  The steak was perfect and the peppers were the perfect pair. You must try this!!!

We then had what you might call the "main" dish.  We chose the salmon and chicken.  Here is the salmon with roasted brussel sprouts over mashed parsnips.  I don't know if any of you have had mashed parsnips but they were delish and could seriously give potatoes a run for their money.

This was the chicken......and if I had to choose this one beats the salmon.  Don't get me wrong the salmon was great but this stuffed chicken made my taste buds dance!!  Not only was the chicken phenomenal but the green beans and roasted cauliflower were just as amazing.

Dessert........what everyone waits for. Why don't we start with dessert?  For real.......

We ended the delicious meal with dessert and french pressed coffee.  Nothing beats french pressed coffee friends.  Trust me.  The top one I have no idea what it was called but just imagine a huge lucky charms marshmallow with whipped topping and fruit and a lemon drizzle on the bottom.....fancify it by 1000 and that is what we had.  It was bangin!  The bottom was called candy bar and it was chocolate with a mint creme and raspberry drizzle.....omg friends....omg.

All I can say is if you are up in Michigan near MSU campus you must try this place out!  I can't rave enough about it and will now make it a staple when I am in the area!  Thanks again Red Haven for such a great experience!!

Enjoy!

September Madness!

Is anyone out there?........  I apologize for my absence but the last couple of weeks have been crazy busy!  A couple of the days I literally have forgotten what day it was.  The saddest news I have to share is that it is currently 54 degrees and I don't think it will be getting much warmer.  Is summer really gone?  While my fat really enjoys this cool weather because I don't particularly like to sweat I do miss the warm 70 degree days.....is it really over already?

In other news.....
Our fair was last week and while the bad part about that is I had way too many sausage sandwiches and milkshakes along with the staple fair fries and 50 thousand other delicious delicacy's that you can only get during the fair.  The good part is that my nephew won Reserve Champion Market Steer!!

Preparing to make his debut in the ring

 Once fair was over I had a little more down time and in honor of finally getting to sleep in I had extra ambition to try out a new breakfast recipe.  I love pizza so having it for breakfast is pretty much a genius idea!  I had a left over thin crust pizza crust from one of those Little Caesars pizza kits (i'm sure you all have some as they are the only fundraiser kids do anymore i swear!)  I basted it with olive oil and baked it for 10 min.  Meanwhile i scrambled up 8 eggs and cooked some bacon and ground beef so when the crust was done I loaded it up with egg and meat and topped with cheese and put back in oven for 5 minutes.....viola!

Pretty much amazing!

Last but not least....

I don't know why I have spent my last 10-12 years of my life using tweezers from walmart that cost approx $1.99 and wondering why they don't work?  It never dawned on me that perhaps all tweezers were not made equal?  Well my life was changed last night.  On a random trip to town with my sister I quickly realized at checkout that I forgot tweezers as mine have disappeared somewhere (I bet they are out in shop as hubs used them for god knows what).  My sister in all her glory was like "revlon slanted fine tip, get those"......what does that even mean?  I sprint to the makeup isle, grab what seemed to be closest to her description and run back to checkout...... $10.99 LATER!!!!!  Who buys tweezers for $11? Well friends, one I got home I decided to try them out on my eyebrows which seem to be growing a winter mane and have I never been so impressed with an $11 purchase in my life!!  Ladies stop wasting your time like myself using the $1.99 walmart tweezers and using both hands to try to pinch them together tight enough it may just pull something out and go get yourself some worthy tweezers......you can thank me later.  :)

Enjoy!