Travel to Northern Michigan

I grew up in Northern Michigan, Harbor Springs to be exact, and tourist season is usually Memorial Day to Labor Day.  However, winter is a beautiful time to visit, and there are still plenty of activities to partake in.  My family takes many weekend trips ‘Up North’ to visit my parents, who still live in the picturesque area.  

My brothers and I grew up on the slopes at Boyne Highlands and Boyne Mountain, and this past winter we introduced my girls to the pleasure of the slopes.  Both locations also offer extensive trails for cross country skiing and sledding hills.  After a day on the slopes, we usually grab a beer and wings at The Slopeside bar.

One of our favorite family pastimes while in Northern Michigan during the winter is snowshoeing.  We each have our own pair, and the trails abound.  We usually stick close to my parents’ house and use the wooded trails their neighbor cuts and grooms.  This is especially fun after dark with headlamps.

When we venture out, it is usually for food or drink.  Coffee and pastries are best had at Dripworks in Petoskey.  Sandwiches for lunch are always grabbed from Gurney’s Bottle Shop.  While dinner favorites are Moosejaw Junction located in Pellston and The City Park Grill in Petoskey.  The best place for craft beer it is Tap 30 in Petoskey.  

While many summer visitors believe Northern Michigan to slow up and hunker down in the winter, I have attended many great festivals and events.  The Harbor Springs Chili Cookoff is the best chili competition I have been to.  During Boyne Highland’s Brew-Ski Festival, my mother and I discovered Wood Fired Up, a food truck that serves wood fired pizza; there was nothing left to take home.

It will ALWAYS be home.

Spiralized Roasted Potatoes and Onions

Our family loves roasted potatoes with onions.  I bake them in the winter months and roll them in aluminum foil for the grill in the summer.  The seasoning on the potatoes varies depending on the meat we are having with them.  My basic recipe gets better here because I now have a veggie spiralizer and grinders for fresh salt and pepper.

I have a fairly large spiralizer that suctions to the counter and has multiple blades for slicing and spiralizing in different sizes.

For this recipe I just used freshly ground salt and pepper.  We use a peppercorn mix and Himalayan pink salt.  You can add garlic, chives, parsley, or any other seasoning that you like.

I ran six red skin potatoes through the spiralizer to create long, flat slices of potatoes.  I like this better than hand slicing the potatoes because they come out even, which makes cooking easier.

I then repeated the spiralizing to slice the onions.  Onions don't come out in long spirals, but are thinly sliced.  I did have to cut the potato ribbons into sections, so they were easier to serve.

I finished the side dish with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.  Baking happened at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  You can broil for the last 2-3 minutes if you want your potatoes a little crispier.

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