A LegenDairyWeekend in Detroit

Sharing the most #LegenDairyWeekend in Detroit to celebrate the arrival of Tillamook products in select Kroger stores nationwide! This post is sponsored in partnership with Kroger and Tillamook.

photo: Hayden Stinebaugh

Well my friends, I am sharing some very exciting news with you today. Are you ready for it???

Tillamook is coming your way! Now if you’re a friend on the West Coast you can probably understand my excitement. But if you’re in the midwest or eastern part of the country and you have no idea who or what Tillamook is, just trust me when I say this is very exciting news. Tillamook is a premium dairy company carrying cheese products, ice cream, yogurt, sour cream and buter, and Kroger will be carrying a selection of Tillamook products nationally. Super excited!

LegenDairyWeekend in Detroit

Detroit is the new black canvas bag in the Detroit Foundation Hotel

photo: Hayden Stinebaugh, Detroit Foundation Hotel

Brooklyn Outdoor

photo: Lena Gladstone

The other weekend myself along with 14 other (AHmazing) bloggers in the US were invited to Detroit to get a firsthand look at Tillamook products.

We stayed downtown at the new Detroit Foundation Hotel and arrived Friday afternoon for a few cocktails before heading to the Brooklyn Outdoor where we had a catered dinner featuring Tillamook and Kroger products.

photo: Hayden Stinebaugh

Everything was truly delicious and I thought my high waisted pants were going to bust at the seams. And even then I still wanted seconds of dessert. Always…

Saturday Morning Yoga

Saturday morning started off with an optional yoga session (I definitely got my yoga on) before heading off to a breakfast smoothie bar back at the Brooklyn Outdoor. The session was led by Sitara Bird who was absolutely lovely. I left feeling like I could use more yoga in my life.

Smoothie & Yogurt Breakfast Bar

The smoothie bar featured Tillamook Farmstyle Greek Yogurt 0% fat – which I’ve got to say was seriously delicious. I could not believe it was 0% Greek yogurt. It was so creamy, not tart at all like normal 0% Greek yogurt. I can’t wait for the yogurt to be come available nationwide because I’m sure it will be my new plain go-to.

I actually went for a yogurt bowl because I just couldn’t resist. Kroger provided us with their awesome granola from their Simple Truth line.

Learning more about Tillamook

Following breakfast we all gathered around Jill Allen –Tillamook’s Director of Research & Development–where she gave us a mini cheese plug session, which is how the quality of the cheese is tested. It’s kind of like uncorking a wine bottle – there is this technique one must use in order to keep the plug from breaking. It’s a lot harder than it looks actually!

One of the questions asked (which I am sure is a super common one) was why is cheddar cheese orange? Well you may or may not know that annatto is added not necessarily for color, but for consistency. The color of the cow’s milk changes based on the time of the feed, so annatto helps keep a uniform consistency.

While Jill was chatting all things cheese, it was easy to see what pride she had in working with Tillamook for over 20 years. Her husband is also a dairy farmer; part of the Tillamook co-op, which has been around for 109 years! Tillamook is a “farmer owned, dairy farmer led” company – I loved hearing more about how much their farmers really care about their cows. In this day and age where veganism is becoming so popular and consuming dairy often raises questions, I love when brands like Tillamook can share their story with transparency.

If interested in learning more, I highly recommend checking out “What Makes Tillamook’s Co-Op Special, As Told By Our Farmers” on their website.

Goal Setting Workshop

Next up was a little goal setting session amongst the bloggers where we all went around sharing our plans for 2018. Here’s a list of who I was hanging out with all weekend!

food bloggers gathered around at the Brooklyn Outdoor in Detroit

photo: Hayden Stinebaugh

It was truly awesome and inspiring to be around so many entrepreneurs – many bloggers whom I’ve been following way before I started my blog. It is amazing that we have all made our blogs our dream job at different times of our journeys, and each one of us reaching a variety of people across the world while doing it our own way.

I realized there really is no right or wrong way of doing this whole blogging thing. Everyone has their strengths and their favorite parts and their not-so-favorite parts and we all have the power to pave our own path in the world.

The goal setting session and being able to sit down with these bloggers was truly invaluable and made me have a serious appreciation for what I do – much thanks to you all reading here!

Charcuterie Cheese Board Styling

After our little goal setting chat, it was time for a super fun Charcuterie Board styling session!

Sarah’s tip for styling a charcuterie board was to work in threes – three meats, three cheeses, three “breads” and fill in space with fruit, nuts, greenery, etc.

Don’t be afraid to style the meat and add some texture by lifting up layers and bunching together.

photo: Hayden Stinebaugh

Oh, and then this was lunch – amazing.

Candle Making with Detroit Rose

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Detroit Rose, a local candle and scents shop, where we got to make our own soy based candles and essential oil rollers. I’ve recently been getting into more essential oils so it was fun to play around with the combinations.

Dinner at Grey Ghost

Dinner Saturday night happened at Grey Ghost, with a curated menu featuring Tillamook and Kroger Private Selection products. It was a super fun cocktail pairing menu.

photo: Hayden Stinebaugh

Each course came with a fun cocktail creation. I’m not a huge cocktail person but I loved all the fun flavor combinations. One even had butter in it…

There were some amazing combinations happening with the Tillamook and Kroger products as well. One of my favorites was this salad with strawberry ice cream vinaigrette!

Sunday morning family style brunch

Sunday Morning we were back at the Brooklyn Outdoor with a lovely brunch setup. We gathered round and made our way into cheddar drop biscuits (amazing), shakshuka, ramps, fresh fruit and a lovely rhubarb tart – all combinations of Kroger Private Selection, Simple Truth and Tillamook products.