My Loot. A Farmer's Market Visit.

Until now, I have never taken the time to visit a local farmer's market. In New Jersey, they start popping up in June and last all summer until the early Fall. In my mind I always reasoned, "why would I add another stop to my already jam-packed schedule?" I mean, technically you can get this "stuff" from a supermarket, right?

Well I finally took the plunge, which in real life means, I took the extra half hour of my Friday afternoon and stopped by my local farmer's market.

I circled the block to find the nearest street parking, shut the door and started pacing towards the bright, yellow flags. "Oops, I forgot bags. I should bring bags." Walked back to my car, grabbed two re-usable bags, stuck them under my armpit and marched towards my destination. As I walked, I questioned myself...

Did I bring enough bags?
Is this going to be expensive?
Do I look like I don't belong here?
What will I find?

I neared the entrance and noticed a mish mosh of personalities, which settled my mind. Some young, some old, with children, without, women, and men. Each focused on the selections at the tables presented before them. There were eight tables from different farms in New Jersey. I approached my first table not sure of what I would find or what I would buy. Then, in an instant, my doubts subsided as my eyes soaked in the beautiful array of vibrant colors from all of the fresh produce as I simultaneously inhaled the sweet smell of freshness. Yum. I wanted everything.

After filling my bag to the brim with as much produce as possible, I visited the next table, and the next, and the next, collecting my little treasures of farm-raised eggs, fresh breads, grass-fed meats, local honey, and nuts.

My precious loot...

Besides looking and smelling great, and being surprisingly affordable (aside from the meats), why else are farmer's markets a great idea?

Did you know, local farmed foods:

• taste better
• are non-GMO (which means they are not genetically-modified)
• are more nutritious because they are picked at its peak harvest, unlike supermarket produce that has traveled far and has been sitting out for a while. The longer it sits, the less vitamins it delivers.
• last longer
• are better for the environment

And so I concluded, the half hour was so worth the investment and I will be making this a part of my regular routine this summer. If you haven't tried one yet, I hope you do and here's to finding your own precious loot. To find a local farm or farmer's market near you, visit: www.localharvest.org.

All Aboard the Juicing Bandwagon...

A few months ago I had my quarterly "Girl's Night Out", which by the way is a girl's night out for my girlfriends but my kids are always home with me, so technically it is a "Girlfriend's Night Out" for me. Good times nonetheless. I had some snacks, things that I was devoted to at the time - donuts, chocolate fondue, and marshmellows, and things I thought they would enjoy - strawberries, graham crackers and pretzels. Looking back retrospectively I now understand my dear friend Tatiana's comment to me, which will forever resonate in my brain. She observed me multi-tasking, as most moms do, devouring a donut with one hand and fixing my kids' lunches for the next day with the other, pasta salad and fresh fruit. Tatiana leaned over at me perplexed and said,

"You treat them better than you treat yourself."

"What do you mean?" I asked as I wiped the last bit of chocolate frosting from my lip. But I knew exactly what Tatiana meant. I always knew enough that I didn't constantly offer my children the same foods that I consumed regularly, sugar, sugar and more sugar. No. I knew enough to offer them fruit, even if I never ate it, and whole grains, even if I never ate them.

At my Girlfriend's Night Out, we wrapped up the evening and I began putting away the leftovers. I remember yelling out as though I was in a Jersey auction "Anybody want these strawberries? Strawberries! Anybody want these strawberries?" My friend Monica looked at me, perplexed (I got a lot of perplexed looks that night). "Why don't you freeze them? You can make smoothies out of them." I thought two things to myself at that moment. One, you can freeze fruit? And two, people actually make smoothies at home? "No, you can have them," I said relieved to get rid of that fruit I knew would just rot in my fridge.

Fast forward to now. I've learned that "juicing" as I'm told it's called, is very healthy. In fact, I took the plunge and invested in my first juicer, the Breville, which I thought was a safe bet. It's compact and inexpensive in the juicing world. I took the kids to the produce market and racked up on lots of fresh organic fruits and veggies. We came home and I began my hunt for juice and smoothie recipes that I thought we would enjoy. Quite the task when you have a picky eater, AKA my son Daniel and a non-believer, AKA my husband David.

Although we have only made two juices so far to date, the kids are loving this! In fact, Daniel helps me by shoving the produce down the chute in our new Breville. And they both love watching the juice start pouring out. But, we still have work to do getting daddy onboard the Juicing bandwagon. I don't think the grimaced look he made when he swallowed our first concoction of oranges, carrots and strawberries counts as an official drink. I'm thinking he didn't fully swallow. The good news is that my children and I have started drinking fresh juices in the morning regularly and the best part is that they are getting a serving of veggies! All Aboard...