Memorial Day weekend Farmer’s Market 

One of my favorite things to do with my family is going on a weekend Farmer’s market trip either locally or wherever we may be (when we are on a trip).  I enjoy looking at each stall showcasing their handcrafted products or organically grown produce and/or plants.

We take time walking and enjoying all the “free-taste” offered by each seller.  My kids get to taste the products and naturally, they ask us to buy more for them to consume on other days.  While we look around what’s available during the season, my husband and I get to plan what we want to cook together, weekday meal plans for the family and the entire weeks’ school and/or work lunch ideas.

Because going to the Farmer’s Market is more economical and healthy, we get to enjoy our food budget with freedom to purchase what is needed and wanted, making our weekend mornings an enjoyable family errand, street food, food exploration day.

One might say, it’s still expensive to go to a Farmer’s Market because only organically grown produce are available and these products are pricier than produce sold by bulk at big supermarkets.  Well, I learned from my own personal experience that buying all kinds of meat products and stocking processed food is the main reason why my food budget is exhausted easily.  When my family eats fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables, minimize our consumption of meat products and a lot of those “boxed goodies”, we have more spending money left to buy these all-natural foodstuff.

Enjoy the photos I took and imagine yourself at a Farmer’s Market.

For more information about Orange County Certified Farmer’s Market, just like the link.  Photos below were taken at the Saturday Irvine Farmer Market located at the Mariner’s Church parking lot.

Bought some fresh Cauliflowers for my cauliflower soup
Berries are everywhere!!! I bought some for my pancakes…
Always stock up some Hass Avocados for salads, breakfast, snacks, smoothies, etc.
Kale and Chard for our Detox Juicing
I am never out of Onions… Red Onions are great for salads…
Another necessity, Lemons are high in Vitamin C and is needed almost everyday in my kitchen.
My Asian ingredient that’s always available in my kitchen, Ginger!! I use it for juicing, soups, stir-fry, steamed fish, etc.
Everybody loves spinach!! I know someone who can’t live without it – POPEYE!!!
As requested by my little girl, we got some Yellow Peaches. It says “More sweet than my Mother’s Love,” to me, it was sweet but nothing beats my Mommy’s love 🙂
Very slim carrots for our Detox Juice
Beautiful Orchids for sale!!
Plants for sale too! This is where I got my beautiful Bougainvilleas…
Daikon radish very cheap and nutritious… I use this on soups and simple Japanese grated daikon
Cherries were everywhere!!!
My little girl enjoying the wide variety of “Free-Taste,” this is her favorite thing to do when we go to Farmer’s Markets… who wouldn’t enjoy doing this?
Kohrabi is a German Turnip. I pickle this, great as appetizer!
Fancy tomatoes.. Fancy mixing this into your salad?
Vegetable explorer! She loves discovering special fruits and vegetables…
Another attention-grabber, red radishes… beautiful and fresh. Easy to add on salads and stews…
It’s a must to always but a bouquet here… Price in the stores are 3 time more expensive!
Although my eldest daughter doesn’t enjoy eating these (Bitter Gourd Leaves/Dahon ng Ampalaya), she still tries her best to eat some to test her capacity to eat different tastes and textures.. I am so proud of her!
Final stop… my coffee from freshly ground organic coffee beans. This is LIFE!!!
Some street food vendors at the end of the market for people to enjoy and relax…

                  

DOYD’S JUICE FOR DETOX

Have you tried Detoxification?  Juicing for detox is a very effective way for me and my husband to cleanse our body.  Why do we do this?  Simple, because we love ourselves.  We enjoy juicing as a family, we have fun buying our produce from the local Farmer’s Market in Laguna Niguel, Irvine or San Juan Capistrano (California) and we spend time together in our kitchen cutting up, cleaning and preparing for our healthy juice for detox.

First thing’s first, we buy organic fruits and vegetables to make sure our juice is free from any pesticides or chemicals.  We make sure to pick the fruits and vegetables that our children like plus a little bit of this and that that they don’t know I mix into the juice but they still love the taste (i.e., celery, beets, ginger, lemon, different herbs, etc.).

Today I went to Sprouts Farmer’s Market with my little girl and she helped me bag all the fresh ingredients for our juice.  Our children eat all kinds of vegetables and fruits so she picked the celery, cucumbers, green bell peppers and green apples.  Green is her favorite color 🙂 and I picked the rest.

Our photo gallery below shows all the ingredients.

Apple is the most common ingredient we put in our juice
Apple is the most common ingredient we put in our juice
Collard greens in the salad bowl after a good wash
Collard greens in the salad bowl after a good wash
Chia seeds for added fiber
Chia seeds for added fiber
Navel oranges to add Vitamin C and sweetness into our juice
Navel oranges to add Vitamin C and sweetness into our juice
Washed and cleaned ready for chopping to fit our juicer
Washed and cleaned ready for chopping to fit our juicer
Sliced thinly to fit our juicer
Sliced thinly to fit our juicer
Lots of Parsley and Cilantro
Lots of Parsley and Cilantro
More green means more detox power
More green means more detox power
Using our Omega Nutrition Juicer
Using our Omega Nutrition Juicer
Fast absorption of powerful ingredients and antioxidants
Fast absorption of powerful ingredients and antioxidants
Detox Juice
Detox Juice

Juicing for Detox is really easy.  We are very lucky to have all these fresh vegetables available locally but really, wherever you are, there are all kinds of produce available to you.  Just pick anything that you want and juice them up.

Finding a good juicer is an investment for your health.  We use the Omega Nutrition System Juicer that use low-speed juicing.  There are a lot of juicers in the market.  Invest on one that is durable and something that will last for a long time.

Good luck on your juicing!

Watch Dr. Oz for more inspiring messages on Juicing for Detox:

Click this photo for a link to watch Dr. Oz on Joe Cross' 3-Day Weekend Juice Cleansing
Click this photo for a link to watch Dr. Oz on Joe Cross’ 3-Day Weekend Juice Cleansing