Spring = Farmer's Markets!

For those of you that don't live in the 12th South area, you need to make the journey on Tuesdays to go to the Farmer's Market from 3:30 - 6:30pm. It's well worth it trust me. Not only do they have several food trucks that show up, including the Grilled Cheeserie and my favorite, Juice.Nashville, but they have about 25+ other vendors that set up shop each week -- including fresh cheese, tea, coffee, pasta, chickens (yes, I said chickens lol), honey, milk, meat and so much more! Opening week was great and I can't wait to see what else pops up over the summer!

Forest Garden Growers: selling plants for you to use in your garden.

Food Truck: Biscuit Love! Check out their FB page.

Haulin' Oats -- fresh oats! YUM!

Amish Farmer selling some fresh produce and honey.

Line was super long for this place, so I didn't get anymore
information unfortunately -- looks like a great find though!

Can't believe I got my finger in this one! Fresh local honey for sale.

Fresh tea on the go -- so good!

Milk and Eggs for sale -- fresh off the farm!

Like I said, it's worth the drive over -- just make sure you bring your reusable bags and get their early, parking is kind of a nightmare. There's even a HUGE playground to take the kiddos over to and let them enjoy their fresh milk and cookies :)

Burger Up.

Today I had the opportunity to hang out in the 12th South area of town -- it's not often that I find myself over here without the kiddo! Lunch came up and a few choices got rattled off including Burger Up and I jumped at the opportunity! I've heard so much about this place. In fact I've even recommended it to other people to try out. So today, it was finally my turn and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait. I just wish now I could find more excuses to come over this way so I could eat here :)

I tried to get the best menu shot that I could, but it's always a hard thing to accomplish -- click to see it a little bit bigger. I did want to point out a few things for those that are vegetarian/vegan, they did have a few great choices. They're chopped kale salad looked pretty amazing and I almost ordered it with the marathon quinoa burger on top + some avocado on the side, but I went ahead and went with just the burger and made it 'bunless' -- gotta avoid that wheat belly! They also have the option to add a side salad to any of the burgers that you get (instead of fries) or you could always sub the regular fries out for the sweet potato fries or steamed baby spinach which would be a bit healthier. Lucky for me I was full after lunch, but that dessert menu looks off the chain!

Marathon Quinoa Burger: 'bunless' with a side salad + avocado

What are some of your favorite 12th South spots?

I Believe in Nashville.

I've recently been 'enlightened' on what Kickstarter is and I'm a HUGE fan of paying it forward for small businesses to grow and reach their full potential. I recently came across the company DCXV Clothing last year during the East Nashville Tomato Festival. They've even got an actual store over in the Porter Road area next to Pomodoro East.

They started off wanting to unite Nashville under one 'shield' as they put it and now are wanting to bring together other communities. On the list for this go around -- Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, New Orleans, Portland, Philadelphia, Seattle and San Francisco. 

This is a direct grab from their campaign: "WHY CREATE 'I BELIEVE IN US'? The funny thing about this Kickstarter is that it almost didn't happen. For us, I BELIEVE IN NASHVILLE came from a deeply personal place, to try and better Nashville by seeing if we could unite and inspire people over their shared belief in the city itself. And because of that origin, we didn't feel we could do it for other cities. However, as it spread and we had people from all over the country ordering anything I BELIEVE IN NASHVILLE we made, or visiting our shop from as far away as Australia, we kept hearing the same question: Have you thought about doing this in other cities? Specifically, "have you thought about doing this for my city". As it was explained to us by a Canadian fan of ours, I BELIEVE resonates with her because it makes her feel positive about her community and what she can offer to better it. And that was it for us. I BELIEVE IN US is an idea, and ideas are universal. Regardless of the pronoun, it can apply to anyone, to anywhere. So, if people from other cities feel there is a place for I BELIEVE IN US in their communities, then we are proud to be a part of that."

They have a whole slew of things gifts and incentives for those that decide to be backers for their cause. As of writing this, they're currently at 38 backers, $1509 of $10k raised and have another 16 days to go. For those of you that don't know how Kickstarter works, if the project doesn't raise the full amount, then they don't get funded. It's an all or nothing gig! So don't miss out. It's truly a rewarding feeling. Trust me!

Seen this mural around Nashville? This is their doing! Show some love!

So what do you believe in Nashville?

Juicy.

I wish I knew why the end of each week was so chaotic. I think because I know the weekend is coming, so I give myself a million things to complete before giving myself Saturday and Sunday to do fun (and sometimes) relaxing things. So I'm just passing thru to give you some Instagram Inspiration to get your 'juices' flowing before the weekend comes!

@addictedtoraw

@b_lynn3 (now @mealsfullofcolor)

@deliciouslyella

@judsonmoss

@lucypembertonplatt

ENJOY and let your taste buds thank you!

Thrive.

For those of you that don't know me personally -- I want to introduce you to something that I do on the side as part of my portfolio of things to occupy my time. In the fall of 2011, I came across a woman at a home and garden show in Nashville selling freeze dried food. It wasn't a very familiar concept to me. I remember once eating an 'astronaut' ice cream sandwich at the NASA space center on a field trip + I have a kiddo that use to eat those Gerber yogurt drops by the bag. But really, that was my only exposure. She had a few things for me to sample -- I think a few veggie/fruit pieces and a couple of the yogurt chunks. Not only was I impressed, but the beau and kiddo seemed to really like it as well. I got her information and had every intention of following up after the weekend. Well, time always gets away from me and of course, the info got misplaced. Several months later, I was in Bell Buckle at the annual craft fair and I noticed the same display in one of the booths. I jumped on the opportunity to try some more food and made sure they had my information to contact me this time :)

The rest is history from there. A month later, I started buying stuff on the regular and even signed up as a Thrive Life Consultant. Even though there's a business opportunity attached to it and lots of money to be made from growing it -- I'm more focused on the products themselves and sharing them with everyone around me. My initial drive was to supplement my kiddo's diet. From the very beginning she's always been a great eater, but when she graduated to feeding herself with her fingers, she started to decline on what she would and wouldn't eat. For her I think it's a texture thing. She doesn't want to get her hands dirty or sticky. So a lot of foods started falling off the 'eating' list until we got down to just a select few. And unfortunately, they don't make up a balanced diet. With the freeze dried foods, she's willing to eat a variety of fruits and veggies because they aren't squishy and messy. Plus they don't make the same kind of mess -- so I can feed her healthy stuff in the car, the stroller, at school, you name it.

The freeze dried fruits and vegetables that Thrive Life provides are mostly (ask to find out which are not) gluten free, non GMO, and have no preservatives or additives. Example, the peas are just peas. Plain and simple. If you look at a can of peas that you buy at the grocery store, you find all kinds of stuff in them, not to mention extra sodium to preserve them. Freeze dried fruits and vegetables are also better than dehydrated items as well. Dehydrating somethings requires heat and as most of us know, applying heat to things tends to kill a lot of the nutrients that are in it. The process of freeze drying something is cold -- so the nutrients are still there and you don't have any shrinkage of the item -- so banana slices look plump, not discolored and chewy.

So what would you use freeze dried foods for? Well, I personally do a lot of snacking with it -- not just for myself, but the kiddo too. I feel much better about myself sitting down and eating some sweet corn or peas while watching TV then a big bowl of butter popcorn. Also, the fruits are great for throwing into trail mixes, parfaits, cereal, desserts, smoothies and any other recipe that uses fresh fruit. Anything that has liquid in it will rehydrate the fruits, so no need to reconstitute sometimes before you use them. As for the veggies, I like to use them in soups, stews, casseroles -- anything that I'd used canned or fresh stuff for. 

Thrive Life also has other food categories as well: Proteins (meats, eggs and beans), Basics (cooking necessities), Desserts (oh yeah) and Dairy (yogurt, milk, cheese, etc). This opens up a whole new line of thinking when it comes to freeze dried foods -- I'm sure you guys have heard about the show "Doomsday Preppers"? Well, this line is great for storing and prepping -- most of the items have a 5-25 year shelf life before you even open them! So they're great for emergencies. If you'd like some more information, just shoot me an email thenashjuice@gmail.com and I can send you pricing, sales information and help you earn free/half off stuff!

Have you ever had freeze dried foods before?

Loco Donuts.

I think I'm about to be in one of those relationships that's really good for me, but horrible for my waste line?! Anyone know what I'm talking about? I've started noticing this little food truck outside my condo randomly in the empty lot across the street. I've always either had the kiddo with me or it's I've been in a hurry to get to where ever I'm going, so I've never stopped. Well this morning I wasn't the most pleasant person to my beau and after dropping the kiddo off, decided to swing thru and see what goodies they had. OMGosh was I in for a treat! And lucky for me, it's affordable!

Here's a little peak at their menu. I went ahead and got 3 orders of the sugar dusted ones for $4 a pop. The lady at the window told me that they could do a "People Pleasers" box with three different kinds for only $10 bucks! SCORE! Had it not been first thing in the morning, I probably would have been more  fun and adventuresome and gotten one of the sundaes, but I was pretty sure my body would've been quite angry with me since gym time was on the 'to do' list for the day.  So again, I place 3 orders for the box thinking that it was probably a dozen mini donuts an order....

And I got this gigantic box of goodness. Oh yes people, that's 3 dozen donuts right there. I was shocked that $4 bucks = a dozen!I most certainly would've paid more for all this! And they were still hot and fresh, made right in front of me. I ordered the cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar and the espresso ones. AND to make this whole experience that much better, I got a punch card -- and after 12 orders, I get a dozen free! Seriously? This is amazing. Unfortunately for me (but fortunately for my love handles), they are only planning on being in the Woodland Street/8th parking lot on Tuesdays in the morning. But if you want to find out where they'll be next, check them out on Facebook, Instagram and the others below.

What are some of your favorite food trucks in the area?

Fun Finds + Review.

I went to Sam's this week to do some of my regular grocery shopping, but they didn't really seem to have anything new and exciting as far as food goes. I did notice that they had a few more produce items then the last time, but nothing really caught my eyes. I did however hit the jackpot in the books/magazines today though. Whole Grains for a New Generation definitely caught my eye since I'm always trying to figure out how to cook grains in a creative way. Unfortunately, I already had such a full cart, so I didn't snag it -- but I'm thinking of picking it up off Amazon in the near future after thumbing thru it. I did grab this month's copies of Mother Earth Living and Clean Eating though. Eating Well was packaged with a fitness magazine that I probably wouldn't have read, so I opted to not grab it as well. In case you didn't know, Sam's Club actually sells magazines cheaper than what you can normally buy them for -- check with your SC to find out how they do it (not sure if they're all run the same) but certain days of the week, they offer a discount off the shelf price.

This month for Earth Day, Conscious Box (click here to see past review) was doing a special "mystery" box for that would be stuffed with all the extra stuff they had from past months. Since these boxes don't cost anymore than the regular subscription and they're usually overflowing, I decided to order one and see what I've been missing over the last couple months. Well, let me tell you, it did not disappoint! It literally was bulging at the seams when I got it. Didn't get a super good picture of my goodies, but you can definitely tell that it was full :)

What are some of your good finds lately?