Tea! One of the many wonders of the food world!

I have yet to post about my love affair with tea!

I actually have a love affair with many warm beverages (I love hot cider as you saw in my earlier post and a good cup of hot chocolate brings me right back to my childhood)

Tea is definitely at the top of the list for me. Here are some of the several teas I enjoy drinking:

White Tea: This is a baby tea leaf. Drinking white tea makes me visit the restroom quite a bit but it is a great youthful fresh tea!

Green Tea: This is a nice green tea leaf and the leaves have not browned from oxidation.

Black Tea: This tea has browned through oxidation and is often heated to release some of the flavors in the leaf. This is the tea your grandmother used to drink. She would steep it for like 5 minutes and then squeeze the bag making this bitter drink that needed lots of milk and sugar to taste halfway decent. Next time you break out a standard Lipton or Tetley tea bag...leave the bag in for only like a minute or two....it makes a great cup of tea.

Herbal Tea: This typically contains no tea leaves. For example, chamomile tea is actually just hot water poured over dried chamomile flowers. Most herbal teas come in a variety of flavors and many people boast about the healing properties of many of these herbs. They are quite an adventure!

All of this information was implanted into my brain from a very good friend of mine Bil Siliker (that is right it is Bil with only one L). He operates the local tea house that is pictured above. You can usually find me there on friday nights or sunday afternoons. He is a good guy and knows a lot about tea. If you are ever in Newburyport, MA find Middle Street and visit the Licorice and Sloe Teahouse (http://www.licoriceandsloe.com/)

Some other Teahouses of note

The Dushanbe Tea House in Boulder, CO

http://www.boulderteahouse.com/

Dobra Tea house in Burlington, VT
http://www.dobratea.com/

As always....Stay Positive,

matthew

Finally...homemade pizza - the blog post

I finally got around to posting the pictures of Caitlyn and I making homemade pizza! This is not the usual throw some pasta sauce and mozarella cheese on a piece of pita bread and put it in the oven! This is all natural ingredients. We start out with just the raw ingredients and build a pizza from there. This is where it all starts:

We used 100% Organic wheat flour and crushed up some rolled oats and mixed them in afterwards. This was the closest I could get to "oat bran flour" that the recipe called for. After we put it all together we began to knead the dough. Here is a picture of Caitlyn kneading:

When it was all said and done we had two nicely rounded pizza shells:

We went all out on the dough! It only made sense to go all out on the sauce too. I opened up Jack Lalanne's Total Juicing and looked up his recipe for pizza sauce. I juiced a bunch of Roma Tomatos and stirred them around with the tomato pulp in a sauce pan. I tossed in whatever spices he recommended (I believe, bay leaves, basil, oregano and pepper) plus a little garlic! It was easy as juicing tomatoes!

Here is a shot of me putting on the sauce. It really is a meditative process. Every drop of sauce lands in its rightful place. In the words of the great Jackson Pollack, "I deny the accident"

We put it all together with some freshly grated mozzarella cheese (fresh mozzarella was on sale this week) and tossed it in the oven!

One hour and forty five minutes later we finally could eat. I wish I could say I had a picture of the finished pizza but we devoured it again...ooops! It looked pretty much the same as above accept the cheese was all melted.

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you ever have 2 hours of you life to kill you can make pizza from scratch too! I suggest getting a wonderful assistant, such as I had, to help you.

Keep on riding the positivity wave,

matthew

Anyone Can Cook!

Tonight I had the great pleasure of viewing the movie Ratatouille. My incredible sister, Colleen, gave this to me on Christmas day and said "In honor of your attempts to cook." Colleen is a big fan of Positive Eating and gets a chuckle...because she knows growing up my one attempt to cook (outsided of Fish Sticks) involved me pouring water into a frying pan of hot oil hoping to "cool it down a little". Ray and Jean, my parents, were not impressed.



This movie was much better than I expected and it boasted some fine animation. Those Pixar folks really know their stuff! One of the central themes of the movie is "Anyone Can Cook"... that is right up Positive Eating's alley! There is a great deal of gun play and consumption of alcohol in this movie...in case you are looking out for the kiddies. It takes place in France and you know how us crazy French people can be!

So if you are in the mood for a movie that is right in line with the theme of this Blog try Ratatouille you are sure to get some laughs and you may look at rats in a whole new light!

Stay Positive,

matthew

2 in 1 Scale and Measuring Device

This was my first Christmas present that I received this year! Not only does it provide the fluid ounces but it weighs the food as well. This is pretty crazy to me because someone asked me when I took on this whole nutritional eating thing if I was going to turn into Lance Armstrong and start weighing my food! Guess so! If this was a gift I got last year....I would be looking quick to "re-gift" it. But now I can't wait to see people's faces when they seem me doing some office cooking and weighing all my food!

I have not a clue what use this will have but it was fun to use last night. I tried to make a recipe provided by a fellow classmate and weighed all the ingredients. I used 4 cups of chopped sweet potatoes....or 1 pound! Here is the recipe if you would like to include it in any of your holiday meals. I changed only a couple ingredients.

Here it is:

Peanut Soup

2c. chopped onion
1 T. oil of choice
1/2 t. nutmeg
1t. grated ginger root
1c. chopped carrots
2c. chopped sweet potatoes
4c. broth (chicken or vegetables.)
2c. tomato juice
1c. peanut butter
1 T. Maple Syrup

chopped scallions and peanuts are a nice garnish

Saute onion. Stir in cayenne and ginger root. Add carrots and saute for a few minutes. Mix in sweetpotatoes and stock. Bring to a low boil and simmerfor 15 mins. or so until veggies are tender. Pureethe veggies in a blender with the tomato juice. Returnthe puree to pot and stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Add agave and season as necessary to taste.

To be a real holiday trickster I could have given the weights instead of the liquid measurements but I really want you guys to all try it!!!

Just weighing in,

matthew

The smells , sounds and tastes of the Season

Today I utilized the ever valuable rice cooker to make hot mulled cider for everyone in the office! I sent out an office wide email inviting them to indulge in the smells, sounds and tastes of this wonderful season! Mulling spices consist usually of: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, orange peel, anise and dried fruit pieces. These sweet spices create warmth in the body and are perfect for the winter. I've loved mulled cider for as long back as I can remember. You can literally lull people toward you like a culinary siren as the smells waft throughout a room.


I used a tea ball to put the spices in because I don't like the taste of all the granules floating around in my cider. The rice cooker was kept on the "Cooking" mode and then manually backed off to the "Keep Warm" mode when it got too hot. As you can see it did not last too long. It was quite popular and put everyone in a great mood. Plus I wore a pair of antlers and borrowed a radio that was tuned to the "All Holiday, All The Time" station.

What a great day at work. Too bad I won't be back until Thursday.

Always Smiling,

Digesting in Style

Here I am after another fine feast at the office. Recently, I've been reading a little bit about the Ayurvedic tradition. I've gained quite a bit from John Douillard's books Body, Mind and Sport and The Three Season Diet. I actually got a chance to meet John Douillard this weekend in New York! I was so excited about his Body, Mind and Sport book that I was talking about it in line. This mini sub line formed and these people starting asking me if I was John Douillard and I laughed and pointed out he was the guy in front of the line facing us.

One valuable thing he talked about was lying on your left side in order to help food pass more effectively through your digestive tract. I gave it a try. I know...I am guilty for lying down on the job but we are talking about digestion. It is close behind breathing in terms of vital priorities for life. My head is resting on what I call a stability disc...but my Mom calls a "porcupine ball". I swear by this device for balance training. When you stand on the spiky side it livens up your feet. I tried to liven up the left side of my brain while I was digesting. Left brain activity is maybe the number one priority in terms of vital priorities for the corporate life.

Stay Lively,

matthew

See Honey I am eating healthy!

Here is one of our office Super Heroes enjoying his positive meal. His fiancee is a well respected dietician and only wants the best for him. Here he is eating a well balanced meal that features life giving nutrients. After a few weeks using the Super Hero Diet Plan he will no longer need the car to get into work. He will be commuting via wind gusts.

I would also like to thank him for helping me cut up the sweet potatoes and asparagus!

Stay Positive,

matthew

Super Hero Foods

Today I combined two super hero foods. Quinoa and Sweet Potato. Sweet potatoes are packed with nutrients and are a great addition to a winter meal. They provide that warm MMM MMM MMM feeling. Quinoa, an ancient grain worshiped by the Incas. It is a gluten free grain that packs some protein. That is perfect for a super hero since often they are saving the world....which requires lots of energy....and getting worn down at the same time.

Also in this food is some steamed asparagus. Asparagus is strong and grows upward. Most people don't know that the best training for learning how to "leap tall buildings in a single bound" requires planting asparagus and jumping over it everyday. This supplies the gradual progress necessary to accomplish amazing feats. We got bored with jumping over it and decided just to eat it.

We steamed the sweet potato and asparagus together in the rice cooker and then cooked the Quinoa in hot pot. It seems like most grains cook the same: bring water to a boil (in a 2/1 ratio of water to grain) then dump the grains in, stir it around and then let it simmer. I must admit that I cheated. I used Quinoa Flakes which cook in like 90 seconds!

We put all this together in a casserole dish we found under the sink and glazed some honey and pepper on top. Looks pretty impressive for an office meal!

My dish looks different than everybody elses?

I began to fill my plate with some salad greens. These are always a fine addition to your positive plate. I decided to give that potato filled pasta a try. I grabbed a nice whole wheat roll. Well, I had to take there word for it that they really used wheat flour. Some people just add brown food coloring. Then, to make the party goers happy, I scooped on some stuffing! I washed it down with some water from the cooler.

Many party goers had plates that looked like the second picture. It looks quite sweet and fermenty. Which are important taste buds to explore. I missed out on these food choices because my previous plate provided enough food to really cut my appetite down. I did eat one cookie that was offered to me. It was made by this really nice woman's sister. I thought to myself, "her sister is probably nice too" and enjoyed the sweetness of the cookie. One was enough...there is enough smiles and fun during these holiday parties to fill me up with sweetness all year long.

I hope you enjoyed my adventure.

Merry Christmas,
Happy Hannukah,
Have a Krazy Kwanzaa,
Don't Forget Voodoo Day,


matthew

Look at all the pretty colors!

I spotted a rainbow of colors on the far end of the room. There were my beloved fruits and vegetables! I stayed here awhile sampling and enjoying the alive flavor they offered.

But honestly, vegetables will only sustain you for so long. I needed some sustenance. I grabbed a plate and put together the most positive meal I could find!

The Preparers of the Feast

These were those that chose to serve. They were all quite friendly and were serving a bird of some sort and some cow meat. Both seemed to be a fine cut from the animal. They also served some Gnocchi, potato inside pasta...pretty cool, and right next to that was more potatoes. This meal was definitely a "down to earth" affair.

Are there any fruits and vegetables? Anywhere?

My first encounter

This was the first Holiday Partier I came across. He seem to greatly be enjoying his fermented beverage. He instantly asked me if I had a drink ticket. I told him no and made him aware that tickets were not needed for water. Many part goers prefer to use tickets to gain there refreshment. I stuck with water.

A Holiday Adventure

Today I went on a great adventure. Many have visited a holiday party but few make it out the same. This is a great tradition among the many tribes within the corporate world. They come from all over: IT, Marketing, Accounting, Mailroom with one purpose. This purpose seems to be to devour the food brought to them from a distant land that no one has ever visited.

As a positive eater learning of their ways and what they choose to ingest became of critical importance to my mission. Which is to spread positivity in all ways possible....but in the case of this blog to spread positivity through food. Please follow along in my journey

Autism and Positive Eating

Hi Everyone,

Recently eating in positive ways has garnered some national attention thanks to the woman above. Don't worry this website is still about being positive and not about posting pictures of attractive celebrities. This is a picture of Jenny McCarthy on my good friend Oprah Winfrey's show*. She used natural and positive forms of eating to help heal her child.

Jenny McCarthy is not my girlfriend. I know this comes as a shock to many of you. Many people have said I remind them of her actual boyfriend, Jim Carey but that is another story. My real girlfriend, Caitlyn, works with Autistic children and says it is one of the most rewarding experiences of her life. I was hoping anyone who has an experience with this disease could post a reply and share. It doesn't have to be about food and I really think it would be helpful to Caitlyn as well as helpful to some many others who read this blog.

I would like to write an article about Autism and the effects of eating positively and naturally for an incredible woman who I really do know's magazine. For all you parents out there it is called Primal Parenting. Please check it out at http://www.primalparentingmagazine.com/.

I look forward to reading your comments and let's bring some positive energy to these wonderful children.

Always Smiling,

matthew

*I haven't actually met Oprah yet but we will be good friend's pretty soon.

Heading to New York City!

This weekend I will be headed to New York City. What an experience to be in the big city during Christmas time! I plan on getting some shopping done as well as enjoy the company of new friends I've made over the past couple months. For those of you who don't know, I travel to New York once a month to attend the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I am studying to become a Holistic Health Counselor. It is a pretty wild experience! Thanks to a strong urging from the Universe, I am now here writing daily blog posts about nutrition because I can't contain all the wonderful experiences and exciting new knowledge that is flooding into my life.

I can't give away too much....but I promise to keep you updated as the school year progresses. This blog is just a warm up. There will be a website soon, then some published articles, a couple more crazy experiences and then an appearance on Oprah!

I get carried away with my vision sometimes but as long as it likes to fly far and fast I am going to hold on tight!

I'll keep you posted on when I will be launching a new website and in the meantime enjoy the magical holiday season.

Always smiling,

matthew

Avocados

Avocados were always a mystery to me. I thought they were this really hard thing to eat and you needed a special knife to get inside them and once inside you had to either make guacamole out of the flesh or know how to prepare sushi to get any use out of them. I discovered that they make the perfect addition to a meal choice anyone can prepare. That meal choice is: the sandwich.

Before I get into the tasty avocado sandwich addiction I've developed, I would like to tell you a couple things about the food with a ping pong ball in the middle. This food is high in healthy fats. This has become a popular phrase in the health food industry. Trust me it isn't a trick....there really are healthy fats! Here is my measure of how healthy a fat is. If the fat occurs in a fruit or vegetable in its natural state....then it probably is healthy! Fruits and vegetables are good for you and that is the end of it for me so I munch away without stopping. Avocados also present several essential amino acids and is considered moderately anti-inflammatory, which is good news if you are dealing with arthritis or other ailments related to inflammation.

The first avocado sandwich I ever made...oh man I can remember it like it was last week....because it was last Friday. I cut open the avocado, spooned out the flesh, cut into strips, put it between bread with a slice of tomato and some salt. I was in absolute heaven. Today I traveled to a corporate presentation in Boston. I packed a lunch....you can never be sure what you are going to get when they write in the emails, "refreshments will be provided". Ry Chi and me packed Tuna Avocado Tomato sandwiches. This was a neat trick because we mixed the avocado with some olive oil and this made a creamy texture to add to the tuna and replaced the usual need for Mayonnaise.

Give the Avocados a try and don't be afraid to leave a comment about the experience*

Stay Positive,

matthew

*if you don't have a Google account. Just select the "Nickname" option and you can leave a message under whatever alias you choose.

Hiding away in a conference room enjoying our positive meal!

Photo courtesy: Carol Detora

Here we are enjoying the finely prepared Soba Noodles. These are my colleagues, Matt L and Ry Chi Miller. Here are there testimonials regarding this meal.

"This meal help me find my center. I am much happier after eating the meal. Look at the smile on my face for crying out loud. You might as well have put candles on top ask me to make a wish and I would have blown them out!"

Ry Chi

"This meal packed a ton of energy. When going out for a meals I often feel tired right when I get back to desk. Matt Germain is a healer...and you can quote me on that."

such loyal co-workers :)

Stay Positive,

matthew

Cooking the soba noodles

After boiling some water in a hot pot I dumped into the "Pasta Perfect". This took 6-8 minutes to come to a resting position at the bottom of the tube.

Let's talk about Soba Noodles for a second.

Soba noodles are made from Buckwheat. A popular grain in Russia and many parts of Asia. Those with wheat allergies be careful. These Soba Noodles contain some Hard Winter Wheat. This term was really strange to me so I looked it up on wikipedia. Hard Winter Wheat is a wheat that grows right before the first frost. Farmers plant it in September soil. This practice was supposed to produce a heartier wheat that could last through the winter. Especially a long hard winter like the ones they experience in Russia. That is why this practice was brought to the US by Russian Menonites....who used it in Kansas? Not so sure how hard the winters are there....

Curry Sauce

Here is the Curry sauce warming up in the rice cooker. I chose the "Keep Warm" setting. I used a can opener and opened up the coconut milk and poured it in then stirred in the curry paste! I let it sit for 10 minutes. It could use some vegetables...I admit....but I was aiming for simplicity!

Soba Noodles with a Coconut Curry sauce.

Sounds like a fancy meal you would get at an upscale restaurant. Check the number of ingredients it took me to make this culinary office masterpiece!!! 3 items....that's it! They cost me a whopping $6.78 and I split this meal between three people. That is less than three dollars a plate! I bet you'll wince next time you pay $15 for Near Eastern fare.

Check the posts above as I take you through this.

Homemade Pizza....all gone

Okay......I had this great series of threads showing myself and my girlfriend Caitlyn putting together homemade pizza from scratch. Well, we didn't make the cheese from scratch or grind the whole wheat in a grist mill....but everything else was made with our four hands! This was not very easy and it took a pretty long time. I just learned that dough has to rise!

Sorry....I didn't remember to break the camera out till the entire thing was devoured.

Stay tuned.....I will attempt this daring culinary adventure again!

Fuddruckers!

My favorite comedian is and will always be the Universe!

If you read my previous post I mention eating 1lb hamburgers just to make people laugh. I used to do this at the Hamburger establishment known as Fuddrucker's. I even would wash it down with a milk shake. Before your sentiments go out towards the thrashing my poor liver was taking while participating in this debauchery, be comforted by the fact that they make "The World's Best Hamburgers" (I saw the movie Elf last night....so I am stealing Will Ferrel's joke, he's funny but not as funny as my favorite comedian).

As some visitors to this blog may know I am a runner and enjoy competing in footraces of several distances. I was lucky enough to place top three in my age category at this year's Feaster Five Road Race. This was the prize that was sent to me in the mail yesterday!

If there is anyone out there who wants to eat a hamburger the size of their face let me know. I got a gift certificate for you courtesy of the Universe and it's wacky ways.

Always smiling....it's my favorite thing ever,

matthew

Beans the wonder protein!

Wow this Blog has only been active one day and I've already been emailed a couple questions!

Many people wonder about beans....and I needed to do plenty of research on these little bundles of joy before I even attempted cooking them. As a matter of fact when I was in the first grade and one of our assignments was to draw a picture of "Things I Don't Like".....beans made it into my collage of scribbles along with a rough drawing of Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey (I grew up with a sister who was 12 in 1988 so let's just say I was subjected to watching the movie quite a few times and even having to be taught a few of the dance moves....but that could be a whole other blog).

Needless to say, I eat beans once or twice a week as the central protein in my lunch. This is without any signs of flatulence!

Here is the deal. Beans are difficult to digest and this is where many people's aversion to them comes from. This also is one of the things that can produce gas. Because of this beans need to be soaked and when I say soaked, I mean put in a pot and forgot about for a good 6-8hrs. Trust me....I made the mistake of not soaking. It was not pleasant!

After that experience I chose not to work with dry beans anymore. I buy all natural canned beans....but I still soak them....because I just don't want to go back to that unpleasant digestive experience. I rinse them several times and soak for like an hour. After I soaked the beans in the picture I cooked them in a hot pot with:

3/4 cup of water

dash of a seasoning that I found at a Sicilian place. The owner told me it tastes great in spaghetti sauce (but the way he said "spaghetti" was so crazy!)

1/2 a cup of Newman's Own Roasted Garlic and Pepper Pasta Sauce (am I allowed to say brand's on the internet? it was on sale, buy 2 for $3.00*)

I let that sit for like 10 minutes and mixed it with some brown rice. A co-worker who came in from going out for Spanish food place told me next time he would bring in some beans and I would make him his Spanish dish. In honor of the Sicilian guy I am calling this Sicilian Rice and Beans.

*most food I make is just a culmination of what was on sale at Whole Foods. There really isn't a recipe or even a plan for that matter!

Finished Meal!

This took roughly 40 minutes cooking time and 15 minutes preparation. All in all I spent 20-25 minutes getting this together. But that is mostly because I like to stand over the rice cooker and watch it bubble!

The following meal is:

Summer Squash and Swiss Chard flash boiled with a hint of vinaigrette and tossed walnuts

Rice and Beans topped with Organic Salsa

It was good....my picture to the right is actually me eating this meal.

How I used that plastic tube thing

You may have seen this before on an infomercial. You can put pasta in the tube and then pour in boiling water! It is actually not that great at cooking pasta but is perfect for flash boiling vegetables. In this tube is Summer Squash and Swiss Chard with a touch of olive oil. I often rinse my grains in this device as well. My friend's mom bought it for like five dollars at a discount store!

Non-Microwave cooking

Here is the rice cooker cooking away. I am making rice and beans

Cooking area

This picture shows my cooking area. As you can see there a shelves for microwaves....these are never used by me. Microwaves are for reheating.....I believe in re-enlivening! However....I did end up killing the microwave that was directly next to my cooking area....I guess I sapped too much energy or something

Too much positive energy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Creative Office Cooking

When I first started working at a corporation it was a strange transition. My associates were friendly and we all sat at our cubicles loyally typing away. The atmosphere would become a little dull and topics of conversation cycled around local sports teams and sharing frustrations about work. Often positive energy currents were hard to come by. I began to look at the food we were all eating. Often it was microwaved leftovers from dinner the night before....a mundane food that probably received its share of internal criticisms when it was cooked fresh! I decided to venture out on a new path. Armed with nothing but a Rice Cooker, a Hot Pot, A Plastic Tube that you cook pasta in and a blender (I also had a Foreman Grill but don't let the company know), I was going to make food that kept me feeling alive!

Of course I know nothing about cooking. I am a single 25 year old male that used to eat 1lb hamburgers to make people laugh (I am not kidding....I'll post on that later). I am going to share some of my experiences using this wonderful internet tool. I've posted a couple of my creations already so look!

Welcome To Positive Eating

This Blog is dedicated to all those trying to bring more positive energy into their lives. This is a daily practice and is by no means easy. Since food is energy I decided to make the food I eat as well as the act of eating and cooking it as positive and fun as possible. By no means am I even close to figuring this out! Please take this journey with me and offer as much guidance, support and humor as you like!