Raymond and Lye Tu's marvelous Sushi Bar

I would like to introduce you to Raymond Tu. He operates the Sushi Bar at Whole Foods Market in Andover, MA. As a native New Englander I vowed to never eat raw fish. Fish was meant to be cooked, that was simply the New England way. Well the tricky things with vows is nothing can stop you from breaking them. I don't know how it happened but one day I drifted over to the Sushi Bar and picked up some spicy tuna rolls. I was hooked! I've been eating Sushi on a weekly basis since then.

The Sushi that Raymond and Lye Tu make is of superior quality. They make it with loving and caring attention. Their customers are truly blessed. This post is not meant to be an advertisement. It simply must be stated that Raymond and Lye Tu are the most positive people I've ever seen preparing food. I am under obligation as an international expert on the practice of positive eating to let you know about them. They are setting the path for putting love into food. Ry Chi has experienced an actual sensation of physically being hugged after eating their wonderful Sushi plates.

You don't have to take my word for it. They are the recipients of numerous awards for their fantastic service and there is often a line of people picking up combo plates and Sushi platters.

I also want to thank Ry Chi for taking the photo above. Doesn't Raymond just look like he can't wait to serve you Sushi!

stay positive,

matthew

Paper or Plastic? That is so last centuty......

I know it sounds like a stretch but I now carry the foremost in fashion statements when it comes to handbags. I am not talking Louis Vitton, Coach or Kate Spade (how do I know these names????) I am talking reusable shopping bags! Everyone is getting them. You simply leave them in your car and uses them to lug around your groceries while shopping. Let me tell you I prefer this! You know how many times I went to the grocery store and there were no available hand baskets!

I also want you to notice that the Whole Foods bag featured in the photo is authentic. You can tell it is a real Whole Foods reusable shopping bag by the darker green spheres inside the apple graphic. The knockoffs can't reproduce that! The bags they give me at school are also great. They are simple and functional. Plus, if people ask me about Integrative Nutrition I get to talk about using food as a way to bring positivity into your life. Which is simply my favorite topic of conversation.

If you don't want to be left in the fashion dust yet again I recommend picking up a reusable shopping bag. The real ones are 99 cents. You may find a knock-off for 5 or 6 cents...but why not treat yourself and get the real thing!

stay positively fashionable,

matthew

Staying positive even when the pasta is mushy

Hi guys,

Today I brutally failed in my attempt to cook Sprouted Whole Grain Pasta. I made two attempts at this. Once with my pasta cooker and another time trying to cook it in my rice cooker. Simply put, it wasn't happening today folks. I was not even able to supply you with a picture of this debacle...because I could not locate the camera. Things were quite awry in the realm of office cooking.

Nevertheless, my primary food was well in tact. I enjoyed my mushy pasta with friends and talked about the wacky ways of the world. I went back to the kitchen to get some yogurt and low and behold an entire plate of fruit salad was sitting there.

I snatched the whole tray and brought it back as an offering to my fellow positive eaters! Just goes to show you that being positive always gives you a great return.....so start investing!

matthew

Forbidden Foods

This weekend I ate a forbidden food. My mother told me she was going to make Steelhead Trout and was interested in having someone show her how to use her recently acquired rice cooker (if you don't own a rice cooker after reading this blog...you must really be attached to your pots and pans). Right before heading home I found some black rice at the grocery store. This was just too cool. I picked it up and thought this would be a great addition to her meal.

The story of Forbidden Rice was that it was kept under lock and key by Chinese Emperors because it was a powerful aphrodisiac. This is why it is called forbidden! The emperor shared it amongst his court when necessary. The rice was thought to be grown strictly on Royal Grounds. So I truly did eat like a king on Saturday night.

The rice is lower in gluten than brown rice and has a high iron count. It also gives off a popcorn smell during cooking. The water also turn purple during cooking. This stains so be careful!

stay positive,

matthew

PS

The meal was absolutely fantastic!

Spice is nice!

Hey everybody. How are you.....and you better not answer "not too bad". If I answered "not too bad" to people, I would be lying. Usually, I am doing great! Even if things I prefer to answer "Fantastic" just because it is a fun little game I like to play. Of course, in that case I would still be lying.....who's the judge of this stuff anyway!

Yesterday's office meal was kind of bland. It needed some spice. I tend to think big so I envisioned myself bringing my entire spice rack to work. I decided I've littered work with enough cooking appliances...I better leave the spices at home. Instead, this morning I took the ingredients I needed and placed them in small tupperware containers. That little jar with the red cap had cumin, curry, nutmeg, chili powder and mustard seed in it. This morning before I left I sprinkled a little bit of each into it and then when I got to work I added them to:

1 can of Coconut Milk
4 Tablespoons Peanut Butter

This served as a drizzle for steamed Garnett Yams (really just a big sweet potato)

Here is a picture:
Upon tasting it Matt L. exclaimed "Not too bad"!

hahaha......see how it doesn't really match up with the emphatic passion we should bring to eating as well as life. His actual words were:

"This is good "

He then immediately apologized for using an expletive and said

"This is really good stuff, "

He will get the hang of it eventually. In the meantime may all your meals be positive!

Have a fantastic day

matthew

Watercress....pleasant sounding huh?

What's behind the glare....Watercress!

I bought this from the Whole Foods yesterday just because the name sounded so fresh and alive. Say it with me-----Watercress.

One thing about dark green vegetables is they are power packed with nutrients. They are so packed that these nutrients can be hard to get out. One method to get at them is cooking. Cooking is great....but it is kind of like blowing up an entire city just because you have a quarrel with one person. That doesn't really make sense.

We still need to coax these beautiful life giving friends out of the tight cellular wall that contains them. Last night I chopped up the Watercress and placed it in a Ziplock bag with some vinegar and dried cranberries. The vinegar will act as an agent to break down the cell walls and let the vital nutrients out. Ancient traditions put vinegar on all sorts of vegetable for this very reason. It also helps increase their shelf life. This method survives today and is known as "pickling" as in Pickles!

Of course, I didn't place these items in a jar and leave them on a shelf for six months because I just can't wait to eat this beautiful sounding plant --- Watercress.

stay positive,

matthew

New York City's Most Positive Cook

This weekend I was in New York for another incredible weekend of schooling at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. My very good friend, Nick, invited me to attend an Andrea Beaman cooking class with him. Andrea Beaman is a rock star chef. She was on Bravo's Top Chef and is now the host of Wise UP! a television show that sends Andrea around the country exploring holistic approaches to health.

Her energy and positivity was absolutely Beamin! (I could not avoid using that....sorry) With the help of her assistant Donna Sonkin (her website) they took us through a fun filled evening in NYC. Andrea and Donna are cutting edge in their application of holistic nutrition to cooking and fun! The passion that was brought to cooking was infectious and everyone left saying they could not wait to attend another class.

Here is a great recipe from her website!

Brown Rice Pilaf

- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 leek, cleaned and diced
- 4-5 mushrooms, sliced thin
- 1 tsp. herbed sea salt seasoning
- 1 cup brown basmati rice, soaked overnight
- 1 3/4 cups water

Saute leek for 1-2 minutes. Add mushrooms and herbed salt seasoning and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add rice and water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce flame to simmer and cook for 40 minutes.


If you took the best nutrients possible and formed them into a personality you would have Andrea Beaman! I strongly encourage you to check out her website:

http://www.andreabeaman.com.

Stay positive,

matthew

PS: I have not started her book yet but I am sure it is going to be quite a ride

Valentine's Day Pizza!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I promised a suprise for you and boy did I deliver. Follow me as I take us through this love drenched experience!
Here are the toppings for this Thursday night's pizza. That's right that pot is a 30 year old fondue heater. In it is a melted brick of 65% Cacao chocoloate. On the right are chopped strawberries. These two foods have been enjoying a hot and steamy relationship for years now!
Here is the crust! The universal symbol for love! It is kind of funny how this looks nothing like an actual human heart. I thought about making crust in the shape of an actual human heart. I even broke out an anatomy book my mother bought me for Christmas. It was pretty complicated. I struggle with cutting hearts out of pieces of paper. Thank God Caitlyn is responsible for making the crust :)

Here is the finished product.

Pizza Crust

2 cups wheat flour
2 cups oat bran
2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons of "Brown Sugar" ("how come you taste so good" - Rolling Stones)
1 teaspoon of yeast
1 Cup warm water

Toppings
melted chocolate
chopped strawberries
lots of love

Here Caitlyn and I are with our Valentine Pizza. This was nothing short of amazing. You got to try it. "Try a little a tenderness" (Donkey, Shrek) while you are at it.

"All you need is love" - John Lennon

matthew

I was stewing all day.....

I went right to work this morning....literally. As soon as I got into the office I chopped up three sweet potatoes and one regular white potato. I tossed these into my rice cooker with some carrot and ginger soup (one of those organic box soups). Then poured in 1/3 a cup of hot water just to loosen it up a little.

I brought this into the back room and clicked the pot to "cooking". When I got back to my desk I set my timer for 25 minutes. As soon as the timer went off I went to the back room and stirred this absolutely aromatic mixture of potatoes and vegetables! I backed the rice cooker of to "Keep Warm" and let it sit for about three hours. At noon time, Matt L., Ry Chi and me headed to the back room for what truly was a pleasurable eating experience. The smell was so wonderful that it attracted three people into the the back room to see what was cooking.

Our Positive Eating Clubhouse is officially compromised. It's okay...the humorous company was enjoyable for a change! I don't know what I will do if they all start wanting me too cook for them!
stay positive,

matthew

Marshall Law in effect!!!

Hi All,

I came up with this great post idea and was going to publish it today! See, every Monday I go to Whole Foods and shop for the week's office meals. I thought it would be fun to share the purchases for the week and then you could watch each and everyone one of these items unfold into tasty office meals.

Here is what went down.....

Ry Chi and I hopped in his car and headed over to the store. Once we crossed the city line something strange occurred. The streetlights were not operating. Traffic was going in whatever direction it felt like. We were convinced that the "Great ReOrg"* may finally be taking place. Whole Foods was closed and people were scampering out with bags of groceries. The bakery manager stood like a bouncer at the door making sure no one entered.

The little devil on my shoulder thought of making a mad dash for as many free groceries as possible....then I thought the better of it and looked and turned to exit. At that moment very angelic looking woman told us to head to the next town over...there was safety there. I checked to see if she was real or just sitting over on my other shoulder....we were all set there thank God!!

We took the backroads and arrived in one piece. Fortunately everything was going fine and we got some soup and a sandwich at a positive eatery nearby.

Next week things will be back to normal and I will post about my fantastic food shopping strategies!

stay positive,

matthew

*for explanation of what I call the "Great ReOrg" please review any and all theories about the year 2012. ; )

Father and son bonding in the kitchen....

Here is a picture of my Father (Raymond) and I cooking together. Cooking is a lot more fun and easier when you do it with other people. My father is preparing a chicken caciatorre and I am making Gingered Broccoli with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds. Raymond is very methodical about his cooking. Ever since I was very young he carefully cut us fruit and made a colorful salad every night. He really is a positive guy and lets his attitude permeate through his food. Although this is quite obvious from the photo....I will also mention he is quite a sharp dresser.

Here is the recipe for Gingered Broccoli with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds.

You will need........

A couple heads of Broccoli

1/2 cup of toasted pumpkin seeds

5 inches of fresh ginger

3 cloves of garlic

1 Tablespoon olive oil

3 Tablespoons Tamari or Soy Sauce

- Pull the broccoli off the stem (this is an easy job to have other people do)

- Grate Ginger (this is not as easy...so I suggest have other people do this as well)

- Mince Garlic

- Steam or quickly boil broccoli

- pour olive oil into a hot skillet

- put garlic and ginger into the hot skillet

- after a minute add broccoli and tamari sauce and swish it around (I would type the word "saute" but I can't find the little line that goes next to the "e" on my keyboard right now)

- Toss in pumpkin seeds and reduce heat.

- cover and serve in 3-5 minutes

stay positive,

matthew

Breakthrough in Pizza crust!!!

Tonight Caitlyn made the absolute best pizza crust I've ever had in my life. This was accomplished by blending rolled oats in the blender and adding them to whole wheat flour. Wowy....it was so good! I am trying to come up with adjectives and all I can say is it was the Perfect Pizza Crust. After it is blended it looks something like this

Here is Caitlyn's recipe for the perfect pizza crust!

2 1/2 cups of blended oats

1 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1/2 Tablespoon of Maple Syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 (or 1 package) Tablespoons of Yeast

1 Cup Warm Water

Place these ingredients in a bowl in the order we wrote them. The warm water activates the yeast so get to kneading the dough right away. If the dough is no longer sticking to your hands but is till moist the texture is just right. Once it forms a nice ball of dough put a towel over the bowl and put in on top of your preheated oven. When we discover the perfect pizza sauce recipe will let you know right away. There is no such things as secret ingredients or hidden family recipes at positive eating. There is only one additive we put in all our food and that is a few heaping Tablespoons of Vitamin L.

you feel me right?

matthew

Lemon Oil to the Rescue!

This blog post was to be about my experience with trying to bring some positive food to a Super Bowl party. Then disaster struck. Just as the hopes and dreams of the New England Patriots were dashed...my dream of transporting Toasted Pecan Native American soup came literally crashing down.

A substantial amount of soup remained in the crock pot...probably because people found the soup "weird"! I found it delicious and fortunately ladled myself out several servings before going to the party.

Just as I am new to the idea of "cooking"...I am also new to the idea of "cleaning". In a panic I got home and ran for the hose. I sprayed the interior of my car with water creating a mini flood in the back seat. I then sopped up all the remaining water with several beach towels.

Now my car smells like Toasted Pecan Native American Soup.....hmmm.

I called up my good friend Rachel who is an essential oils provider and asked her how to rid myself of this "gravy like" smell. This was our conversation.

Rachel: What did you do to clean it up?

me: I sprayed the back of my car with a garden hose.

Rachel: (laughing)....you really are a funny guy, Matt, well you might want to roll down your windows and air your car out.

me: got it....what about the smell

Rachel: Citrus oils are very effective at cutting through odors. All you need to do is sprinkle some lemon oil over the carpet and cloth seats, rub it in with a scrub brush and let it dry.

me: I will do absolutely everything you said

Rachel: Good....just make sure you credit me in your blog when you write about this.

me: you read my blog.

Rachel: Matt.....Oprah reads your blog!

me: Oh yeah....forgot thanks!

If you would like to learn more about essential oils and lots of other cool natural stuff....please visit Rachel's site at

http://www.naturalzest.com/

she is wicked cool!

Stay Positive,

matthew

PS: If you ever want to make Toasted Pecan Native American Soup here is the recipe

2 1/2 cups pecans

2 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 large Onion

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 Tbs Chili Powder

2 cloves garlic (minced)

3 cups vegetable broth

4 sprigs of fresh Thyme

1 bay leaf

1 cup soy or cow milk

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (Faranheit...if you had an oven that went to 300 celsius though that would be cool). spread pecans on baking sheet in place in oven for 7-10 mins. Chop them up after they cool down.
2. Heat oil in large sauce pan and add chopped onion. Saute for five minutes then 2 cups pecans. Adsdd maple syrup, chili powder, garlic. Then add broth and 3 cups of water with thyme and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer. Go for a walk or do something positive for a couple hours.
3. When you return place soup in blender in batches and blend until smooth. Place in Crock Pot and add remaining pecans and shredded carrots.

enjoy in your home if possible....saves the trickiness of transporting that way :)

A New "Spin" on things

Who wants to eat the same thing two days in a row. I never do. I love to mix it up, mash it up and blend when it comes to my meals! Every time I noticed that every time I make pizza sauce there is a ton of tomato juice leftover. Today I decided to do something about it. This morning I sprinkled some rosemary and salt into the juice. I also put 1/4 cup of milk in as well because one time I saw on a can of tomato juice from the store that they added milk.....so I did too. I grabbed a can of tomato paste and headed into work.
After blending the tomato juice (with added milk, rosemary and salt) and the paste I headed to the back conference room and found an outlet. I plugged in my rice cooker with the soup inside and let it simmer all morning. After three hours of simmering the entire room was filled with the wonderful aroma of tomato and rosemary.
I enjoyed this soup with come multi-grain bread and crunchy peanut butter....because a man (or woman) cannot live on soup alone.....well actually I think I could!


Stay Positive,

matthew