PostiveFeelingsRule.com

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to talk to you a little bit about a website that I am proud to be associated with. PositiveFeelingsRule.com is maintained by my friend Sebastian Oddo. He is a tremendous proponent of living a positive lifestyle. The work he is doing at PFR inspires me to keep up with this blog and build my health counseling business.

This month Sebastian is featuring a story I wrote about life experiences that I went through since age three. Since the story is about past events, I was reluctant to share it, but there is no denying that all of the moments of our lives build the foundation of our current reality. I encourage all of you to visit PositiveFeelingsRule.com and read any of the stories that catch your attention. Sebastian Oddo is doing great work and it is a pleasure to draw attention to it.

http://www.positivefeelingsrule.com

Everyone has a story.....I encourage you to take your wonderful story and use it as a basis for a truly remarkable life!

stay positive,

matthew

Welcome to the Party

Last night we celebrated, Positive Eating style! I invited family and friends over for some Sushi made by world reknowned Sushi chef Raymond Tu! I made three pitchers worth of fresh juice for everyone and we just listened to music and were positive. Many people were trying Sushi for their first time and were pleasantly suprised. I like to say it was thanks to Raymond Tu....but most people I encounter are pleasantly suprised by the taste of Sushi. I encourage you, when you are ready, to try it out.

This was a birthday party for anyone who spent this last year trying to live positively. I should have invited all the readers of this blog! Okay....okay I was a little lazy getting the invitations out to you all. I will give you plenty of notice for the next one.

Stay Positive,

matthew

The Staple Office Meal

The fuzzy image above is of a meal I consider the staple of all office cooking. Rice and beans with salsa and a vegetable. This meal is nutritious, offers "real" food and is flavorful. Most importantly it is very inexpensive. If you want to start office cooking I suggest you begin with this recipe.

Cooking Implements:

Rice Cooker
Can opener
Knife
Cutting board

Ingredients:

1 can of Red Kidney Beans
2 cups brown rice
4 cups water
Jar of Salsa
1 Vegetable (broccoli, squash, sweet potato are all good choices)

Directions:

Soak your rice for one hour before cooking. Drain rice and add to rice cooker. Add four cups of water. Open can of beans and drain liquid. Rinse beans off in can until foamy water stops appearing. Dump into the rice cooker. Hit Cook on Rice cooker. After 30 minutes add chopped up vegetable. After ten minutes you may spoon into you dish topped with salsa.

This recipe will hold you over on any day. If you try this or any other office cooking adventure please email me and I will include you in my blog....don't forget a photo!

stay positive,

matthew

matthewgermain@yahoo.com

Bring some warmth to your vegetables

Monday when I was walking by the freezer case, I saw all of these vegetables confined to bags and just needed to set them free. The very chlorophyll in their veins must have turned to icicles! If you remember photosynthesis from science class you know that plants go through quite a process to extract energy from the sun. If you are looking for some more sun in your day all you have to do is eat plants. Especially dark green ones because that green color is the result of a photosynthesis explosion. For those of you who need a refresher course on photosynthesis view the diagram below:



I do not use frozen vegetables that much but have to promote them due to their longer shelf life and easy storage. Above is some organic broccoli that just needs to be warmed up. I am steaming these with my brown rice today. Nothing like a little broccoli, rice and sunshine for lunch!

Thawing out,

matthew

Eating Dandelions for lunch!?

Growing up we were blessed to have a nice big lawn. Raymond, my father, never spent time seeding and grooming the grass. As a matter of fact, I remember distinctly my father looking out the window at the dandelions that were creating a sea of yellow and saying this

You know something....everyone at work has all these tricks for how to keep their lawn looking perfect. There maybe something to that. In this affluent society we seek the best of anything. Whether it be a perfect house or a perfect car. Now look at us. We have this nice big lawn. People might say 'jeez Ray you really should pull those weeds up in your lawn, you would have a wonderful looking green lawn.' You want to know something. As I look out at all these dandelions....I can't help but admit, I kind of like they way they look

So in honor of Ray's wisdom I decided to eat some dandelion greens. The grass is now reappearing and it will be pleasant to see those dandelions grow!

Dandelion Green Salad Wrap

A Bowl full of Dandelion Greens
Two Avocados
Balsamic Vinaigrette

Tomatoes are a nice touch

Chop stems off of the dandelion greens. Remove the green flesh from inside the avocado and dice up. Throw in some tomatoes....or my favorite, dried berries. Mix with some balsamic vinaigrette. Roll up in a wrap and enjoy!

If it weighs as much as a duck.....

In an effort to be really cool, I tried to send all of you a post from New York. Unfortunately, not owning a laptop computer made that quite difficult. Here is a picture of me eating a duck at the Whym restaurant on 9th avenue in New York City. I shared a great meal with my friends Marian and Yael. The food was exceptional as well as the service.

As many of you have probably noticed, I rarely eat any meat. I am not a vegan or vegetarian. I am a "positivarian".....okay I am making up this term on the spot. I eat whatever is going to bring me positive energy. I tend to let the animals be. They are busy eating their grasses and grains...so I tend to do the same. A sense of adventure takes over me now and again and I try a dish with meat in it. The duck tasted very much like I thought a duck would taste like. My feelings on it were neutral.

I want to thank Marian for taking this photo with her Iphone. I am amazed at the photo quality.

Keep Your Heart Open,

matthew

Everybody is working for the weekend....

Hey guys,

The weekend is upon us. I am sorry you've been without a pizza post in a couple weeks. We are working on the grandaddy (or grandmommy) of all pizzas. We are getting close!

I am headed to New York this weekend and am going to try and send a post from the road. Stay tuned it will be worth it!

I wish you all a marvelous weekend. Please take time to nourish yourself with the most important food of all....time with friends, family and loved ones.

Here is a great food related activity for you guys.

The Community Salad

(picture found at fellow blogger's site! check it out zioneocon.blogspot.com)

Invite all of your friends over for dinner. Encourage them all to bring one produce item that they would put in a salad. Get a humongous bowl and throw all of it in together! I might encourage your guests to chop, dice, peel the items before hand unless you find the idea of all your friends wielding knives in a confined area appealing. You cannot invite any picky friends over....because you never know what you are going to get. No just kidding, make individual bowls excluding the items your "selective" friends cannot or will not eat.

I've done this before. It makes for an interesting time. I once did a community salad and when we finally were ready to dive into the big wooden bowl of salad.....I realized I forgot to pick up salad dressing! So make sure you have salad dressing....or better yet....make your own! Here is a great easy recipe!

Sesame Maple Dressing (from andreabeaman.com)

• 2 tbsp. toasted sesame oil.
• 1 tbsp. maple syrup
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tbsp. ginger juice (grate ginger and squeeze to obtain juice)
• 2 tbsp. shoyu or tamari

Combine all ingredients.

stay positive,

matthew

Goji Berries and Chocolate - use with caution

We all love chocolate! What makes people happier than chocolate? The chocolate we all know is really milk and sugar mixed with a bean called Cacao. I decided to investigate this. I ate a spoonful of sugar. That was certainly fun....but I didn't see myself yearning for more like people do as soon as they eat one piece of a chocolate bar. Then I drank a glass of milk....and well that wasn't all that exciting. The magic ingredient must be the actual chocolate.

Ry Chi hunted down some Cacao and brought into work. I must say I was nervous to try it! I swallowed a handful of these bark-like granules. This produced a visceral, bitter and powerful taste. This certainly could not be the magic ingredient that drives everyone into fits of euphoria!

I then sought the world over for the answer. Actually, I just visited www.sunfood.com where world renown raw foodist and Cacao expert David Wolfe opens up shop. I discovered that Cacao in ancient cultures was eaten with berries and that this combination was used for centuries in the Amazon for fertility and aphrodisial reasons. I am about to try Goji Berries (another exaggerated food) and Cacao. I don't know what will happen over the course of the next 24hours.
Wish me luck,

matthew

Looks like spring is on its way

Hi All,

I absolutely loved having that blog post featuring that wonderful group of preschool students at the top of the page. Please feel free to scroll down the page and view the previous post several times. It will brighten your day!

Spring is on its way. I know this because of the following signs

• I saw a hawk with sticks in its talons (must be making a nest)
• My mother just bought a bunch of seeds and potting soil
• ABC does this really cool commercial, featuring my good friend Oprah, where flowers blossom and they flash all sorts of upcoming shows with a song that says something like "Something New Begins"
• My feet our soaked after my daily run
• People aren't talking about football anymore
• My cravings for spring foods are on the rise.

We all know every season has its own foods that go along with it. Apples in the fall, Watermelon in the summer, every pastry known to man during the holiday season!

Below is a list of some of my favorite spring foods. Many of these foods help ward off familiar spring ailments....such as stomach flu. These are worth experimenting with. We can all watch as I try to make some edible meals with foods from this list.

Bok Choy
Kale
Dandelion Greens
Broccoli
Spinach
Radishes

Blueberries
Pears
Grapefruit

Goat Milk

Brown Rice
Rye Bread

Sunflower seeds

Dandelion Tea

Grow Positively,

matthew

PS

*for a complete list of spring foods visit John Douillard's website

http://www.lifespa.com/article.asp?art_id=55

Make a Face!

Here I am with the most positive group of preschoolers you could ever imagine. See me in the middle! In order to protect these children and abide by state and local laws I am not able to show you their priceless faces. Fortunately, these smily faces on the sticks were used in their activity and we were able to take this funny shot of us all in the classroom.

A very wonderful young woman who I went to both college and high school with was nice enough to invite me into her classroom and gave me an opportunity to talk to her students about positive eating. Eating is all about having fun, right?! Well we had a blast. We all discovered which foods make us smile and which foods make us grimace. No matter what our particular taste we found a way to enjoy these foods no matter what and we made these awesome faces!

If you want to do this activity with your children....I've copied it below.

Let me know how it goes!

Stay positive,

matthew


Make A Face With Your Food!



Healthy habits begin with our earliest memories. Use simple and fun exercises like this one to make eating wholesome foods a fun experience for everyone involved!

Ingredients:

• Pita Pockets
  Hummus
  Carrots
  Cucumber
  Cherry Tomatoes
  Apples
  Alfalfa Sprouts
  
  
• Start with some pita bread. Separate the pocket into two pieces. Pita pockets are made in wheat, whole wheat and oat bran varieties. Experiment and see which works best with your child
  
• Hummus, this chickpea and sesame based spread can be used for gluing fruit and vegetable pieces onto the pita pocket. Other ideas: peanut and other nut butters, cream cheese, honey
  
• With the inner surface of the pocket face up let child experiment using the food to make a face. This will foster a relationship between healthy food and the childs creative center. It also saves you prep time!
  
• Prompt your child just enough so that they are able to establish appropriate facial structure. Leave lots of room for imagination!
  
• Take time to admire their work and then let them eat their creation. If the child does not want to ruin their work use already cut pieces to make a standard Hummus and Veggie Sandwich.
  
  
  
  Matthew Germain
  Health Counselor
  www.matthewgermain.com

Hey man, stop grilling my veggies.

Today was a true cooperative effort. I was in the mood for a grilled veggie sandwich and picked up some really fresh wraps at the local Whole Foods (where the award winning Sushi Chef Raymond Tu serves food) and an eggplant. I thought I would bring some peppers and zucchini to work to grill up on my trusty George Foreman (which is stored at work with my blender, rice cooker, pasta maker, hot pot, cutting board and utensils). On my way to work I realized I did not bring any of these items. My trusty colleague Matt L. came through with a some summer squash and a zucchini.
We grilled these as they were with no oil and wrapped them up with some Roasted Garlic Salsa. This was really good. Many of my co-workers were hovering over our food with focused gazes. I believe the slang terminology for what they were doing is "grilling". I am happy people are "grilling me". One reason is, I love attention. The other reason is grilling makes for a delicious experience!

stay postive,

matthew

PS

I am kind of curious about the use of these food related statements now

"I am steaming"
"That guy really cooked my goose"
"That's Hot"
"Out of the frying pan and into the fire"
"She's got a salty attitude"
"Holy Mackerel"

let me know if you can think of any others.

A "Balanced" Meal

Do you remember Saturday morning cereal commercials. They used to flash a picture of Golden Grahams with a glass of orange juice, a glass of milk, some toast and tell you that there cereal was part of "balanced breakfast". Tonight Caitlyn came up with a fantastic "balanced dinner". This was another kind of balance. We were making rice pilaf and sweet potato chips. The sweet potato chips were made in this way:

sweet potatoes chopped thin
put in a baking pan
drizzled with olive oil
salted with Garlic and Sea Salt
Dashed with Rosemary
and cooked for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees


We needed something to balance the saltiness of the chips and the pilaf. What balances the salty taste? The sweet taste! Cailtyn chopped up some apples and put them on our plate as well. This balanced out our taste buds and helped to make us feel satisfied and nourished :)

Stay Balanced,

matthew

PS
We also without trying enjoyed a delicous vegan meal!