Vegetable Broth made from Scrap!

Hello Positive Eaters,

As promised I decided to experiment with making my own vegetable broth. I often buy prepackaged boxes of broth from the store. These seem to work quite well, however most are still pretty high in sodium and probably missing many nutrients due to long shelf lives. For those of you who follow this blog, you probably noticed that I really like soup. So making my own broth is a great thing for me to learn.

A friend who I am advising, recently got struck with diverticulitis and was off solid food. He told me how much he missed vegetables...which was music to my ears! I suggested drinking vegetable broth. He was wary to do so due to the high sodium content in most prepackaged broths. I told him he should make his own. Then I realized, I never attempted this myself. We both set out to make our own broths that week.

As luck would have it, Tal Ronnen's cookbook that I recently got as a gift, recommended making your own broth by saving your vegetable scraps from the week. This includes peels, ends of vegetables usually tossed away, rinds, seeds, vegetables gone limp, leaves and anything else you might have lying around. The idea of making a nutritious food out of garbage was too exciting not to try. I saved my vegetable scraps for five days.



The rest of the equation is really quite simple. Put these in a pot with water and bring up to a boil, then back off the heat and let them simmer for a long time. I decided to make this process even easier by making the broth in a rice cooker, since that backs off to a simmer automatically for me. I minced up some shallots that were hanging out for the past week and put in some fresh kale to up the nutrient and taste profile and let the rice cooker do its thing.



I actually went to bed and let this simmer over night. I woke up at 2am and snuck out to the kitchen to see how it was coming. I was blown away by the pleasant aroma the broth gave off. Remember, the majority of the items in this pot would normally be thrown out or composted. This was the most pleasant smelling garbage ever. In the morning I strained away the scraps and added a little salt, sage, rosemary and thyme to the broth. I heated this up and gave it a taste.



This was a flavorful, nutrient dense broth that I was so excited about I invited friends over for soup. I made a quick soup that involved sauteeing garlic and adding celery and carrots. Then I added the broth and added portabello mushrooms and scallions. Everyone loved it...it is safe to say I will be making my own broth from now on!

Stay Positive,

Matthew

PS

I noticed many people who have blogs ask people to "follow" them. I just found out what this actually means. So if you like the content of this blog feel free to "follow" it, in the official sense of the word :)

Super Energy Bars!

Hello Positive Eaters,

I am on a mission to start making items that I usually purchase pre-packaged. I often eat all natural energy bars, such as the ones Odwalla makes. While I was at Integrative Nutrition someone gave me this recipe for homemade energy bars and I decided to revisit it and share it with you. So here is my recipe for Super Energy Bars.

This is less of a recipe and more of a concept. You need to make a glue of some sort to stick together all of the super ingredients. I chose to use Coconut Oil, Peanut Butter and Agave Syrup (you could just as easily use other oils and other nut butters). Coconut Oil is perfect because of its low melting point. Solid Coconut Oil begins to get weepy at only 90 degrees faranheit. I melted these ingredients in a double boiler.



After the ingredients melted, I added four tablespoons of raw Cacao (pure unadulterated chocolate!) I mixed it together and took it right off the burner because I wanted the integrity of the Cacao to remain. Too much cooking will break down all of its powerful antioxidants.

I chose to use Almonds, Dried Cranberries and Oats for these bars. The combinations of dry ingredients you could use are endless. These are my favorites...I may try it again later in the week with Dried Cherries. I placed these in pyrex bowl and went to retrieve the "glue."



I then added the "glue" to the dry ingredients and mixed everything together well. I took some tastes of the mixture and was aware that these energy bars were not going to last very long.



After mixing together, I pressed the mixture into a pan and covered it with aluminum foil. These were in the freezer for an hour or less. They were solid and able to eat them like energy bars after chilling out in the freezer. These need to be stored in the freezer so that they remain solid. These may not be the best energy bar to bring on a 3 day backpacking trip...but perfect for grabbing when you get home from a run or from work.

Ry Chi and Fawn came over on Saturday and we ate almost the entire pan they were so good. I was able to salvage only one small piece so that I could share a picture of the finished product with you.



Super Energy Bars

1/2 cup of Coconut Oil
1 cup Peanut Butter
1-2 tablespoons Agave Nectar
4 tablespoons Raw Cacao

1 cup Slivered Almonds
1 cup Dried Cranberries
3/4 cup Oats

Melt the first three ingredients in a double boiler. Add Raw Cacao and Agave Nectar after melting is complete. Transfer this into a bowl with the bottom three ingredients and mix together well. Press into a pan and cover with aluminum foil. Place in the the freezer for an hour or less.

Stay Positive,

Matthew

coming up next...homemade vegetable broth!

Preservation of the Heart

Hello Positive Eaters,

This week my first article for ChiLiving appeared in their monthly newsletter. ChiLiving Inc., are responsible for bringing you the practices of ChiRunning and ChiWalking, an energy efficient and injury free way to run and walk. The article they asked me to write was to center around heart health. This is quite a popular topic considering the high rates of heart disease and related maladies. These are best avoided by cardiovascular exercise and healthy nourishment.

ChiRunning and ChiWalking made exercise more enjoyable for people by teaching them to focus on their center and begin all of our movements from that place. I hope to make eating healthy enjoyable for you by showing you how fun and stimulating it can be. This alone cannot protect our heart.

The heart truly is the beat to which we keep the dance of life to. Every single stroke of its valves sends life throughout our body. Whether we move or stand still this internal band plays on. This is why heartbreak is so difficult for so many of us. Our hearts join in harmony with anothers and now we suddenly have a partner in the dance of life. When we disengage from this person the band plays on. How confusing?

Maybe the seeds of heart "dis ease" begin here. We know longer become comfortable with our own heart beat. We try and stuff it away like Poe's character in the Tell Tale Heart. We drown it in foods that put up blockages in our arteries in an attempt to choke it off. We become sedentary out of fear of feeling our heart beat within our chest. We run from our heart rather than run with it until it finally stops flowing life through our veins.

I spend at least an hour a day with my heart. Running through the streets, on the treadmill or in the woods. I need to listen to it so I know if I am pushing my body too hard. Often this spills over into my day. There is sometimes pain in my heart and sometimes joy. I notice that my heart only feels pain if I am blocking myself from an experience. I am by no means an expert on matters of the heart. I do know that the heart beats on its own accord, therefore we can never be its master. Our hearts will always keep us safe if we let them experience life. Give your heart a healthy body and a full and wonderful life and you will be dancing for many years that I can be sure of.

Stay Positive,

Matthew

view my heart health article by following the link below

http://www.chirunning.com/newsletters/latest.htm

Say I love you with Wheat Berries!

Hello Positive Eaters,

Valentine's Day is this coming Sunday. I find that people's emotional standpoint on this holiday ranges from apathetic to cynical to overly attached. I just think it is a great day to get in touch with our own hearts and the hearts of other people. I wanted to make a dish that was really healthy for you and would be a great precursor to some really good chocolate.

I picked up this recipe at Whole Foods in Andover the other day and was sitting on it. I decided to put it together today. I soaked the wheatberries all day Monday and cooked them on Tuesday night. If you never tried wheatberries they are definitely a hearty grain and you will enjoy them in this dish. I put together the dressing and started peeling a large beet. When I finished peeling, I place the beet on the cutting board and stood back for a minute, it looked just like a real human heart!



I grated both a beet and a carrot into the bowl with the wheatberries and added some chopped scallions. I began to view my creation as a culinary Valentine that was coming together right before my eyes.



I started mixing this together with the dressing and was happy to see that the entire dish was taking on a reddish hue...perfect for the holiday. To add some sweetness I added some organic Golden Raisins to my creation and stood back once again...it's easier to take the picture that way :)



I tosed this together lightly and added it to a small glass dish to sample. The dish was suprisingly sweet and satisfying. The succulent raisins give nice contrast to the crisp carrots and beets. This will be a perfect precursor to a full on chocolate experience. Enjoy this recipe and have a wonderful Valentine's Day!





Wheat Berry Salad (courtesy Whole Foods Market with a couple tweaks)

2 cups uncooked Wheat Berries
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Orange
1 1/2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Flaxseed, Grapeseed or Canola Oil
1 large Red Beet peeled and grated
1 Carrot grated
3/4 cup Golden Raisins
1 small bunch Scallion thinly sliced

Place Wheat Berries in large bowl and cover with filtered water overnight. Drain and rinse and cook like any other grain (place in rice cooker or sauce pan with four cups of water bring to a boil and back off to simmer). Let these cool on the counter for several hours. They will become more tender when they cool.

Cut in Orange in half and add the juice of it to medium sized bowl (add zest of orange if desired). Stir in Lemon Juice, oil and Salt and Pepper, this will be the dressing. Pour dressing in with cooled Wheat Berries and mix together well. Add grated Beets and Carrots as well as chopped Scallions. Add juice from the other half of the Orange and a tiny bit more Salt and Pepper and mix together well. Finally, add in the Golden Raisins and toss lighlty. This dish is ready to serve!

Stay Positive,

Matthew

Shredded Brussel Sprout Salad

Hi Positive Eaters,

Okay...you are looking at the subject line and saying "Brussel Sprouts...really". These weird little cabbage looking things get a bad wrap. When fresh they are actually quite sweet and pack a ton of amazing nutrients. None of that really matters though because this recipe tastes like a dessert. That is right a salad that tastes like a dessert. Give it a try and if you don't like it...well I will certainly eat it for you!

Shredded Brussel Sprout Salad

Ingredients

1 1/4 lbs Brussel Sprouts
1 cup Slivered Almonds
1/3 cup Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
Handful or Raisins and/or Dried Cranberries
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Shred or chop brussel sprout and place in a salad bowl (a food processor can also be used). Add slivered almonds, dried cranberries and/or raisins. Toss with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper.

Neat Fact: brussel sprouts are a cruciferous vegetable and are very good for your lungs and heart. Try out out other cruciferous vegetables such as kale, spinach or collard greens!

Stay Positive,

Matthew

Positive Signs

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to write a post on being positive. I post on this topic often because I feel people become confused by this concept. People ask "how can you just be happy all the time." Or..."thinking happy thoughts won't help all the people starving in the world." These people are absolutely right. However, being positive is not about forcing ourselves to be happy.

No one is happy all the time...the disturbing images coming out of Haiti are enough to sink even the most hardened person's heart. Holding hands and visualizing sunshine and butterflies while reading fairy tales will not pull desperate people out of the rubble. This type of catastrophe does call for people to be positive.

My brand of positivism is best displayed with an addition symbol +. When we add to something we are making a positive contribution. I was not a stellar math student but I did grasp this concept. Whenever we add or move forward me are making positive progress. I understand people will object, stating "if we put more guns on the street we are adding something but it results in tragedy." Once again this person would be correct. However, I am sure if we write out the rest of the equation we will end up with less than we started. People will lose their lives either to violence or to jail. True positivity occurs when our actions, our thoughts, our words add to the totality of human existence. There is no one on Earth who can finish out the whole equation, so we move forward in faith.

Even the smallest gesture can add to the sum. I contributed $15 to the Red Cross Haiti Relief Effort. This was matched by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and I am sure many of my fellow classmates followed suit. In contributed with hope that my positive action would add to the efforts in the embattled country. If I simply turned off the television listened to some John Tesh music and thought about skipping through a magical forest, my gesture would at best be labeled null. I guess I would be one more supporter of John Tesh's lovely piano music....but in my estimation would have done very little.

Being positive is about progress. Each of us can either help one another evolve and in turn evolve ourselves...or we can live survival of the fittest in which each of us takes and takes until nothing is left. I believe human beings got to this advanced state of development through their positive intentions. Call me delusional but I believe it to be so. I would encourage each of you to remember that every action carries with it this potential. When I close my emails with "stay positive", I do not mean "think happy thoughts", I mean continue to evolve, to grow and to contribute to the world around you.

Stay Positive,

Matthew

To contribute to the Haiti Relief Effort see links below

Red Cross

https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=1457186616&df_id=4437&4437.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=iziao0c2t1.app196a

Bill Clinton and George Bush Effort

http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org

International Rescue Committee

http://www.theirc.org

Updated! Celery Root Soup Recipe

I just made this today and made a couple alterations to the recipe. I only tasted it...I am saving it for monday night dinner...creamy and delicous.


Ingredients

Sea Salt
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil(the original recipe called for three :) love olive oil)
4 Stalks of Celery Chopped
1 Celery Root (I was able to find this at the local grocery store...peel an cut into cubes)1 Large Onion
2 quarts of vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 Cup Almond milk
1/4 Cup Plain Yogurt (added this to increase creamy texture and tangy taste)
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Granny Smith Apple diced
Chives or Green Onions or Scallions (they may all be the same thing...not sure)

Place a large stockpot over medium heat. Sprinkle bottom with a pinch of salt and heat for a minute (this is new). Add oil and heat for another 30 seconds. Add the Celery and onion and saute for 6 to 10 minutes, stirring often until soft but not brown. Add the broth and the bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add Cashew cream or almond milk and let it simmer for ten minutes.

Give it a try and impress your friends!

Stay Positive,

Matthew

Celery Root Soup with Granny Smith Apples

Hello Positive Eaters,

picture above from http://jewelsfromtherovingstove.blogspot.com (cool blog actually!)

My friend Oprah Winfrey sent me a recipe today from celebrity chef Tal Ronnen. I would not call myself an elitist...but if Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama both like the soup, it's worth knowing how to make in case they pop by one day.

I did not make it yet...so if any of you beat me to it let me know how it turns out. I made some modifications from the original recipe just to make it easier for me to make. I will update you guys after I make it.

Ingredients

Sea Salt
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil(the original recipe called for three :) love olive oil)
2 Stalks of Celery including roots chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 Large Onion
2 quarts of vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 cup Cashew Cream? (I am just going to use Almond Milk)
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Granny Smith Apple diced
Chives or Green Onions or Scallions (they may all be the same thing...not sure)

Place a large stockpot over medium heat. Sprinkle bottom with a pinch of salt and heat for a minute (this is new). Add oil and heat for another 30 seconds. Add the Celery and onion and saute for 6 to 10 minutes, stirring often until soft but not brown. Add the broth and the bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add Cashew cream or almond milk and let it simmer for ten minutes.

Allow this to cool and then blend ingredients in blender. Add diced apple and scallions when serving...place a spoonful in the center of the bowl.

Now you are prepared in case the leader of the free world comes over. You can also just make it for your family and friends and pretend you are leaders of the world. I bet you guys would think up some pretty good answers for some of the challenges we are facing.

Stay Positive,

Matthew

Washing my hair with dirt!!!!

Hello!

I truly hope you all enjoyed your holidays and were warmed by both primary and secondary food experiences.

I wanted to tell you about a gift I received from my sister Alison. On the show "Dirty Jobs" they were highlighting a company that makes self care products out of dirt! Using dirt to get clean....interesting paradox. She realized the company was based only a short drive from her home and picked me up a bottle of "Sultry Spice" shampoo. We all got a good laugh, as I read out the ingredients.

Pure Earth Hair Wash —

Organic Sultry Spice

Ingredients: Organic aloe vera juice°, clay minerals: aka dirt, organic extracts° of organic linden flower°, organic nettle°, organic chamomile°, organic shavegrass° and organic vanilla°, essential oils of organic sweet orange°, organic patchouli°, organic true lavender°, organic petitgrain°, organic atlas cedar°, organic cinnamon leaf° and organic pine needle°.

°USDA Certified Organic

I decided to give this a try after my run the next morning. I followed the directions and applied it to my hair. This felt quite strange because the shampoo does not lather at all. I felt like I was putting mud directly into my hair. I applied three teaspoons and rinsed and repeated three times. The water turned all ruddy and brown on the shower floor. I was actually getting dirty in the shower for once!

The rest of the day my hair felt incredible. As a guy, I always laughed at how much money women spend on hair products. I will now admit that your whole day brightens up when you step out with clean flowing locks. However...the shampoo companies are in trouble if word gets out that you can receive the same effect with mud!

The company is called Terresentials and they make skin, hair and body wash as well as deodorant. If you are wary about putting dirt in your hair...you can always buy it for someone else as a joke gift :)

Stay Positive,

Matthew

Blessings from Positive Eating!

Hello All,

This is a great season! We get together with the ones we love and enjoy a time where we embrace giving to one another. This time of year, every one of us seems to believe in peace, harmony and love. The best part is we celebrate these holidays with food and laughter, two powerful forces that nourish us on every level. Laugh and eat too much at the same time and our heart becomes so excited it sometimes burns :)

Positive Eating wants to thank all of you who followed this blog throughout the year. Getting it back going and maintaining it is a joy and I look forward to contributing each and every week. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa or Chanukah...I am wishing you great food, time with wonderful friends and loving laughter as 2009 comes to a close.



Stay Positive,

Matthew