Kitchen Sink Soup

Hello,

Has it really been fourteen days since my last blog post? Wow. Did you all mis me? :).

I am busy living the life of my dreams. Helping people live positive and healthy lives, doing talks, counseling people, going to the grocery store, making some pretty good food. Life is great...but the positive act of eating needs to spread even further. So here I am back and in action!

Today, I want to show you a neat little trick for making soup. Everyone has vegetables lying around that they don't know what to do with. Half a stalk of celery, some leftover carrots, even at the office the refrigerator is full of leftover veggies that need a home. Here is a really simple way to make use of them: Make a soup.

Soup is very unfairly labeled a fall and winter food. I live in New England....we can go for a good soup any time of year.

So here is the process. Round up all your leftover veggies or steal them from the refrigerator at work and chop them all up. Put them in a slow cooker with some any type of broth you want (vegetable/chicken/mushroom/beef/eye of newt). Let this simmer all morning and by lunch you will have a soup!

This is a little chaotic but fun. Quantum physics says the structure of an atom is chaotic and orderly at the same time. Why not take this wonderful scientific theory into our food preparation?

We enjoyed this with some incredible tomato and avocado sandwiches provided by M. Lafleur. What a guy! I even included a picture of him chowing down!



Stay Chaotically Positive,

matthew

Quick and Easy Quinoa Pilaf

Quick and Easy Quinoa Pilaf

as taught to me by Andrea Beaman :)

Everytime I make this dish it makes people smile! Plus, it looks really fancy and tastes unbelievable. Try it and you will be suprised.

Ingredients:

1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Onion peeled and diced (or use 2 garlic cloves)

1 small can of mushrooms (or use potatoes)

2 celery stalks

1 Tablespoon fresh sage (really folks I reccomend the fresh sage!)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (regular salt is fine)

1 cup Quinoa

1/3 cup of dried cranberries

2 cups water

Directions:

saute onions or garlic with olive oil in a saucepan for 2-4 minutes. Add mushrooms or potatoes and cook for five more minutes. Add celery and sage together and cook for 2 minutes. Add quinoa and then 2 cups of water into the saucepan. This whole concoction will come to a aromatic boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

This stuff is sure to make you smile!

stay positive,

matthew

ChiRunning and ChiWalking

Hello All,

As many of you know, I am an avid runner. I love to run so much that I've driven myself to the point of sheer exhaustion doing it. This is partially because I have an exaggerated personality and partially because running is the most beautiful thing I've ever done with my body.

When my good friend Ry Chi became a certified ChiRunning instructor in October, he taught me how to run in a way that was both energy efficient and free of pain. Suddenly my relationship with running was no longer dysfunctional. I now run everyday with a feeling quite similar to marital bliss (I think...).

Ry Chi not only taught me how to run more effectively but introduced me to the fine people at ChiLiving. To make a long story short....like you, they love Positive Eating! In a recent addition of their newsletter they featured a nutrition article by yours truly :)

I encourage all of you to sign up for the ChiRunning and ChiWalking newsletter. You will learn more about your body than you could ever have dreamed and you may even get a dose of nutrition advice now and again.

Here is the link to the article,

ChiRunning Article

stay positive,

matthew

PS

If any of you would like to learn more about ChiRunning or ChiWalking you can click on the logo above for a list of instructors in your area. If you live near me....then you can be instructed by Ry Chi himself! His link is below

ChiRunning and ChiWalking Instruction

C is for cookie!

Cookies....you absolutely got to eat your cookies. I mean where would the world be without them. As a matter of fact, the cookie is analogous to the spinning disk in the sky we call the "world." They are both round and as you move across them you find all sorts of sweet and good things. Someone should make a cookie that looks like the world!

Last night, I had company coming over and realized I had to make something quick. By no means am I Betty Crocker, but I remembered the concept of how to make a cookie. Take some dry ingredients add them to wet and sticky ingredients and then mix them together. After baking for 10-15 minutes you got a cookie!

So I grabbed some whole wheat graham flour, some rolled oats, cinnamon and nutmeg. I decided to add baking powder....that seems to show up in baking recipes a lot. I have no clue what it does but figured it was best to stay safe and add it. Then I mixed Maple Syrup, canola oil, a little bit of rice milk, vanilla extract in a bowl. I added these two mixtures together, threw in some organic, dark chocolate chips and baked at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes.

To my utter shock this came out delicious. So I recommend you put this concept into action yourself:

Dry stuff - Sticky stuff - Chocolate chips - Bake

It may not make the best cookie in the world. But this is certainly the simplest cookie recipe in existence!

stay positive,

matthew

Bisphenol A

No, this is not a new pharmaceutical that someone walking next to a child pedaling a tricycle tells you about. Those are funny aren't they. They always claiming they got their life back, all they had to do was ask their doctor about _________. I am not quite sure where their life went? In all seriousness, this stuff leaches from PolyCarbonate water bottles and gets into your water.

Now, Positive Eating is the furthest thing from a "shock and awe" campaign. We are not even going to discuss all the nasty implications of this chemical. Because there is plenty of opportunity to have fun with this.

Find a simple glass bottle. Glass is probably pretty safe...we've been using it a while now and everyone seems to like it. Here is what I've been using.

Then I thought to myself....."well that is pretty boring". So I adorned it with this very simple sticker. I also am advertising my blog! That was the reason they started handing out those water bottles to begin with so made as well keep the tradition alive. I encourage you to create your own water container! If you would like to advertise for Positive Eating on the side of yours feel free. However, I would simply ask that you create a more appealing and eye catching logo than I did.
Stay Positive,

matthew

Wow! I got to up my game....

Hi Positive Eaters,



Over the past six days I've been checking out some other people's blogs. While I am proud of my lovely little blogspot....some people are doing some incredible stuff out there. I am not a celebrity...but many of my friends are and there blogs have videos, guest contributers, contests, spiritual awakening practices......It is enough to make me want to dress up in a funny costume dance around and then figure out how to upload video. Well I don't have really any funny costumes. But if I was going to do a video on positive eating, I would dress up like Shrek and have the song All-Star by Smashmouth playing in the background and I would turn delicous healthy foods into mock disgusting foods! That would be wicked cool.



If you get a chance check out the important work many of these people are doing in the world of health and nutrition.



My School's Blog site



http://www.integrativenutritionblog.com/



The blog of an absolute genius



http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog



A woman who really understands building a relationship with food



http://www.geneenroth.com/notes_from_geneen/



Deepak Chopra



http://www.intentblog.com/

My Good Friend Sebastian Oddo's Blog

http://www.positivefeelingsrule.com/blog.html


I want to do another post with more blogs for you to check out. So all my friends that read this blog, who have blogs, send me the links and I'll get them up here.

stay positive,

matthew

Are you rooted and grounded? Try a Daikon Radish

This may come as a surprise to many of you. But often I am not the most grounded person on the planet. Say one thing that gets me excited and I am off up in the clouds and ready to fly! You should see where a simple conversation about the Muppets can take me! When I drink green tea...which is known to grow at high altitude....consider me on another planet! So I thought to myself, maybe I should eat some foods that grow deep in the ground. We already know I am crazy about sweet potatoes. Well I decided to kick it up a notch when I saw this crazy root in the produce aisle. If the tail end didn't curve I would not have fit it in the picture!
I chopped up my Daikon Radish with care and tossed it in a hot pot with some freshly chopped ginger (another root). This simmered along with a box of Sweet Potato Soup. The box soups were on sale! I could not resist picking up a bunch. So they may be making a consistent appearance here.
Afterwards, I mixed it up with some medium grain brown rice. This meal consisted of three different root vegetables. After the meal my feet were stuck to the floor and I was nervous that I would not be able to get back to my desk. Fortunately I made it and was able to finish this blog post.
Stay Positive,

matthew

Food of the Heart

I know it's been a while....but you positive eaters out there never leave my heart. I've been to New York and back and a little bit of everywhere the last two weeks and thought. I am going to make a lunch today from my heart. There is no scientific evidence to say that Red Peppers and Green Beans with Rice lightly flavored with Sweet Pea Soup is "certified Heart Healthy".
What I am talking about is making food from your heart. We should always love and appreciate our food. When we make food for others this is a chance to love and appreciate them. When I made this lunch I really tried to stay in my heart....I even listened to Tracy Chapman's Matters of the Heart album while preparing it. I know I am a big softy....but Tracy Chapman is cool and she is from Massachusetts!



It is important to put your heart in everything you do. But that can get stressful for people....so I recommend starting with your cooking. I promise you it will radiate out into other areas of your life

:)

stay in your heart,

matthew

Sweet Brown Rice with Sweet Red Pepper and Sweet Peas Soup

Sweet isn't it?

One or Two Red Bell Peppers
Three Handfuls of Green Beans
2 Cups of Sweet Brown Rice
4 Cups of Water
2 cups of Sweet Pea Soup

Remember we use a 2:1 ratio with our rice and water! I cooked this rice up in my rice cooker and right before it was finished cooking off all the water I added the soup and the vegetables. I let this simmer for a bit and then enjoyed!

Mediterranean Scrambled Eggs

Hello everyone,

Today I made breakfast for a group of hardworking teachers in the town I live in. This is a monthly ritual for them. One Thursday a month they all bring in food and enjoy selections from a large spread of dishes. I felt one way to thank them for the important work they do is to make an organic healthy breakfast.

Mediterranean Scrambled Eggs

A bunch of eggs

1/2 cup of soy milk

chopped spinach

sliced in half grape tomatoes

lemon pepper

feta cheese

I beat the eggs and soy milk thoroughly then add in some lemon pepper and beat the eggs a little more. I then transfer to a a frying pan that is coated with butter, ghee, shortening...whatever works for you. I let these eggs cook until they are becoming solid but still a little moist. Then I put in the tomatoes and the spinach and move them around until the eggs are done. I transfer these two a casserole dish and sprinkle feta cheese on top. This makes a great lunch and it is colorful...making it a hit at group breakfast events. Sorry there is no picture....I guess I was still a little sleep making this and forgot to bring the most important cooking utensil I have....the camera!

stay positive,

matthew

PS.

off to school again this weekend. The world of Positive Eating is getting busy!

Fruit Faces

Hello Positive Eaters,





I just wanted to share with you what our Pita Face project inspired. Ray Germain has added fruit faces to his morning fruit repertoire. He is quite proud of these and wants to go over and make this with his neices and nephews.





Positive Eating is now reaching out an inspiring people! Of course....when I say it is inspiring people I mean my Mom and Dad....but it is a start. Please feel free to send me any Positive Eating experiences you have had lately.





matthewgermain@yahoo.com

Stay Positive,

matthew