INSPIRATION!

The Local Food movement is growing, it's picking up steam and momentum! Initiatives are spreading all over the country and the globe all to share the same message: "Let's Eat Local". Let's check out who is leading these movements and why it means so much to them!

Jack Johnson:

Jack Johnson is a famous musician from North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. His relaxed music is intertwined with an environmental and simple living meaning. Johnson has also adopted a simple way of life and has made the environment and the local food movement the base of his philanthropy. In 2010 Johnson was awarded the Billboard Touring Awards Humanitarian Award and in 2012 he was awarded National Wildlife Foundation's National Conservation Achievement Award. His "All At Once" social action network promotes sustainable and local food systems and plastic free initiatives. This site features individuals making changes in their communities to help their environment and shares non-profit and volunteer opportunities across the United States! The motto of "All At Once" is "An individual action, multiplied by millions, creates global change"! Johnson focuses on Your Actions, Your Voice and Your Choice and provides inspiring videos to help you get involved in your town! In addition to this great organization Johnson also minimizes his environmental impact of his world tours! According to the 2013-2014 Tour Greening Report, Jack Johnson selected 93 non-profits to partner with which were local to the cities in which he was touring, over $500,000 was donated to these organizations from Johnson's fans and the All At Once donation matching program! 2,416 single-use 16 oz. plastic water bottles were displaced by fans who refilled their own water bottles with 302 gallons of water at the All At Once water stations! Lastly, Jack, the Band, and the fans offset 2,730,000 lbs of CO2 emissions by touring in biodiesel buses and the overall greening of their world tour!

Jack Johnson on his Tour Greening efforts!

Check out this video promoted on allatonce.org!

Matt Damon:
Matt Damon continues to be a leading environmental activist in Hollywood. Most recently Damon was awarded an Environmental "Ongoing Commitment Honoree" for his work as a cofounder of Water.org and his writing of and acting in the major motion picture, "Promised Land". Promised Land released in 2012 is a film about the controversial method of removing natural gas called hydraulic fracturing or "fracking". It calls to attention the environmental and financial burden it places on the residents of areas where this occurs.
Water.org spreads awareness of the world-wide water crisis and how we as individuals can help! Water credit is one of Water.org's best inventions, by sharing the financial risks with the banks, they can convince banks to loan money to help those without water! Check out the video below!

What is Water.org? Click on the video above!

MOST IMPORTANTLY...YOU!:
As "All At Once's" motto states, "an individual action, multiplied by millions, creates global change"! Each and every one of us can do our part to help our community become more sustainable! This is our home and we want it to last! Be inspired by your neighbors, your favorite musicians, actors and celebrities and by your local farmers and friends and make a change. It is as simple as buying a reusable water bottle and using it or purchasing a water filter. It is as simple as recycling or composting. It is as simple as scheduling one 100% local meal a week. These small changes are making the difference. Inspire yourself and inspire others! Here are some people helping in their communities:

Soup Season

It's that time of year again, break out your big pots and load up on vegetable and chicken broths because it's soup season! Tortellini, Chicken Noodle, Clam Chowder, Minestrone, Tomato and the thousands of other combinations are ready to be tried out in your kitchen. It is said that people have been making soups since 20,000 B.C.! In 1300, Huou, a chef at the court of Kublai Khan (Mongolian Emperor) wrote a collection of recipes (mainly soups) and household advice titled, "The Important Things to Know About Eating and Drinking". It wasn't until 1897 when a chemist, Dr. John T. Dorrance, with Camden's Campbell Soup Company invented condensed canned soup. Today, Cambell's Tomato, Cream of Mushroom, and Chicken Noodle Soup are the three most popular soups in America. Americans consume 2.5 billion bowls of these three soups alone each year. That's a lotta soup! 

I recently made Illinois Prairie corn chowder soup but I cheated a bit and used Frontier Soups in Minutes packaged soup mix. Frontier Soups are prepared using all-natural ingredients with no added salt, preservatives or MSG! I made this soup vegetarian by using Field Day organic vegetable broth that I picked up from Friendly City Food Co-op instead of chicken broth as the recipe calls for. Also I added a bit of spinach for added protein! The recipe is simple:

INGREDIENTS

5 cups of Organic Vegetable Broth

1 cup Half and Half

Canned or Fresh Spinach

1 packet of Frontier's Soup in Minutes, Illinois Prairie Corn Chowder

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil the broth.
2. Add the Soup Mix Packet and return to a boil for 15 minutes.
3. Add the Half and Half and Spinach and cook on low for 5 minutes.
4. Let it cool slightly and serve to your friends and family!

It's really that easy! Also soups are a great option if you don't have a whole lot of time or money because you can toss a bunch of ingredients from your fridge into a crock pot and you are set! There are a plethora of soup recipes on the internet and many of them will include ingredients that you already have in your fridge. 

What is your favorite soup to make or eat? (Post responses on Facebook or below in the comments) Post the recipe on the blog to share your love of the soup with others!

Happy Eating!

"I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food."

- W.C. Fields

~Ryan

Local Eats in a BIG City

If you've been to New York City you know just how many restaurants are in the city, there are a few on every block in Manhattan. In fact in Manhattan alone there are over 3,500 restaurants and another 1,000 in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx combined (USA Today). This makes choosing a restaurant in the city a difficult task considering all the options, especially for tourists visiting the city. But is it possible to find local food in a city of New York's size? Sure it is. On a recent trip to New York, a friend and I ate at a few excellent restaurants that offered local, natural, sustainable and organic foods on their menus. Thanks to Greg for the great recommendations! I am going to give a little review on each of the two restaurants we visited.

THE SMITH:
First was "The Smith" located in Midtown at 956 Second Ave at 51st Street. A trendy underground style restaurant with subway tiled walls and a wooden floorboard ceiling. Quotes are printed on the tiled walls and vintage Edison light bulbs dangle from the ceiling. Upon being seated a waiter or waitress brings a bag of bread and a clear glass bottle of sparkling water and a bottle of flat water. The Smith purifies their own flat and sparkling water in efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.


The ambience portrays a busy and upbeat classy restaurant with undertones of a unique dive. Young business professionals loosen their black ties and find solace from their hectic wall street daytime life in this simple Manhattan eatery.

To start we tried an appetizer of hot potato chips drizzled with a bleu cheese fondue, a starter recommended by Greg! The chips were delicious and started the meal of right. Quick and attentive servers bustled around as more professionals poured in from the frigid Gotham streets. To our left was a full bar featuring craft brews and bottled beers. 3 of The Smith's 7 unique draft beers are local selections, two of which are brewed in Brooklyn and the other is a milk stout from Oceanside, NY. To our right was a young family, a few couples, and a group of coworkers all enjoying drinks and food.

In a timely manner our entrees arrived at the table, mine a bowl of hot ravioli topped with mushroom bolognese, crème fraîche and tarragon and my friend's a sizable pork chop with a side of corn and bacon flapjacks, creamed kale and maple jus. We both dove right in and loved every bite of our meal! I would say it was one of the best meals I've ever had! Kudos to The Smith and all of their dedicated employees and chefs for creating a great New York dining experience.

Ryan's Rating of 5/5 STARS!

Photos Courtesy of The Smith

ROSA MEXICANO:

Second was "Rosa Mexicano" located at 61 Columbus Ave at 62nd Street. After an afternoon of art appreciation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art we gained an appetite of art of a different kind, food art. After a chilly walk through Strawberry Fields, Central Park we happened upon a relaxing 2nd story restaurant. The Mexican eatery has a cascading wall waterfall starting from the 2nd story and falling down to the bar lobby. White tablecloths drape the tables with woven chairs tucked beneath. The menus are filled with delicious offerings from fresh guacamole and chips and enchiladas to freshly made tacos. For a drink we ordered homemade passionfruit iced tea served in a 2 glass pitcher for each person and served with awesome homemade simple vanilla syrup. 

This vegetarian and gluten-free friendly restaurant offers a great option for lunch called "Lunch Crunch". This option is a three course lunch with just the right amount of food. Served all at once the diner receives a scoop of freshly prepared, delicious guacamole with a handful of tortilla chips, a bowl of seasonal soup, one taco with your choice of filling and a vanilla flan infused with espresso. This is what I ordered and I loved every bite of it. My friend tried the Chicken Tortilla Pie served with house rice and refried black beans. 

The flan was excellent and we had an overall great experience at Rosa Mexicano! A great Mexican selection in New York with locations in cities up and down the east coast as well as in San Francisco and Los Angeles! I recommend trying Rosa Mexicano in the city closest to you!

Ryan's Rating of 5/5 STARS!

Photos Courtesy of Rosa Mexicano, NYTimes, and RamenandFriends

"If food is poetry, is not poetry also food?" - Joyce Carol Oates

~Ryan

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Photo Credit

Today we reflect on the past year and make resolutions to better ourselves for next year. It is a time to spend with family and friends and welcome in the new year! With each new year we also welcome in possibilities, exciting opportunities, new friendships and relationships as well as future challenges and obstacles. Take some time today to reflect on 2013 and get in the right state of mind for 2014. Set goals and challenge yourself. Eat healthier, travel farther, exercise, be more outgoing, smile and laugh, be confident, make people happy. Whatever you wish for 2014 make it positive and attainable. Set the bar high and exceed your expectations! Good luck on sticking to your goals and I wish everyone a Happy and Healthy 2014!

My 2014 Goals for Ryan's Local Roots:

1. Post more frequently! Final exams and the holidays kept me very busy and I haven't spent enough time posting and sharing important health and local food tips. This is something I will improve in the new year.

2. Be more interactive with social media and comments.

3. Delve into stories of farmers and local merchants!

4. Conduct a local food review of Downtown Harrisonburg and other communities I visit.

I look forward to sharing these stories with you in the new year! Thanks for your support! Keep reading, sharing, and posting comments!

~Ryan

"You don't need a silver fork to eat good food." - Paul Prudhomme

Banana Peanut Butter Protein Smoothie with a Twist Recipe

Banana Peanut Butter Protein Smoothie with a Twist Recipe

Looking for a healthy smoothie meal replacement, a nutritious snack, or a guilt free dessert? Well I have the perfect thing to try. Making fruit smoothies isn't really an art, I tend to just think about what I have in the kitchen and wonder if their flavors will blend well and try it out. Sometimes you end up with a terrible result and other times it's delicious! Here is one that I tried out yesterday and thought it was a good combo of flavors. 

Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana

1 heaping tablespoon of all-natural peanut butter

1/2 cup of your favorite milk

1/2 teaspoon of local honey (I used Mud-E Acres)

1 splash of vanilla extract

1 handful of fresh spinach

Directions:

In a blender, blend together all ingredients until well combined and smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy! I used a recycled jar so I could put a lid on it and take it for the road!

   Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 300

Protein: 12.3 g  25%

Total Fat: 10.9 g  17%

Potassium: 892 mg  25%

Vitamin C: 61%

Calcium: 23%

Vitamin D: 12%

Vitamin K: 510%

Vitamin A: 165%

Health Tip: For fruit smoothies, superfood spinach adds a bunch of nutrients and provides a high percentage of vitamins and minerals and does not provide flavor. So toss a handful of spinach in any flavor smoothie and enjoy the nutrients without disrupting the great taste you love!

Have a healthy and happy day!

Sincerely,

Ryan

"Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate" - Alan D. Wolfelt

Tuesday Pick-Me-Up

How are we supposed to be happy when each day we are exposed to this:

Iconic photograph from the Boston Marathon Bombing that occurred on April 15, 2013

Gas prices reach record highs over Labor Day 2012

Hollywood actor, Paul Walker dies in flaming car crash on November 30, 2013

Super-Typhoon Haiyan makes a catastrophic landfall in the Philippines in early November 2013. 

Well here's my theory; life is all about balance with every yin there is a yang, every defeat there is a triumph and every fall there is a rise. Yes things like this are happening all over the world and have been happening for centuries. We have become conditioned as consumers to feed off negative news. It is evident on websites and tv programs such as CNN, ABC, Fox News, NBC and the like. We have become an audience that thrives off sensationalism rather than facts. Well in a world like this many of us including myself find it hard to be happy day in and day out when all around us is negativity. So my question is how can we sustain happiness? Here's my answer:

Luckily because we live in a balanced world there is happiness everywhere, we just need to realize it:

Funny Faces

Funny T-shirts

A beautiful day in a beautiful country

A great concert

Fall Foliage

A beautiful sunset sky

Fulfilling a bucket list item with pride

Disney World

Making Wednesdays exciting

Face paint

Laying in the grass

Recognizing beautiful food

Seeing shapes of hearts in bread

Looking at old family photos

Making a sandwich

Discovering blueberry soda

Big blocks of cheese

Cars decorated like rudolph

And of course music makes us happy like these super-happy songs that just make you feel good:

Hopefully those songs made you happy!

Have a great day!

~Ryan

Happy Friendsgiving!

Thanksgiving has recently passed and many of us Americans sat around dining room tables and

expressed our thanks. Many of us were thankful for the food before us, the family and friends that surrounded us and our good health. A similar event took place 8 days before Thanksgiving in my apartment in Harrisonburg, VA. As a co-celebration of Thanksgiving and Max's 21st birthday (my roommate) we decided to have our very own Thanksgiving with our friends a week before the actual holiday. This is a tradition that is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. and is becoming known as "Friendsgiving". NPR mentioned it on their Thanksgiving radio show this year, there are Pinterest
pages dedicated to Friendsgiving ideas and it is even defined by Urban Dictionary. Similar to the traditional Thanksgiving it is a potluck and one friend hosts the dinner and cooks a turkey and all other friends prepare their seasonal specialty. For college students I was impressed that we were able to come up with such a delicious meal. We had friends bring pies and cornbread, Katie brought her first-ever-made mashed potatoes and helped prepare the turkey, Carly brought over cranberry sauce and I prepared candied sweet potatoes and stuffing for the turkey! The sweet potatoes came from the Tuesday farmer's market and were delicious! I'll post the recipe below!

Something to consider is that we only just moved in this past August and we felt comfortable enough by mid-November to have all of our neighbors and friends over for a great dinner. We went around the table and discussed everything we were thankful for and for just about all of us we were most thankful for meeting each other. It is funny because 3 months prior to this dinner none of us were friends or even knew the others existed and now we are sharing a big meal together. There is something about the holiday season that forces people together and to be kind and cheerful and we did just that. As Christmas draws nearer I challenge you to bring a group of friends together and have a potluck and it may even serve as a reunion of old friends. 

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving and that you will hold a sense of joy in the upcoming weeks leading up to Christmas. Happy Friendsgiving Everyone!

~Ryan

P.S. I apologize for the long break from the last blog post to this one. I was busy with school and celebrating the holiday with friends and family. I thought you'd all understand! :) I will be posting more frequently once finals end next week.

"Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers." ~ William Shakespeare

Candied Sweet Potato Recipe

Yield: 1 group of hungry friends

Ingredients:

5 lbs of Farmer's Market fresh sweet potatoes

1/4 cup of butter

1/4 cup of brown sugar

cinnamon

2 cups of mini marshmallows 

1/4 cup of mini marshmallows to sprinkle on top

1/4 cup of mini marshmallows to eat while cooking :)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9x11 pan with cooking spray

2. Wash, Peel and Cube the sweet potatoes

3. Boil sweet potatoes in a big pot of water for about 15 minutes or until slightly undercooked

4. Drain sweet potatoes and let sit in a bowl while preparing the next step

5. In a big pot over medium heat melt the butter, brown sugar and 2 cups of mini marshmallows

6. Stir in the boiled sweet potatoes until well covered by the butter mixture

7. Mash some of the sweet potatoes and keep others whole and sprinkle the whole mixture with cinnamon

8. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly

9. Bake for 15 minutes

10. Remove from oven and sprinkle 1/4 cup marshmallows on top and bake for 3 minutes or until marshmallows are slightly browned.

11. Let cool and enjoy with friends!