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!