Thursday, February 21, 2013

Soy Sauce and Omega-3 Season 1 Episodes 6 & 7

Episode 6 is all about soy sauce. We had lots of fun in making some tasty teriyaki in both beef and tofu versions.  Here's a rundown of the show...


Soy sauce comes in many varieties and has both brand specific and regional-taste differentiation in flavor, thickness, and preservatives added. The main concern when buying soy sauce is to find one with a relatively low sodium content (200-500mg/Tbs).

Additionally, soy sauce does contain gluten. To get around this you can use Tamari. Tamari is almost exactly the same flavor as soy sauce but many brands of Tamari are gluten-free.

Vegetable Counters a Russo's of Watertown

Here's the recipe for our teriyaki sauce.

1/2 cup soy sauce or tamari
1/2 cup Chinese rice wine or sherry (or other vinegar)
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 Tbs honey
1/2 Tsp Thai chili powder

You want to marinate the beef it in for at least 2-hours (6 is better). For the tofu, do not marinate but instead cook the sauce down to reduce in half and then toss the cooked tofu in it a few minutes before serving. For either bake on a wire rack above a cookie sheet at 425F until done.

Lastly on episode 6 we gave a big shout out to Sol Azteca, a super-authentic Mexican restaurant with reasonable prices. Sol Azteca is located at 914 Beacon Street in Boston, just a few blocks from Kenmore Square and Fenway Park.

Take a listen to the episode.....

Food Becomes Me - S01E06 - Aired February 11th 2013 



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In Episode 7 we learned how to get more omega-3 fatty acids into your body. The general consensus was that ground flax seeds and flax seed oil are the best source even if they are a little expensive. Walnuts are also a decent source of omega-3s. 


Seafoods like salmon and shrimp have long been touted for their high levels of omega-3, but with this comes high levels of mercury and other pollutants. To compound this problem, it is found that farm-raised seafood does not contain such highly beneficial levels of omega-3s.

A giant selection of seasonal apples at Russo's in Watertown MA
When shopping for flax seed and flax seed oil there are not a great number of things to be concerned with. Make sure you are not getting whole flax because they omegas will stay trapped inside while the seed passes through your body (lol).

In cooking try to heat the flax seed or oil as little as possible. The best methods for this are to use the ground seed in things like cereal and baked goods, and the oil added to finished sauces.

We made a salad dressing of:

1 Tbs flax oil
1 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs cider vinegar
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground oregano

Whisk together and toss on greens; arugula was recommended. Take a listen to the episode for more info.

Under shopping advice, episode 7 introduced Russo's market in Watertown. Russo's is know for the having an eclectic collection of top-quality produce and fresh goods spanning every ethnicity.


Food Becomes Me - S01E07 - Aired February 18th 2013 



Food Becomes Me airs LIVE every Monday at 8am EST on UNregular Radio

Monday, February 4, 2013

Food Becomes Me S01E05 February 4th 2013


Dark leafy greens and special guest Hannah Blount. Mostly we talked about how to save money and get more nutrients by eating chard, kale, and collards instead of spinach or broccoli.

Food Becomes Me - Radio Show, Podcast, and Blog

We made a banana-kale smoothie as a great quick breakfast. Then I discussed how you can roast winter veggies, including collards or chard, for a easy and healthy single-pan winter meal.



Guest Hannah Blount is a local jewelry maker and came by to take some pictures and chat on air for a minute. Hannah talked with me about the restaurant Veggie Galaxy and introduced me to it's sister Veggie Planet. Her recommendation was to have the Benedict. All the photo's in this post are also courtesy of her. Check out Hannah's jewelry at hannahblount.com (and on my finger in the pics).


Shopping list items for the week is:
Almond milk, bananas, kale, collards, sweet potatoes and/or parsnip, garlic, canned black beans.


Food Becomes Me - S01E05 - Aired February 4th 2013 


Listen to the live show for free on UNregular Radio

Matt Lax wearing Hanna Blount Jewelry on UNregular Radio


Veggie Galaxy 450 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Food Becomes Me Returns

My Blog Returns as a Radio Show and Podcast!

Food Becomes Me is now a weekly 1-hour radio show on UNregular Radio. Tune in Mondays at 8am EST to catch the show live or just listen to the podcast replay here.



Food Becomes Me S01E03 1-21-2013

On January 21st we talked about rice with a focus on the new studies regarding arsenic as well as general nutritional content and absorption. Then I went over a cooking rice and the beauty of modern rice cookers, along with how to cook it in the over with vegetables and/or meat.



Food Becomes Me S01E04 1-28-2013

January 28th's episode was all about pasta. We took in all the current considerations like gluten and how to make a pasta meal more nutritionally complete. Then I laid out some ways to make sweet complete pasta meals for 2-6 people at around 5 bucks.



Listen LIVE on UNregular Radio