Vegan day 61: My own MACRO meal from scratch
I did it! I am so proud of myself! It is in this moment now that I can so intensely appreciate the moms, dads, grandparents & family who have cooked for me and everyone… the restaurant chefs and sous chefs of the world.. and all those who love to cook overall. I mean I can cook a little- but not more than one or two things at a time! I thought it would be exciting to make my own macro meal- I had no idea it would be so intense. I only messed up on my sesame dressing which luckily, I didn’t even need! Order is important here- if you take it one step at a time in order, then you won’t get anxious like I did lol.
(1) A day in advance
pre-soak the beans. I used red beans. Other good ones would include azuki, chick-peas and lentils. It’s good to add a small piece of kombu to minimize the flatulence caused by eating many beans. Kombu also can help improve the alkalinity of the beans by adding minerals. Drain and rinse the beans the next day and cook with fresh water until soft enough to eat. I added cumin and turmeric to mine.
(2) Brown rice takes about 30-45 minutes. Plan ahead. I put a drop of extra virgin coconut oil in the pot with a little sea salt. My brown rice came out excellent this time! 2 1/4x water to rice.
(3) Rinse and then soak the hijiki seaweed (or other) for about 15 minutes or until soft enough for your palate. I started to cook mine until I realized that you can eat hijiki raw- it’s ok to warm it up as well. Many restaurants add some sort of sugar or salt so I tried it too- just a little though. I used a 1/2 T agave and 1/2 T tamari. I will be replacing my agave soon with a better sweetener (it’s processed and high in fructose)- I only have 100% organic maple syrup and stevia in my home and neither seemed a good fit. I think I will buy some rapadura just for these occasions. Honestly, you don’t need to add anything– I’m sure most of the macro restaurants don’t add anything– some Japanese do though.
(4) Preparing the tofu also takes a few minutes. First of all, you really have to drain out the water. This will require emptying the water, pulling the tofu out and pressing it gently with paper towels. I cut mine into a square and then again in half through the middle to make 2 perfect squares each with half the depth of the original. Sounds confusing- I actually followed a recipe for this tofu and it came out fantastic! RECIPE for tofu.
I put the 2 squares of shallow tofu into a small dish mixture of sea salt, white and black sesame seeds. Then I transferred these into a small frying pan with 1T of coconut oil. “Olive oil please be on alert that extra virgin coconut oil is quickly stealing my heart away.” lol Cook both sides for about 4-5 minutes each.
(5) Lastly are the ever so important vegetables: I used sweet potatoes and kale. You don’t have to start with these because they require the least amount of cooking time. Even the sweet potatoes only took about 10 minutes; the kale only 2 minutes: STEAM THEM BOTH!
Arrange your macro plate and enjoy!
Speaking of plates, I threw away all of my “normal” size dinner plates a while back as I went through a “lifestyle” change. Changing habits are important too if you are interested in not overeating, which is all too common in this country. An appetizer or salad plate is the new normal for me… up to about 15 minutes ago when I had to arrange this for the photo lol. I may have to buy a few display plates!
Disclaimer: The information given here is for educational purposes only. You should not use this to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.
