Some changes to my meals…

Macromagician is lately going through some dietary changes, it´s been a bit of a wild ride…first with my oil-free (almost) no-dessert regimen (including no nuts and sunflower/flax seeds) which was designed by my macro teacher…and now switching to an upgraded and modified version which is more anti-candida oriented. So right now I am starting a sort of “macro anti-candida diet” for some time. I plan to get back to the original dietary plan which I had, but for now this is the regimen, because I realized that I am not treating the candida overgrowth strongly enough and the effects can be quite devastating. Diet alone (the idea of starving the yeasts by not feeding them the simple sugars they like best) might and might not work, depending on the specific case. Anyway, that´s my take on it, there is a lot of contradictory information on candida out there, especially within the macro community, so you just gotta make your own opinion on it in case you are struggling with this issue. Apparently almost all of us in these modern times have a candida overgrowth in our intestines (and not only there) to some extent, due to our common background of eating acidizing foods, combined with long-term/frequent medication use, pollution, stress etc. 😦

Thus, my new modifications are: introducing some natural antifungal remedies (such as coconut oil, which is used by some macro teachers/students and not by others; or garlic, flax and olive oil, lemon, apple cider vinegar, but also some spirulina/chlorella, barley grass powder etc.) and also a daily cleanse with grey bentonite clay which pulls out toxins from the body without being absorbed by the body, it literally just passes through carrying away the unwanted fungi and other harmful bacteria. I could (and might) write more about my anti-candida plan, but let´s get back to the food!

I wanted to let you know mostly because there might  be from now on less activity on the blog (let´s face it – the anti-candida diet is often very plain and not exciting in terms of interesting recipes) and also some of the ingredients might not be from the standard macrobiotic diet (such as above mentioned coconut oil which didn´t yet make it to the classical MB literature, but I believe it might one day, as it´s starting to be used more widely).

Yesterday my lunch was: sprouted and cooked sweet millet with gomasio (I am now soaking/sprouting all my grains for 24 hours to make them easy on the digestion), steamed veggies (green beans, carrot, daikon, turnip, leek, broccoli and collard leaves), long-baked onion/carrot/pumpkin drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and rosemary (baked for about 45 minutes, first under a tinfoil, then uncovered) and a salad of lettuce and rucola with a dressing of 2 tsp flax oil, 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, salt and black pepper (for 2 people).

 

Steamed greens with tofu dressing

In the picture below you can see one of my lunches – pressure cooked rice and rye, long-baked onion, carrot and parsnip (sprayed with tamari and a tiny bit of oil, baked for about 45 minutes under tin foil, then 15 minutes uncovered), steamed greens (bok choy, curly cabbage, pointed cabbage, cauliflower leaves, kohlrabi slices, leaves and stems) and tofu dressing.

For the dressing I blanched roughly 50 g of firm tofu for a few minutes (to make it easier to digest and less weakening), placed into a blender with 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp tahini, 1/2 tsp ume paste and 1/2 tsp white (shiro) miso, and blended until smooth adding liquid as needed.

Last macro meals before my move…

In the beginning of March we were busy with relocating to Slovenia, and we are still settling in…Here I have some meals which I cooked still before our departure but didn´t manage to post them until now…so with a bit of delay… 😀

Rice pressure cooked together with barley with a sprinkle of shiso powder – shiso is a plant with red leaves, the sprinkle also contains seasalt and ume plum vinegar so it has a pleasant salty-sour taste. Kinpira made of dried burdock, carrot, stems of kolrabi and tamari. Steamed pointed cabbage and kolrabi leaves. Arame seaweed cooked together with onion halfmoons, sesame seeds, seasoned with tamari. And of course miso soup…

A couple of days later I cooked rice together with amaranth and millet (with gomasio on top). Accompanied by brown lentils flavoured with ume plum vinegar (I love the combination of legumes and ume plum). And a lovely sautee of fennel, onion, leek, butternut squash, zucchini, green beans and cauliflower, on some olive oil with a mediterranean herb mixture…Usually I don´t make such “southern” dishes, but from time to time I like something with a touch of the south…

5.1.

I really love the looks of this simple healthy dish!

What is it? Just…

Cooked brown rice, steamed chinese cabbage, green beans and paksoi, baked hokkaido pumpkin slices and black beans with a sweet-sour glaze.

The pumpkin was in the oven for about half an hour on 200°C and before baking I sprayed it lightly with tamari (I love my tamari spray!) and seasoned with dried rosemary. Next time I would bake it less long because it was a bit too crispy – but pumpkin crackers ain´t bad either 😀

The black hokkaido beans were first dry-roasted until their peels cracked and the inside turned golden, then pressure cooked for 45 minutes with a double amount of water and a piece of kombu seaweed to soften them more. When they were done I thickened the remaining bean water with a tablespoon of kuzu starch diluted in a bit of cold water (be sure to stir constantly when mixing in the kuzu solution…), while keeping the beans on a low flame (the kuzu must be cooked). Then I seasoned them with some lemon juice, ume plum vinegar and rice malt. It turned out a bit too sour thanks to the vinegar/lemon combination, so if you like your beans more sweet than sour, leave out one of them. But if you don´t use ume plum vinegar (which is salty), add either salt or soy sauce, otherwise there will be no salt in your beans which would not taste balanced at all 😉

 

Scrambled tofu eggs

On 23.11. I attempted for the first time to make scrambled tofu, something that is supposed to remind you of those good ole days of yellow scrambled eggs from the pan 😀 I got a pretty good result, and it´s sooooo quick and easy! First I sauteed a large amount of onion and leek slices on olive oil, until soft. Then I crumbled in a big block of firm tofu (you really have to squish the tofu in your hand, otherwise you won´t get the desired texture) and seasoned it with turmeric (for the yellow colour and also flavour), piri-piri (chilli flakes), black indian salt and ginger powder. Next time I will put LESS turmeric – the colour was pretty, but the taste was too overwhelming.

As accompanying dishes I had cooked teff (the smallest grain the world!), nishime of pumpkin, and steamed veggies (daikon, red radish, carrot and onion).

10.10.

Yesterday I was cooking a whole lot – I gotta practice now that I´m doing the macro school!!

For lunch I had cooked sweet millet (more sticky and creamy than regular millet), with steamed veggies (red cabbage, onion, daikon, carrot, cauliflower, rapini/mizuna), and dry-roasted tempeh with sauce made of tamari, mirin (sweet rice wine) and lemon juice (add after the tempeh is roasted and let evaporate). I burnt my tempeh a little bit, so no picture! 😀

For my dinner I cooked a mix of buckwheat and quinoa (which is truly awesome, the light texture of the quinoa makes the heavy hearty buckwheat less heavy and hearty :-D). I also cooked adzuki beans with kombu (helps soften the beans) and some time before the end added a few chunks of hokkaido pumpkin, mmmmmmm…..

I also had a sidedish of arame (which I presoaked for a bit and used the soaking water) cooked with sliced onion, roasted sesame seeds and corn kernels, and seasoned with tamari. I cooked it long enough to make the water soak in or evaporate. Arame is my favourite seaweed, with a very gentle pleasant taste – good for seaweed beginners!

24.9.

Here is another Very Easy Recipe for a quick macrobiotic plate – cooked amaranth (this time I cooked 1 part of amaranth to 3 parts of water and it ended up much better than just 2 parts of water!), steamed carrots and onions (steamed onions become really really sweet, my favourite veggie to steam!), a spoonful of sauerkraut (I got one with juniper in it, be sure to get organic sauerkraut which has nothing but cabbage and salt in it, or some herbs, but no sweetener or vinegar!) and green fava beans from the can.

23.9.

I love the “macrobiotic plate” with islands of different types of food. It is a bit like creating a symphony 😀 Some time ago I finally got my order of 5 kg (!!) of teff in the mail, so I cooked it for dinner. Teff is a super-nutritious grain from Ethiopia, actually the smallest grain in the world. It reminds polenta a bit when cooked. It has a very fine delicate texture and I really like the taste and aroma…and it´s done in 15-20 minutes! Together with the teff I steamed broccoli and daikon (steaming is a hit in our household lately) and served them with a quick sauce made by diluting rice brown miso with some warm water. I also did a stir-fry in a wok – leek, green beans, carrot, chinese cabbage and celery stalk, with added sesame seeds and a dash of tamari and water. Simple yet satisfying dinner 🙂