Where the Heck I Have Been!

Hey all,

I survived the GRE's! That's the monster test I spent most of October studying for. May's taking it too (two weeks, so keep your fingers crossed and send good vibes her way!! She's studying across the table from me right now :) so we crammed studying in every available nook and cranny in our respective schedules. As we drove out to Kushi, we shouted words like "prevaricate" and "peregrinate" across the seat. We quizzed between macro cooking classes.

My life is now devoted to even thirds: coffee shop, grad school preparation, and sleeping. It's been hard to squeeze macrobiotic cooking into the schedule, but I've tried. I'm writing this blog post because all the blood in my body is currently in my stomach making headway on a heavy pumpkin muffin, and I find myself unable to write anything really funny.

I made a truly righteous set of Honey Coconut Cornbread muffins this week that were surprisingly delicious. They were extremely mild in sweetness, and were sweetened entirely by Boston-area raw organic honey.

Here's the recipe on that. I don't have a picture, so here's a picture of the pumpkins we made for Halloween (the originals from the internet). Happy Halloween!

1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
½ cup coconut shavings plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon powdered kuzu root, dissolved in cool water
1 cup soy milk
2 large eggs
1/2 stick vegan margarine, melted
3 to 4 oz. raw organic honey

Preheat oven to 400. Mix liquids, then solids. Mix liquids forever, because the soy milk and honey congeal, and it's a serious pain to get it looking nice. Line 12-16 cups in a muffin pan with aesthetically pleasing cupcake liners. I used pink polka-dot. After filling tins 2/3 full with batter, sprinkle the tops of each muffin with a generous pinch of shaved coconut and cook for 15-20 minutes.

NOTE: These cupcakes were great, but they were kind of small. Going back, I'd probably do 6-10 in a deep pan. Great recipe, and really cheap to make. Coconut shavings cost a little more than sawdust. It's great.

Faking Bacon

There is never a good reason to have bacon. There are terrible reasons to have bacon, and then there are great reasons.

Terrible reasons:

Being hungry
Free continental breakfast
Eating a BLT
Hating swine

Great reasons:

Ironic accidents

That’s pretty much the only one I can think of. If you just got hit by a car on your birthday, for which you were given a ski trip to the Alps, I’m not going to be the one to stop you from eating bacon if that’s what makes you happy. I’m just macrobiotic. I’m not unreasonable.

But barring strange and unusual accidents, you should probably steer clear of the sizzly stuff. Look at it this way: Back when the Old Testament was written, they had leprosy, typhoid fever, bubonic plague, massive, carnivorous desert lions, and God banned pork.

That’s unsettling.

If you’re like me, you were raised on bacon. If you’re Southern, it’s in everything. Its ubiquity in home cooking warrants a place on the periodic table of the elements. It’s in your meat dishes, your vegetable dishes, your French fries, your desserts… and it’s usually stored in a reusable run-off jar under your kitchen sink.

When I became macrobiotic, one of the last meals I ate had bacon in it. I threw it up, and it lost some (but not all) of its appeal. Last week I was screamed at by a regular customer at the coffee shop who wrecks my world every Tuesday morning. I very much look forward to addressing her shortcomings in my final week at the shop. I came home and for the first time in several years, truly, deeply needed bacon.

Did I mention I also had six ears of corn hanging around?

So here's how you fake bacon in dishes. Don't go out and buy "facon." For one thing, it's almost never gluten-free. For another, it's usually processed to the point that it's no longer real food. If something has been flattened, mashed, and dyed to resemble the food it's avoiding, for your health's sake, you might want to just eat the original. At least you know where it came from.

I LOVE this fake bacon because:

1. It's from real, whole foods.

2. It's cheaper than fake bacon.

3. It tastes amazing

4. It can be easily crumbled into "bacon bits."

Mmmm...

TEMPEH BACON

1 pack of tempeh, I prefer wild rice.

2-3 tbsp. toasted sesame oil

2-3 tsp. Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Slice tempeh into thin, bacon-esque strips. Heat sesame oil at medium-high in a cast iron skillet. Throw in the strips, and as they sizzle, hit them with a generous squirt of Bragg's. Let it really sizzle. Flip, and allow further sizzling to occur.

The important thing is that when you remove the strips, you allow the tempeh bacon to dry properly. Otherwise it gets soggy and limp. Lay strips on paper towels on a plate so that the oil gets absorbed properly.

Enjoy "bacon" adventures!

Super Soakers and Seaweed

Ever since visiting Kushi last week, we've really been focused on slow food. I've always dreaded soaking my beans and rices because it feels so labor-intensive. You have to know, at least a day in advance, that you're going to be in the kitchen in twelve hours soaking aduki beans, and as someone who likes to cook exactly what I'm in the mood for when I want it, this has always struck me as a burden.

Big surprise, it wasn't.

In two days, we soaked four different items, and because of it, had AMAZING, fresh tasting dishes that brought so much fun and joy to the kitchen!

The Soaker: Short Grain Brown Rice, Tuesday Night.

The Dish: Rice with hijiki, carrots, and burdock Wednesday Lunch.

The Soaker: White Kidney Beans, Wednesday Morning

The Dish: Moroccan Bean Stew, Wednesday Dinner

The Soaker: Short Grain Brown Rice, Thursday Morning

The Dish: Steamed Collard Greens with Blanched Onions, Poached Salmon.

The Soaker: Hijiki Seaweed, Wednesday Morning

The Dish: Hijiki, Carrot and Burdock Salad, Wednesday Lunch.

The cool thing about soaking seaweeds is that it doesn't take too long, and when you rinse it, it takes a lot of the sodium and salty flavor out of it. It's important to watch your seaweed intake so you don't get too many minerals, but if you vary the kinds of seaweed you consume, you can get some great dishes:

Nori

Uses: Sushi, dry-roasted snacking, crushed as seasoning

Wakame

Uses: Soups, raw salads with seasonings and other fresh ingredients

Kombu

Uses: Soups, dashi stock

Hijiki

Uses: Cooked hot in dishes, mixed with other vegetables