Tempeh-Kale Macro Bowl with Miso-Tahini Dressing

Macrobiotics - sounds fancy, doesn't it? Let me reassure you, it's nothing complicated. Macro (large) and bios (life) makes for something rather positive - large life food? Okay! A macrobiotic diet consists of eating primarily grains and fresh vegetables and avoiding processed food. Sounds...well....normal, if you ask me.

Moving away from packaged, processed food can be the first step of many towards an evolved diet and balanced spectrum of health. Simply put, the more processes the raw food has to go through to become what's in a package, the less value it has to your body and the more taxing it is to break it back down. Your body wants simple things - carbohydrates, healthy fats, easy to use proteins, water, nutrients. It doesn't need stuff that you cannot pronounce, preservatives, flavor enhancers, or grains that have been stripped of nutrients and then enriched with other nutrients. It just wants fresh, natural, easy to use fuel.

The more work that our bodies have to do to break down complicated packaged meals, process often difficult to digest dairy products and attempt to deal with meat that hangs out in the digestive tract for a long time, the less energy your body has to power the rest of it's work. Your body requires energy to heal your sore muscles, build up your immune system to ward off colds and diseases, to power your workouts and keep your brain functioning. The less your body has to work at digestion, the more resources are available for everything else! Once I grasped this concept, my idea of food as fuel shifted entirely!

Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup short grain brown rice (cook per your rice cooker or these instructions)
• pinch of garlic powder or dried garlic
• 2 heads of kale, rinsed and chopped
• 4 small handfuls of sauerkraut, rinsed and pressed dry
• 1 package whole grain tempeh (8oz)
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 spoonful sweet white miso
• 2 large spoonfuls tahini (sesame seed butter)
• 2 spoonfuls of water
• cracked sea salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook rice with a pinch of garlic powder according to either rice cooker or stove top directions.
2. Preheat oven to 400'. Line baking sheet with foil, spray with cooking spray. 
3. Combine soy sauce and water in a zip lock bag. 
4. Slice kale in half so you have two thin sheets. Cut these sheets into four pieces each for a total of 8 pcs. Place in ziplock with marinade and set aside while doing everything else. Turn occasionally.
5. Scatter kale over baking sheet. Mist with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper.
6. Bake until wilted and slightly crisping at edges about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
7. Combine sweet white miso, tahini and 2 spoonfuls of water and either use an immersion blender or whisk by hand until smooth! Set aside.
8. Heat pan or stovetop grill pan and coat with cooking spray over medium high heat. Add tempeh to pan and cook about 5 minutes per side until lightly browned. Flip and cook the other side, basting with the reserved marinade as necessary.
9. Divide rice between four plates, top with kale, sauerkraut, tempeh and drizzle with plenty of sauce.