Spicy Tempeh & Broccoli

Cut one pkg Tempeh into strips 1/2 inch wide and and 1-2 inches long. Place in a bowl with 1 cup broth (any kind), 4-6 cloves crushed garlic, 2 TBS Miso, a pinch of crushed red pepper, a dash or two of cayanne pepper and lots of black pepper. Put in fridge and marinade for an hour, stir, then marinade another hour. If you don't have Miso then add some salt and a few drops of soy sauce instead.

Meanwhile grate a large carrot, cut 2 crowns of broccoli into bite sized pieces, and take out a cup of frozen corn. Also cook either brown or white rice, or barley, lightly salted and peppered.

When the Tempeh is done marinating, heat a large skillet to medium with a couple of TBS of olive oil and if desired a couple more cloves crushed garlic, and pour in the tempeh, marinade and all. Fry up a couple of minutes, then add on top the veggies and cover. Check every 4-5 minutes, stirring a bit each time, adding broth or water if needed. When the broccoli is done, mix the whole thing well, to coat all the veggies. Serve over the rice or barley, with chunks of fresh bread or corn bread.
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I made this up because my husband could not stand the plain Tempeh, he ate around it like the kids then fed it to the dogs! This recipe was a hit, even with the kids. Tempeh is very good for you, it has tons of soy protein and fiber, and seems to suck up marinade pretty quickly. I think I might try adding sun dried tomato strips next time.

My husband has been fighting with his cholesterol, as I wrote earlier. He has listened to everything I said about his diet, he is an amazing man. He has self control that is unbelievable. He indeed is eating almost vegan, and it paid off, when he went to the doctor last week. Mind you this is the second time he has been on Lipitor and Zetia together, and it did little but make him exhausted. We go to the doctor, and his numbers are awesome. The LDLs are low, and the HDLs are very good! Total is 163! Yeah!

I went with him to his appointment because the doctor was discounting his exhaustion from the Lipitor. I got pissed, because he truly is tired, and to me what is the point of taking a medication to live longer if you are too tired to enjoy it? Also, I am big on listening to your body, and I worry that his body is telling him that this drug is not safe for him.

So he gets the numbers down, and the doctor tells him it was not his eating right, it was the drugs. Remember that he was on this same combination before and it didn't work. I told the doctor exactly how we were eating, and he took it more seriously, but still wanted to give credit to the drugs. So Dave said he will try one month of taking the Lipitor at night rather than morning, to see if it helps. If not, he is going off the Lipitor and staying on the diet to see if we can maintian the numbers naturally.

The doctor kept telling Dave he was fat. I wanted to dump the canister of cotton balls on his head. I piped up and told him that Dave looks great, that if the doctor wants him to lose weight, take him off the Lipitor, and he will start working out again. I also told him that the only reason he quit working out 5 days a week was the Lipitor, and that he stayed the same size because he stopped eating badly. This same doctor told my son he was fat, in a very crude way. The doctor is an osteopath, which means he is supposed to be as concerned with wellness as with drugs and technology. I think he is forgetting that.

We still have Tess, if anyone is looking for a slightly schizo, very sweet pit bull who can play a mean game of frisbee.