Miso Soup, Two Ways

I've been eating miso soup almost daily lately, and I've settled upon two ways to prepare it. First I'll give you the fancy version, then the quick-and-dirty. :-)

If I have time to invest 10 minutes in preparation (sad to say, it's not always the case, though I'm trying to do better), here's what I do -

Miso Soup
serves two

2 cups water
1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 dried mushroom
1 tablespoon wakame flakes
~ 1/4 cup cubed tofu (any kind will work)
1/4 teaspoon grated ginger
1 rounded tablespoon red miso

In a small/medium saucepan, combine water, sliced carrots, sliced green onions, mushroom, and wakame flakes. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. While you are waiting for the water to boil, combine ginger, miso, and a splash of water (maybe 1 tablespoon) in a small cup or bowl and mix until the miso is creamy/dissolved. After you remove the water/veggies from the heat, stir in the cubed tofu and the ginger/miso mixture. Spoon into two bowls and enjoy!

The next option is for those times when you're feeling a bit peckish in between meals and want to have something healthy and warming to tide you over until lunch or dinner.

Super-Quick Miso Mug
serves one

2 teaspoons red miso
a pinch of ground ginger

Boil some water in a teakettle. While you wait for it to heat up, combine ginger, miso, and a splash of water (maybe 1-2 teaspoons) in a mug and mix until the miso is creamy/dissolved. Pour hot (almost boiling but not quite) water over the top to fill the mug.

Food Ramblings

I haven't taken the time to post much vegan food related content here on my blog lately and I'm curious - do you miss it? I don't have a good sense of what percentage of my readership is here for the jewelry vs. here for the vegan food/lifestyle stuff (and I suppose there's probably some overlap). Anyways, I've been giving food a lot of thought lately so I thought I'd post a bit.

Basically, I've been inspired to put a stronger emphasis on whole foods in my diet after reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone, and I've also been slowly incorporating more macrobiotic recipes and philosophies into my diet and lifestyle.

One of the things that Alicia stresses in her book is that while processed whole grains (breads, pastas, etc.) are certainly a superior choice to white/refined grain products, we can do even better nutritionally by putting a higher priority on the grains in their truly unaltered state. This is one of those ideas that sounds so obvious and simple that I can't believe I have never heard it anywhere else, or thought of it myself. Yes, whole wheat bread is better than white bread, but a bowl of barley or brown rice is even better.

The book also encouraged me to incorporate more vegetables into my diet - both in sheer volume and in variety. I feel like I've always done a pretty good job of eating a decent amount of fruits and vegetables, but I go through phases where I do better or worse, and I think I have a tendency to go with more of the sweet fruits and less of the veggies.

And finally, I'm trying really hard to drastically reduce my processed sugar intake. It really is nasty stuff that does yucky things to your body. When I do have a craving for something sweet, I've been experimenting with using agave nectar or maple syrup in place of granulated sugar.

I've only been doing this for a few weeks but I feel really good about the changes I'm making and if there's any interest from you guys, I'd be happy to share some of the recipes/ideas that are bringing me the most enjoyment. Let me know. :-)