Healing soup
"Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food."
--Hippocrates
This is what I've been making every day since Saturday when I came down with a cold with flu-like symptoms. Miso, shiitake, ginger root, garlic, and cayenne are reputed to add many health benefits. Please note: I made this soup intensely spicy for myself because I can take it and I want it strong to blast the illness right out of me. Anyone else who isn't as used to high levels of Capsicum scovilles may want to reduce the amount of cayenne to 1/2 teaspoon or less. (Although my fire-eating friends catskillmarina and invisione would add even more.)
4 cups water
1.5 tbs fresh ginger root, minced
2 tbs onion, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/4 cup peas
1 tsp black pepper
1.5 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1/4 block lite firm tofu, diced
1/4 cup spinach, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs Westbrae Organic Mellow Brown Rice Miso
1. Boil the water, adding ginger root and onion.
2. Add in succession the carrots, celery, peas, shiitake, pepper, cayenne, tofu, and spinach. Simmer on medium-low for a few minutes.
3. Shut off the heat, add the garlic, and let the simmering gradually cease.
4. Put the miso in a bowl, add a spoonful of broth to it, and mix well. Keep adding a spoonful of broth at a time and blending until the miso is smoothly liquefied. Pour it into the soup pot, stir, and serve.
Eat it all up. Feel the burn. :) Cayenne may sting, but it doesn't actually hurt you... I find it very soothing.
Yield: 3 or 4 bowls
Calories in the entire recipe: 182
Protein: 9.5 grams
Carbohydrates: 34.6 grams
Fiber: 6.2 grams
Fat: 2.0 grams
Cholesterol: 0 grams
Calories from fat: 18
Sodium: 1418 mg
Vitamin A: 259%
Vitamin C: 48%
Calcium: 16%
Iron: 14%
I know that's a huge amount of sodium, but that's why I chose Westbrae mellow miso because it's much lower in sodium than other varieties. Still, that's 59% of the recommended daily sodium for a 2,000 calorie diet, and I'm at only 1600 calories per day. So when eating this, definitely lay off the salt shaker for the rest of the day.
The cliché for healing is chicken soup, but as a vegetarian, I think the combination of shiitake, tofu, and miso more than makes up for the absence of bird-flesh, plus it's very low in fat, and cholesterol-free, what's not to love about it? The point is to take in plenty of hot liquid.
--Hippocrates
This is what I've been making every day since Saturday when I came down with a cold with flu-like symptoms. Miso, shiitake, ginger root, garlic, and cayenne are reputed to add many health benefits. Please note: I made this soup intensely spicy for myself because I can take it and I want it strong to blast the illness right out of me. Anyone else who isn't as used to high levels of Capsicum scovilles may want to reduce the amount of cayenne to 1/2 teaspoon or less. (Although my fire-eating friends catskillmarina and invisione would add even more.)
4 cups water
1.5 tbs fresh ginger root, minced
2 tbs onion, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/4 cup peas
1 tsp black pepper
1.5 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1/4 block lite firm tofu, diced
1/4 cup spinach, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs Westbrae Organic Mellow Brown Rice Miso
1. Boil the water, adding ginger root and onion.
2. Add in succession the carrots, celery, peas, shiitake, pepper, cayenne, tofu, and spinach. Simmer on medium-low for a few minutes.
3. Shut off the heat, add the garlic, and let the simmering gradually cease.
4. Put the miso in a bowl, add a spoonful of broth to it, and mix well. Keep adding a spoonful of broth at a time and blending until the miso is smoothly liquefied. Pour it into the soup pot, stir, and serve.
Eat it all up. Feel the burn. :) Cayenne may sting, but it doesn't actually hurt you... I find it very soothing.
Yield: 3 or 4 bowls
Calories in the entire recipe: 182
Protein: 9.5 grams
Carbohydrates: 34.6 grams
Fiber: 6.2 grams
Fat: 2.0 grams
Cholesterol: 0 grams
Calories from fat: 18
Sodium: 1418 mg
Vitamin A: 259%
Vitamin C: 48%
Calcium: 16%
Iron: 14%
I know that's a huge amount of sodium, but that's why I chose Westbrae mellow miso because it's much lower in sodium than other varieties. Still, that's 59% of the recommended daily sodium for a 2,000 calorie diet, and I'm at only 1600 calories per day. So when eating this, definitely lay off the salt shaker for the rest of the day.
The cliché for healing is chicken soup, but as a vegetarian, I think the combination of shiitake, tofu, and miso more than makes up for the absence of bird-flesh, plus it's very low in fat, and cholesterol-free, what's not to love about it? The point is to take in plenty of hot liquid.