Mushroom Miso Soup

I like miso soup every once and a while (especially when the craving for something salty hits). The convenience of buying the pre-made, dry version is ruined by the fact that they all contain "bonito"; a type of fish. I haven't been able to find a packaged mix that doesn't contain bonito so I ended up trying this quick and easy homemade recipe for mushroom miso (I used dried shitake, portabello, and enoki)


 

A bundle of enoki mushrooms

The soup is surprising hearty—using enoki gives the texture of noodles in your soup.


Ingredients:
5  cups water
1/2 cup of dried mushrooms
2-3 tablespoons miso paste
3/4 pound assorted, thinly sliced mushrooms (shitake, oyster, enoki, king, lobster etc)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red bell pepper, diced
300 grams tofu, cubed
2 green onions, chopped

Directions:
In a large pot, bring the water and dried mushrooms to a boil. Turn off the element, and let the mushrooms steep for about 15 minutes. Add the miso paste and mix well.

In a skillet, saute the mushrooms in the olive oil. Add the bell pepper and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes. Add the mixture to the miso broth along with the tofu and green onions.

Serves 4
Nutritional Breakdown Per Serving
  224 Calories
  8 g Fat (29.1% calories from fat)
  12g Protein
  32g Carbohydrate
  6g Dietary Fiber
   0mg Cholesterol
   337mg Sodium

Veganism myths debunked: Infographic

Love this infographic from Mother Nature Network that lists a variety of common myths and false perceptions about veganism... http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/veganism-myths-debunked-infographic

Among them:

1. Vegans don't get enough protein
2. Vegan diets are unhealthy
3. Being Vegan is Expensive

Bet you didn't know these things were made from animals!

As if it isn't enough that you to have to read the ingredients to find hidden animal by-products like lard and gelatin, here's a list of everyday items that surprisingly could contain animals...

1. 1. Toothpaste (eeewww meat toothpaste)
2. 2. Tires on cars or bikes (may contain stearic acid)
3. 3. Stuff made with wood like furniture or wooden musical instruments because they are glued together with animal based glue.
4. Biofuels (there's actually chicken and beef biodiesel)
5. Fireworks (stearic acid again)
6. Fabric softener (tallow is the culprit here)
7. Shampoo and conditioner (wtf!)
8. Plastic bags (again...wtf?)

Add to this list sugar which I previously blogged about and wine (blogged about in Is your wine vegetarian? )

Read the full article here: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/9-surprising-items-made-with-animal-ingredients.html