I re-read an interesting book recently called Glow by Christine Pirello that details how food effects the way we look and feel. There's descriptions on everything from white bumps near the eyes to acne and dry skin. I paid close attention to the sea vegetables category because I discover new gray hair on an almost weekly basis.
One reasonable theory in Glow is that gray hair and baldness are hereditary. May be, but my Mom didn't get too much gray hair til her mid-forties, so I'm looking to cheat my fate. Who would be happy finding gray hair, aside from Jim Jarmusch, who's had it since age fifteen, and uses his hair to attain outsider status wherever he goes. But I digress.
Glow suggests eating sea vegetables daily or as often as possible, because they contain valuable nutrients that are tough to find in other food. I was surprised Oscar agreed to my "let's eat miso soup with seaweed for breakfast idea." Maybe he's used to my crackpot ideas (do you want to try raw foods? Let's get a juicer. How bout a food dehydrator?), and presumably realizes I say more than I actually do. After a month of my miso for breakfast suggestion, we have yet to eat any home made miso soup, for any meal.
Until today. I was head-achy and hungry, and nothing in the fridge or pantry jumped out... until I noticed the package of toasted seaweed. I pulled out a jar of mellow red miso (Westbrae Natural brand) from the fridge and found a good layout for how to make miso one pot miso soup. I tweaked the recipe so it could match as close to restaurant miso soup as possible. This means I omitted their suggestion of thinly sliced carrot, cauliflower, or cabbage. The results were a light, salty, slightly sweet soup, with onions that were a bit too crunchy (longer saute time should help for future batches), and the seaweed a little too soggy. I thought I had stirred all the miso in thoroughly, but found a glop in the bottom when I was serving. Avoid this by stirring continuously until the miso melts into the broth.
Eating the soup made my headache disappear. I'll keep you posted if my gray hairs miraculously stop showing up each week.
Easy Miso Soup Recipe:
1 tsp. olive oil
1 onion, medium diced
2 cups vegetable broth or water (I used water after discovering my box of veggie broth expired in 2003. What? I thought I just bought it a year ago. I usually use chicken broth or stock, so that may be why I never noticed the expiration.)
2 sheets toasted seaweed, cut into small squares. Tip: Slice into sheets, then stack the sheets and cut into small squares.
1-2 Tbsp. Miso, to taste
3 oz. firm tofu, diced
Garnish before serving: 1/2 Tbsp. Eden Shake Sesame and Sea Vegetable seasoning
In medium saucepan, saute onion in oil until they turn translucent. Make sure they are not too crunchy by tasting one. Add broth or water, cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add 1-2 tablespoons miso, and seaweed, and dissolve. Simmer 5-10 more minutes. Sprinkle Eden shake over soup before eating. Serves 2 for breakfast or as a light starter to a meal.
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