Easy Magical Soup

My husband and I have been fighting off what I'm hoping is just a cold for several days now.  For the first few days I barely ate.  Today is a different story.  Look out!  My appetite came back, and then some.  I knew that this meant I needed to eat highly nourishing and healing foods.  So voila, Easy Magic Soup! I could feel the toxins and germs being sucked out of my body after every bite.  Okay, maybe that is a bit of an overstatement... but it did leave me feeling nourished and happy.  I highly recommend that you give this soup a try the next time your body needs some extra love.  

My favorite part of this soup is that it is not an exact science.  There is no specific recipe that must be followed... more like guidelines.  I'm not a recipe person so I apologize if you are.  Oh, and this makes a lot of soup because I love soup!  So you might want to cut it in half if it's just your awesome self eating it.

Definitely give this soup a try, and let me know how you adapt it and what you think!

Ingredients:

Stock:

1 medium onion, cut in half

2 celery stalks, cut in large chunks

2 5-inch or so stalks of dried lemongrass (I'm sure fresh would be wonderful, too)

1 5-inch or so knob of ginger sliced up

2 cloves crushed garlic

5 shiitake mushrooms (you can throw in stems or entire mushrooms.  If only using stems add a few extra)

Large handful cilantro stems

1/2 cup shoyu

1/4 - 1/3 cup mirin

2-3 tsp high quality sweet white miso (I love Sweet River Miso)

10 cups water (like I said before, this makes a ton!)

1 chili pepper (I did not add chili into mine because I couldn't get any, but I feel like it would be tasty especially if you like things on the hotter side)

Soup:

Protein - I used thinly sliced organic free-range chicken breast and sprouted tofu.  You could use one or the other or neither!  Whatever you're into.

Whatever veggies you like!  I used thinly sliced onion and carrots, broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, button mushrooms, leeks, and napa cabbage.

Rice noodles

Garnish: 

Wedge of lime, cilantro, scallions, and Sriracha

To Cook:

To make the broth, throw all of the stock ingredients EXCEPT for miso into a pot, cover, bring to boil, and then simmer for at least an hour.  Remove from heat and strain.  

Cook rice noodles (follow package for instructions).  Set aside.

Bring broth back up to a boil.  If you want chicken, now's your chance.  Add in chicken, stir.  Reduce heat so it is a gentle boil.  You want to make sure you cook the chicken.  After a couple of minutes, add in veggies.  I always add in onions and carrots first.  Then broccoli and mushrooms.  The idea is to soften the veggies, not kill them.  They should keep some of their crunch.  Remove from heat, add miso.  The easiest way to add miso is by taking some hot broth and mixing it in a cup with the miso paste.  Once the miso is dissolved, add it back into the pot. Never boil your miso paste.  Miso is a living food, and we'd like to keep it that way.  Add tofu slices. Add chopped up cabbage or whatever other leafy greens you are using (spinach would be great).  Give it a gentle stir.  The greens should slightly wilt.

To serve, add noodles to bowl.  Ladle veggies and broth over noodles.  Top with whatever garnishes you like.  The lime juice was my favorite part!  Eat up.  Have seconds.  Experience the magic.