Vegan Sushi and "Seaweed Soup"

Yesterday I helped make Vegan Sushi with my friend Janelle.  When I say help, I mean I brought the Nori (seaweed wrappers), diced the avocado, tofu and carrots, and I cut the rolls into all these beautiful slices :)   Janelle and I like to get together and cook vegan food...or run.  She had a baby this year so it's been awhile since we ran together, but we're still turning out some great tasting food.

When my kids heard that we also had Miso Soup they were all about having Miso Soup (AKA "Seaweed Soup") for dinner tonight.  It's been awhile since they've had some and my kids love seaweed, so any excuse to eat seaweed!

So at my trip to Whole Foods today I picked up a tub of Miso Master Organic Chickpea Miso.  Chickpea Miso contains no soy, it is fermented chickpeas in a paste form.  It is super healthy because it is essentially a raw food that contains genistein, which is an isoflavone that protects against breast cancer.  So you never want to put the paste in boiling water.  You want to add it to the same water temperature as you would tea leaves- the point at which tiny bubbles are beginning to emerge from the bottom of the pan.

If you have never bought Miso at the grocery store, always buy it Organic and in a paste form, NOT the little packages of dry powered miso with dehydrated tofu and seaweed.  Those are super salty and low quality.  I like the Chickpea Miso because it is super mellow and has a naturally sweet flavor that kids love.  There are different types of Misos, some have a strong flavor, like Red Miso and Barley Miso.  These Misos make a good sauce or dressing or added flavor to a vegetable soup, but you might not want to make Miso Soup straight up from them.

The directions on how to make Miso soup are super simple, they are inside the package!  I make my Miso with water or no sodium vegetable broth or stock.  

 

As you can see, someone is happy I made Miso soup...and she ate three bowls loaded with Wakame and a little bit of organic sprouted tofu.  When we add this much Wakame we like to call it "Seaweed Soup"!

If you've never bought Wakame before, Eden Organic makes a good one and they come dehydrated so you just add them directly to the water.  If you don't like big pieces then you can hydrate the pieces in a separate bowl of water and chop them into small pieces.

Give Miso Soup a try at home and tell me about it in the comments section!