Dairy and MISO

What about dairy? One criticism I've received about my new diet plan is that I won't get enough calcium... and after all, isn't milk like the best thing for you? This is a good article to that end... and it has an embedded article in it that is good too. Only if you're interested in a different perspective from 'got milk'! ;)

One concern I did have was missing my probiotics by not eating my plain yogurt anymore. But I am slowly discovering the art of making miso soup. Mind you, I had never even eaten miso soup before a few weeks ago (though had seen it on menus in restaurants). And now I'm making it at home! I actually had to google miso soup to see what it was exactly. So for those of you who are like me and completely ignorant... I'll share what limited knowledge I've gained thus far.

So basically, miso soup is just the following: boil water with some veggies added in. Supposedly you need some kind of seaweed or mushroom in the water to make the 'broth'. I haven't ventured into buying the seaweed YET but I did try dried shiitake mushrooms for my first go at it. I think this will be an acquired taste. The other time, I only put scallions in the water and it seemed fine. I don't know if I committed a miso soup crime by doing this, but I'll keep you posted as I learn.

Anyway, you boil the water with things like mushrooms or kale or carrots or whatever... and then after it has boiled for a little while, you take out some of that water and mix it with some miso paste. You can buy miso paste in a tub at your local health food store. There are different kinds of this paste but I've only tried the barley miso so far. The miso is made out of fun things like koji spores and other things that I'm glad I don't see before it turns into this paste. Then you add the water/miso paste mix back into the veggie water... making sure that you don't boil the miso. That is the one major error I know that you can commit and I was sure not to! And that's it!

I haven't gotten my husband to try it yet, but my son likes it! I might try putting it in a cup with a straw to get him to drink more than just one spoonful... we shall see. That is my adventures with miso thus far. I am open to any suggestions from those of you who are more skilled in the art of miso soup making!!!