Thursday, December 17, 2009

Dinner 12.16.09 - Ravioli and Miso Soup?

Last night we had an odd combination of items for dinner, but overall it was reasonably healthy. We started with a miso cabbage soup followed by five mushroom ravioli with a little melted earth balance and truffle shavings.

Since we don’t eat much oil any more the teaspoon of earth balance that I melted over each small plate of ravioli seemed like a lot of fat to both my husband and me. It is amazing how quickly your tastes grow accustomed to healthy low fat food. Next time I will probably cut the earth balance in half. Sorry I don’t have a ravioli recipe for you. I pulled these from my freezer stash and they were made before I started documenting my recipes. I will make a batch of mushroom ravioli in the coming months and post the recipe.



Both my husband and I love miso soup and I normally make a mushroom miso but since we were having mushroom ravioli I decided to make a cabbage miso soup tonight. I used cabbage for added nutrition and fiber. Here is the recipe for tonight’s miso soup.



Miso Soup with Cabbage
Serves 2

Ingredients:

6 cups water
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 piece kombu, 6 by 6 cut into ½ cubes with scissors
3 cups cabbage, shredded
1 cup celery, sliced very thinly
12.3 ounces of organic firm silken tofu, cut into small cubes
4 tablespoons yellow miso

Directions:

Combine the water, onion and kombu and cook until the onion is soft. Then add the cabbage and celery and cook until the cabbage is the consistency you like. Now add the tofu cubes. Turn off the heat and place the yellow miso in a small bowl. Add a ½ cup of the hot soup broth to the miso and whisk to thin the miso. Add the miso back to the soup and serve immediately.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 246.06
Calories From Fat (26%) - 62.82

Total Fat - 7.1g
Saturated Fat - 1.21g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1451.31mg
Potassium - 894.16mg
Total Carbohydrates - 28.99g
Fiber - 7.43g
Sugar - 12.34g
Protein - 18.93g

Comments:

I love miso soup it is one of my favorites. I make many different versions of miso soup and think they are all equally good. Miso soup is low in calories. My only complaint is that it has more sodium than I would like but other than that is a nice healthy soup.

Each serving of this miso soup contains approximately 55mg of calcium, 140mg of vitamin C, 105mcg of folate, 130mcg of vitamin K, 125mg of phosphorus, and 60mg of magnesium.

Unrelated Note:

Sorry I didn’t get this posted last night. We ended up eating dinner later than normal and then relaxed after dinner (which my husband thinks doesn’t include blogging, silly man).

Today I have a little cleaning to do, and then I am making an Egyptian breakfast bean dish since I packed the end of the French Market Soup in my hubby’s lunch today.

For those considering the 6 week intensive "Eat to Live" program I find that eating a small serving of beans with each meal helps keep me full longer. Undoubtedly this is a result of the protein. That is why I am making the Egyptian breakfast beans today.

I will be back with another recipe or two after I finish cleaning and exercising. I hope you all have a great day and manage to stay warm. It was a balmy 25 degree Fahrenheit this morning. Brrrrr. With weather like this it is definitely a good day to stay home and warm.

14 comments:

  1. I can't wait to hear about the Egyptian breakfast beans! I love beans. I enjoy miso soup, too, but I rarely think to make it.

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  2. Brigid,

    We love beans too! The recipe is something my Egyptian friend from Cairo told me about and I have been making it ever since. I think you will like the recipe.

    Miso soup is something I make two or three times a week for lunch. I never seem to get enough of it. Plus, it is so quick to make (another bonus).

    Alicia

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  3. Sounds good to me. I made some spinach ravioli once and used miso and dried wild mushrooms to make a "sauce". Turned out surprisingly well. I never think to keep miso on hand.

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  4. Heather,

    A sauce out of miso and dried mushrooms sounds really interesting. I love miso mushroom soup, so I will probably really like this. Thanks so much for sharing the idea.

    I would starve without miso in the refrigerator. It really is one of my go to items. I like it as much as my husband does his walnut butter.

    Alicia

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  5. Alicia, 25 F. does sound balmy, it was 15 F. here this morning when I took the kids to school and then went grocery shopping ;)that miso soup looks especially inviting today!

    It's been a few years since I read Eat to Live, I can't remember everything. Is the 6 week program only for weight loss, or does he also give info. for following it and maintaining your current weight? When I went back to eating vegetarian and eliminating most processed foods a few years back, I lost 15 lb. and I didn't need to lose it. It took me a while to put it back on and I don't want to lose it again. I should go to the library and re-read this when I get time, I remember enjoying it the first time I read it. I know you said in another blog post you would make adjustments so your hubby wouldn't lose weight,so I will be watching what you post with extra interest.

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  6. Janet,

    The 6 week progam is for dropping a few pounds and changing your taste for less healthy food. If you don't have any weight to lose it probably isn't for you. I tend to eat too many carbs. I love grains and doing this periodically reminds me not to eat too many of them and it makes me crave them less.

    For my hubby I am adding more grains, seeds and nuts to keep his calories up. It is difficult to eat enough calories on the 6 week plan to maintain weight unless you eat a lot of beans.

    Fifteen degrees is darn cold. I will stick with my 25 thanks! I have become a weather whimp since living on the east coast so long. It is hard to believe I used to live in the mid-west.

    We first went on Eat to Live right after my hubby had his cancer diagnosis 6 years ago. He also had high cholesterol and I wanted to get it down to get him off the med. When his cholesterol and blood pressure came down within a month I was sold on the idea of a healthy vegan diet. Periodically now I go back on the 6 week plan when I know my cooking has drifted a little to the unhealthy side.

    talk to you later,
    Alicia

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  7. Thanks for the info., Alicia. I do actually eat a lot of beans, everyday. I also ate extra nuts in order to put on weight. I think I read this when I was helping my son to lose weight, and it inspired me to eat better. So I think I will re-read it.

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  8. Janet,

    I definitely eat more whole grains than beans. That is one reason this is good for me. I tend to crave the less healthy foods. By refocusing periodically I force myself to reread the book and remind myself exactly why we are eating this way. I will probably not stick rigidly to the 6 week plan but getting closer to it would be good for me and the hubby.

    Have you read "Eat for Health", the follow up book to "Eat to Live". That is another good book and he explains the nutritional aspects a little differently. Things tend to stick with me more when I have it explained multple ways.

    Alicia

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  9. Tehehe--our HIGH today was 15 degrees, and it felt WARM, sadly. Our "highs" earlier in the week were in the single digits...think 5 or 6 with wind chills of -20. Burr!

    I hope the miso soup kept you warm last night :-)

    Courtney

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  10. Courtney,

    OMG, your high was 15 degrees! Where are you International Falls? I only say that because when I was growing up in NW Indiana it was always colder in International Falls and we would always say how could anyone live there in the winter.

    There will be something else hot tonight for dinner to help keep us warm. I love the idea of raw food, but when it is cold outside, raw food doesn't have much appeal for me. I am certain Dr. Fuhrman would say we need more raw food this time of year. Oh well, I can only do so much, even for health.

    try to stay warm,
    Alicia

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  11. Please post the Egyptian breakfast beans!

    Yesterday it was 30 here and that felt warm to me! It has been in the teens here in Chicagoland.

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  12. Susan,

    Nice to meet you. Sorry for the delay on the Egyptian beans. I need to get a good picture and then I will get the recipe posted. It should be up later today.

    I grew up on Lake Michigan in NW Indiana so I still remember the weather in the midwest well. I can't say I miss the cold wind and the horizontal snow.

    stay warm,
    Alicia

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  13. You are close--I am in Minneapolis. It is a nice day here today, though...sunny and 26. A heat wave, lol! I know it is crazy, and 2 months ago *I* would have thought that 26 was freezing cold too, but with our "highs" in the beginning of the month being so low and wind chills below zero, this sadly does actually feel warm. I guess it is what you get acclimated to.

    One thing I do in the winter is make a big huge salad with tons of raw veggies, and then top it with warm cooked veggies and/or beans (or a thick stew or something). People think it is really weird, but it does taste good to me, and it is a nice variety of raw and warmer cooked foods too :-)

    Courtney

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  14. Courtney,

    I love your idea of something warm on the salad. That is something I am definitely going to try, maybe this weekend. I put warm chili on salad so the idea doesn't sound crazy to me.

    I can't believe my location guess was so close. That was weird. I haven't been to the midwest in two decades. However, I still remember how cold it was when the wind was blowing the snow horizontally and my eye lashes and eye brows would freeze. It never gets that cold here. There are winters when I don't even need to take my winter coat out of the closet. However, it seems as though this year is going to be cold and snowy.

    Alicia

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