IMMUNE BOOSTING VEGGY HEAVY MISO SOUP

I was craving some serious veggies when I made this recipe so it is not your traditional miso soup. It is so delicious and loaded with lots of disease fighting ingredients including cruciferous vegetables. Don't be afraid of trying miso if you have not had it...it is just a paste made with fermented soybeans. If your local grocery store does not have it, try Good Foods, Whole Foods, or any Asian grocery store.

I was inspired both of these recipes by KLUNKER'S KITCHEN which are delicious.

Notes:

-If you are on a reduced sodium diet but still want to make this soup, there are ways to reduce the salt: replace the vegetable broth with water, use reduced sodium soy sauce or coconut aminos, and use reduced sodium miso paste.

-To increase the health benefits of the cruciferous vegetables, wait at least 40 minutes between chopping and cooking.

-To increase the health benefits of garlic and onion, wait at least 10 minutes between chopping and cooking.

-Do not add the miso to boiling water or it will kill the probiotics.

INGREDIENTS

2 heads bok choy, chopped (keep stalks and leaves separate)

1/4-1/2 small head of cabbage, thinly sliced

2 stalks curly kale, stems removed and coarsely chopped

2 handfuls baby spinach, stems removed

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

6 TBSP Miso paste, (white or yellow) plus 1 cup water to dissolve the paste (I used white since it's what I had)

8 oz package whole wheat or buckwheat udon noodles, cooked

4 cups vegetable broth

8 cups water

2 TBSP soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

1-1 1/2 TBSP minced fresh ginger

zest of 1 lime

5 TBSP fresh lime juice

chili-garlic sauce to taste, optional (my husband doesn't like much spice so I only added 2 tsp and then I added more to my own bowl)

DIRECTIONS

1. Slice and chop the vegetables.

2. Mix 6 TBSP miso in a cup of water until dissolved. Set aside.

3. Boil noodles per package instructions and set aside.

4. Add vegetable broth, water, soy sauce, onions, garlic, mushrooms, and bok choy stalks to a large pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer 5 minutes. Add cabbage, cover, and simmer 5-10 minutes until cabbage tender. Add kale, spinach, and bok choy leaves and simmer 2 minutes until tender. Remove from heat.

5. Add lime juice, lime zest, ginger, chili-garlic sauce and miso.

6. If you are going to eat the entire pot of soup, add the noodles. If you plan on saving leftovers, I recommend instead that you put a serving size of noodles into the individual serving bowls and keep the leftover noodles separate so they don't get too soggy from being stored in the broth.