I am teaching in Port Washington next Tuesday, June 9th, 2010 and  want to extent an invitation to readers of this web site to attend with a discount.  We will be covering topics such as whole grains, good fats, storage techniques and how to pick great ingredients. Here are the details (click the picture to see a larger flyer):

Healthy Cooking For Busy People
June 9th, 2010 | 7-9PM
$30 (mention this blog and receive $5/off)
To register, call 516.448.2505

Email me if you have questions (david[at]ligrows.com)

Thanks for your interest, David

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Did you know that the dandelion has been used as food and medicine for much of recorded history?  Yes, I am talking about that pesky weed that is the bain of your lawns existence.  Since you just can’t stop trying to get rid of them, you might as well make some use of them.  In this article I am going to detail a few ways to utilize this under appreciated plant.

Dandelion as a Food

As per Wildman Steve Brill’s website:

The leaves are more nutritious than anything you can buy. They’re higher in beta-carotene than carrots. The iron and calcium content is phenomenal, greater than spinach. You also get vitamins B-1, B-2, B-5, B-6, B-12, C, E, P, and D, biotin, inositol, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc by using a tasty, free vegetable that grows on virtually every lawn. The root contains the sugar inulin, plus many medicinal substances.

The leaves are the most frequently eaten section of the plant, and they are edible in both raw and cooked form. The flowers and roots may also be eaten, however, typically cooked to mitigate their more bitter flavor. I like to cook the bitter greens italian style by sauteing some garlic and red pepper flakes in some olive oil, adding some lemon juice and adding the dandelion greens to saute for a minute or two.

The best time to harvest the greens is the beginning of spring (before the flower starts to bud).  Wash the leaves and dry them and they are ready to be used in a salad or cooked.

Dandelion as Medicine

The University of Maryland Medical Center says about Dandelion:

In traditional medicine, dandelion roots and leaves were used to treat liver problems. Native Americans also used dandelion decoctions (liquid made by boiling down the herb in water) to treat kidney disease, swelling, skin problems, heartburn, and stomach upset. Chinese medicinal practitioners traditionally used dandelion to treat digestive disorders, appendicitis, and breast problems (such as inflammation or lack of milk flow). In Europe, herbalists incorporated it into remedies for fever, boils, eye problems, diabetes, and diarrhea.

Today, dandelion roots are mainly used as an appetite stimulant, digestive aid, and for liver and gallbladder function. Dandelion leaves are used as a diuretic to stimulate the excretion of urine.

Dandelion is a natural diuretic that increases urine production by promoting the excretion of salts and water from the kidney. Dandelion may be used for a wide range of conditions requiring mild diuretic treatment, such as poor digestion, liver disorders, and high blood pressure. Dandelion is a source of potassium, a nutrient often lost through the use of other natural and synthetic diuretics.

Fresh or dried dandelion herb is also used as a mild appetite stimulant and to improve upset stomach (such as feelings of fullness, flatulence, and constipation). The root of the dandelion plant is believed to have mild laxative effects and is often used to improve digestion. Research suggests that dandelion root may improve the health and function of natural bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Studies have also reported that dandelion root may help improve liver and gallbladder function.

Some preliminary animal studies also suggest that dandelion may help normalize blood sugar levels and improve lipid profiles (lowering total cholesterol and triglycerides while increasing HDL, “good,” cholesterol) in diabetic mice. However, not all animal studies have shown the same positive effect on blood sugar. In addition, research needs to be done on people to determine if this traditional use for diabetes has modern-day merit.

Last year I made a dandelion tincture.  It is very easy to make and can be used for people with indigestion, liver and gallbladder complaints, infections of the urinary tract, and loss of appetite.

Dandelion Tincture:

Some people take dandelion root tincture daily in early spring for a couple weeks as a cleanse for the liver.

Pull a bunch of dandelion roots and wash and dry them (best time to harvest is early spring or late fall).  Put them in a jar and cover them with 100 proof vodka ( I use 125 proof – mix of 100 and 150 proof).  Cover and place in dark place for a few weeks.  Shake each day (twice a day if possible).  After two weeks, strain and place into amber dropper bottles.  When ready to use, place a dropper full into a cup of water. Use regularly or when necessary.

Notice of Importance:  Make sure the dandelions you harvest are grown in soil that has not been treated with chemicals and pesticides. DO NOT consume dandelion that has been exposed to such toxins.

Dandelion Tea

As seen in the store, dandelion tea uses the root (sometimes roasted until dry). You can use that technique or use the fresh plant as well. Use the root, the leaves or both.  Some instructions I found interesting from dandeliontea.com:

I have dug the roots, roasted them until they were dry, chocolaty brown and crumbly, and ground them in a coffee grinder. I enjoy the coffee-like taste. A dandelion beverage makes a great coffee substitute, homemade or store-bought. Usually every day, I make dandelion tea of some sort. I especially like using the whole plant. It is very versatile.

Other Links Referring to Dandelion:

East and West, Dandelion is Best

Wildman Steve Brill Gets Arrested for harvesting Dandelions in Central Park

Wildman Steve Brill – Common Dandelion

Wikipedia – Dandelion

University of Maryland Medical Center – Complementary Medicine – Dandelion

Mother Earth News – Wild About Dandelions (Recipes)

Botanical.com – Dandelion

Dandelion Recipes – ?Homemade Herbal Remedies

Dandelion Tea – Everything about Dandelion Tea

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A few weeks ago I went on a foraging walk with the “Wildman” Steve Brill. He showed the group a tree with edible berries and I knew right away I had seen them before, loads of them. So long story short, I had a wild harvest of probably about 15-20 lbs. of berries. I feel as if I barely made a dent in the grove either, so I did leave plenty for the birds.

What was I to do with a boat-load of small berries that have seeds in the middle?

I looked up some recipes and most were for jam. They all had a different way of trying to get the seeds out, like pressing it through a potato masher or a sieve, etc. etc. I tried boiling them for about a half hour and pressing them through a small strainer, but the pulp all got stuck in the strainer. I thought to myself “Some jelly this is going to be.” So I decided I would continue doing what I was doing and press all the liquid out and then reduce it until it becomes a full flavored syrup (almost).

After it had reduced for about 45 minutes under very low heat, I let it cool and put the delicious berry syrup into ice cube trays. Now, I have about 40 ice cubes and 1 jar full of dense berry flavor I can use for whatever I wish.

One side note – If your going to try this, the berries will burn on the bottom of the pot if the heat is on high or even medium, so bring it up to te boil very slowly and keep mixing! I learned the hard way.
; )

Some ideas for use:

Pancake Syrup – Mix with Maple Syrup (tried it – it was real good)
Mix with Vodka or any other liquid you want (Orange juice or other juices)
Use it in a sauce – It has about 17X the lycopene as tomatoes (which is what gives it the red pigment)

Interesting Fact:

-According to a USDA article, analysis showed that, ounce for ounce, the typical autumn olive berry is up to 17 times higher in lycopene than the typical raw tomato. Lycopene has generated widespread interest as a possible deterrent to heart disease and cancers of the prostate, cervix and gastrointestinal tract.

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Given the right care, even one hot pepper plant can produce an over-abundance of peppers. In this case, between my neighbor and I, we had about 20 plants. That is a load of peppers, many of which get neglected and go bad (for one reason or another).

So the other day (the day before the first dip in temperatures around here) I went out to his yard and mine and picked all the peppers and tomatoes I could find that were still good. There were so many peppers, sweet and hot. I was left with a great opportunity. What to do with them though? I have dried peppers before in a dyhydrator and it worked good. I find that it uses heat and therefore gives the preserved food a cooked flavor (not that it’s bad, but it does use low heat). I was also concerned it could catch on fire.

I found Alton Brown’s technique to be very interesting. He makes a dyhydrator with 1 box fan, paper air-conditioning filters, and 2 bungee cords and while it takes a bit longer to dry, it preserves the food with only air, no heat. I have never used this technique, but the next time I want to dry produce, you can bet Im going to try it. The reason I did not want to dry the peppers this year is because I dried so many of them a few years ago that I am still going through them. Basically, I don’t need them right now. So Ill try something new. I thought I would experiment with simple recipes that can last a while.

Hot Sauce!

I made two kinds.

1. Poblano Punch

Ingredients:

• About 15 Fresh Poblano Peppers (Green, Red or mixed)
• 1-2 Carrots
• 2-3 heads of garlic
• 1 or more cups of apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup of white vinger
• 1 cup of water or more
• juice of 1-2 limes
• 1 teaspoon or more salt
• 1 onion
• Other Spices: Turmeric, Cumin, Dried Oregano
• Hardware: Blender, Rubber Gloves, Bottling Supplies, Aluminum Foil

Roast Garlic in aluminum foil. Cut off top 1/4 of garlic head, place in aluminum foil. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on it and wrap it up and put it in 350 degree oven for a while (30 mins or so – until it smells unbelievable). After you put it in the oven, start roasting the peppers. I use a cast iron pan and just pop the peppers in there on medium to medium-high heat. Keep flipping them once they blister up nice and black so they get blackened most of the way around. Chop and saute an onion in a little olive oil for a few minutes. Chop the carrot and simmer in the water for about 15 mins and then let it cool down a bit. Take the peppers out of the pan and place into a paper bag or put them in a bowl and cover them (anything to trap the steam coming off the peppers). After about 10-15 minutes, take the peppers out and remove skins. They should come off easily, but could be a bit finiky. Don’t stress if some will not come off, it’s no big deal. Some people like to remove the seeds here, but I just pop off the tops and throw the peppers into the blender. This is HOT sauce.

Once the garlic and carrots cool down a bit, add them to the blender along with the onion, juiced lime, salt, vinegars, and the rest of the ingredients. Many recipes add a little sugar. I would have but forgot it and it was still good. Blend it together and add more water and/or vinegar to get the right consistency you want.

As I was making hot sauce I saw it was kind of hard to mess it up if you have the right ingredients. So at the end, I was adding more water, more vinegar, some garlic powder, some dried oregano, turmeric, cumin. And it came out really really good. Actually, it was a bit milder than I thought it would be, but I liked that too. Because of this and because I had a million more peppers, I decided to make a REALLY HOT sauce.

2. Jalapeño de Plainview

Ingredients:

• Some tomatoes (roma, san marzano – for roasting)
• 3 heads of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of salt or more
• 1 cup of water (or more)
• 1 1/2 cups (or more) of vinegar (white or cider)
• 20-25 jalapeño chiles
• 1-2 ripe mangos

Cut off the tops of the peppers and put them into a small saucepot with the water. Put the heat to medium/medium-hot and bring to boil. Lower heat to low for a few minutes and shut off heat. Let cool.

Roast garlic the same way as above recipe. I made both recipes in the same night, so I used the same batch of roasted garlic. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise. Warm up a pan and add a little oil. Place tomato halves flat side down until browned a bit. Chop up mango.

Add all ingredients to the blender and blend away. Add more liquids, salt or more fresh chiles to taste. Bottle and give to friends. It can keep in fridge for a long time, if it lasts that long.

Onions and Peppers

I bought a 50 lb. bag of onions last month at a big farm stand out east and have been keeping it in the garage. I also had an overabundance of sweet peppers, so it was fairly obvious to me what I needed to do. Saute a mass amount of onions and peppers, like the vendors at the Jets games. Then, borrow a pressure cooker from my friend and bottle it. It was the firs time I used a pressure cooker by myself. The results were fair.

Chop the onions and peppers in fairly large pieces, and remove all the seeds and veins of the peppers. Then saute them in batches with a bit of olive oil and salt.

Fill sterilized bottles with onions and peppers. Use pressure cooker to finish bottling process. I will write a later article about how to use a pressure cooker, once I master the technique. Right now, I am a mere novice. Only two of the bottles actually closed properly, however, after a night in the fridge, the rest closed as well. I don’t trust them enough to take them out of the fridge though.

So hopefully the peppers and onions will hang around a while. They are quite versatile for a boost of flavor many dishes. They add sweet, savory, and down home flavor, especially because the peppers were grown in our backyards (as organically as organic can be). Just today, I used it in some leftover pasta to give it some depth of flavor. Top a steak with it, or the famous “Sausage, Peppers, and Onions,” or stuff them in a baked squash.

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When I am not out on an excursion, I keep Miso Paste in the fridge for those miso days. Today was one of them.

I have only experimented with miso about three times, but with some great results. It is so easy. If you wanted to you could just warm up some water to the boil. Take it off the heat and then add some miso paste. Mix it in and add more according to taste. And viola, you have miso. I like to take it a few steps further than that.

Traditional Miso Soup is the paste, Dashi, some Tofu cubes, and Scallions. Dashi is a stock made from kelp and dried, smoked tuna. So since we run a vegetarian house, we will just use the Miso Paste. Heres the recipe I made today:

Ingredients:

The Stock
Potatoes
Fall Greens (from the garden)
Leeks or Scallions
Tofu
Brown Rice
Spice Rub (below)

Put some water (more than 2 cups) on the boil for the rice. Place 1 cup of brown rice into a small pot with a tablespoon of butter. Medium High Heat up and mix in butter until kernels brown a bit. Be careful not to burn the rice. And if you do, and its not too burnt, don’t worry, it will still be good. Put the water into the saucepan, turn the heat all the way down. Cover with lid and walk away for 40 minutes.

Make a rub for the tofu consisting of: Five Spice Powder, Galanga (dried), ginger (dried,ground), garlic powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, corriander, turmeric, salt & pepper

I cut up a block of tofu into three blocks and coat them with the rub and set them to the side. Then, I picked some bok choy and kale from the garden, washed and chopped them and put up some water to boil.

Sear Tofu in a pan on both sides for 3-5 minutes each and take off heat.

Meanwhile, Put another pot on the boil for the potatoes. Cut a few potatoes into bite site pieces . Salt water and place potatoes in.

Chop up kale (taking out big stems) and chop up bok choy. Take big pot with steamer tray and pour boiling water into the pot until it comes a bit below the tray. Place kale into pot and close the lid. Let the pot sit and steam the greens for about 15 minutes. I kept the bok choy to the side to add at the end because the stems and leaves were not as tough as the kale.

After rice has 40 minutes, take off heat and let sit with lid on for 10 minutes. Then, take lid off and fluff up rice.

Take another large pot and fill up with as much water as you want broth. Turn heat on high. Chop up scallions or leeks. If leeks, add to water at this point. Bring to boil and take off heat. Dilute Miso Paste in some water and add mixture to the hot water. Taste broth. Add more paste if necessary until satisfied with miso flavor.

Take potatoes off heat after 10 minutes and strain out.

Assemble your soup one bowl at a time. I place in rice first, add block of tofu on top, potatoes and greens around and ladel in a generous amount of broth. Pepper on top and viola.

I have made similar versions of this miso soup with other ingredients such as: mushrooms, brussel sprouts (good one).  Here’s a link to a similar soup.

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So with so many ways to make squash, this simple technique will have the natives asking for more, not screaming “no more squash!..pleeeeease…”

Turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Take a good size cast iron pan (or any oven safe pan but cast iron holds heat the best) and put it over medium heat. Take a squash (i find the deeper the color, the deeper the flavor) and cut it lengthwise in half. Scoop out the seeds and where the seeds were, put in a 1-3 teaspoons of ghee (clarified butter – or you could use sunflower oil, canola – any oil that will take high heat). Rub it all around the inside of the squash. Add in any spices you like. Today I added a bunch of cinnamon, garlic powder, some five spice powder, salt, pepper, and smoky paprika. Rub it into the inside of the squash as well. Now flip them over into the pan and turn the heat up to medium high (depending on your stove – you want to get a nice sear going, so make sure its high enough). If you want, put some weight on top of the squash to help it along. I use a large saucepan filled with water and press down on it occasionally. After about 5-10 minutes, check the underside of the squash. When it is nicely browned, get a pot holder and transfer the whole pan into the oven. Let the squash finish off in the oven for about 20 minutes or until soft.

I love flipping it over and adding a bit of butter at the end (and salt if necessary). If you want to get real fancy, make a thyme butter (which is butter simmered with a bunch of fresh thyme for 5-10 minutes and strained). You could use this as part of a dish. Add it to a stew for a great complex flavor. Another option, when you put it in the oven, flip them over and stuff them with something, sauteed onions and garlic with cheese on top or mushrooms and garlic and rosemary. If it sounds good try it. If your like me you will have plenty of squash to experiment with.

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I wanted to store them for future use and since I am not fortunate to have a pressure cooker, I decided to freeze them. I chose this method because I know I will be using them within a reasonable amount of time (1-4 months or so). So I looked up online what the proper way is to freeze them. So heres what I did the end of last week, Oct. 17th-18th or so:

Gather any glass jars and tops and sterilize with boiling water or ammonia. Boil Water in a large pot (1/4 – 1/2 way up with water). While bringing to boil, plug up your kitchen sink and turn the faucet to full cold. Fill up sink with cold water. We will be blanching the tomatoes in order to remove their skin. Add 4-6 tomatoes at a time into the boiling water and watch them. As soon as their skin splits open, use a slotted spoon to remove the tomato and toss it into the cold water bath.

After all tomatoes are removed, add the next 4-6 (make sure to keep the rolling boil going). Meawhile turn your attention to peeling the skin off the tomatoes. They should peel off very easily once the skin has split.

At this time, cut off any blemishes on the tomato and take off any remaining stem. Toss the finished tomato into a bowl. Keep this process going, draining the water and adding cold water as necessary to keep the water cold.

When your done peeling the tomatoes, stuff them into the jars as necessary and push them down as much as you can. Leave about an inch or a bit more to account for the spreading of the liquid as it turns to ice. I use a similar technique when storing my homemade vegetable stock. So that’s it. Pop the tops on, toss them into your storing freezer, and if you want, add some lemon to the top to stop any bacteria from building. When your ready, like in the middle of January, you will have beautiful ripened tomatoes, already peeled, to make sauce, salsa, add to soup, or whatever your favorite tomato recipe is.

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The uses are just endless.  I use it mostly for soups, sauces, and to cook grains.  Whatever the dish, the underlying complexities, soul serving to the core, comes from the stock (not the stuff you buy, the stuff you make!)  

So when I go over my Mom’s house for Thanksgiving this year, I will ask her for the turkey carcas and boil it up with a bunch of water, bay leaves, onions, garlic, carrot, celery, and whatever else is around for 2-6 hours and store it in the freezer for future use.  Whats that saying “waste not, want not.”

I find it helpful to gather materials for stock as they come.  For example, when I’m out east at a farmers market on Sound Avenue, Ill buy a dozen ears of corn.  As I eat them during the week, I will save every last corn cob in a freezer bag and store them in the freezer.  Then, when the time is right and I have an over abundance of corn cobs packing the freezer, Ill go out and buy the other ingredients for the stock. 

Oh, and make sure you have enough tupperware containers handy because once the stock has cooled, it does not stay long, so you will need to get them into the freezer (or fridge, if your going to use it in the next week or so) Also, put some in large tupperware, and some in smaler tupperware (for smaller application like cooking grains or adding to a sauce).  One night I made a bunch of stock, simmering for hours.  I shut off the heat to let it cool and the next thing I knew, I had awoken at 4 in the morning on the couch and my stock had been sitting there brewing up fun little bacterias Im sure, so I had to throw it out. Doh!

Oh and one more tip before I start listing out recipes; Leave a little room on the top of the tupperware when filling with stock.  That is, if you want our tupperware to survive the expansion of the stock in the freezer.  This is something I only learned recently, as I have had many Tupperware containers fall victim to a brutal split-cracking death.

Basic Vegetable Broth Recipe (quantity ill leave up to you, but more of something usuallywill not hurt the stock, unless its salt)
Onion(s)
Leeks
Garlic Cloves and Garlic Powder
Carrots
Potatoes
Celery (If you can get the top leaves, use them too)
Whole Black Peppercorns
Bay Leaves
Mushrooms
Parsley (and any other herbs you like – dried is better for stock – if using fresh throw in when you shut the heat off at the very end)
Dried Hot Pepper

Other Optional Ingredients: Squash (zucchini that has been taking over your backyard), Sweet Peppers, Parsnip, Turnips, Rutabega, Celery Root, Daikon RadishBroccoli, Cauliflower, Tomatos (not too much or it will be too acidic), any leaft green vegetables (kale, dandelion, collard greens), cabbage, asparagus (save the bottom parts that you would normally throw in the compost pile – put in freezer just like corn cobs), herbs – sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, parsley, dill, cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin, corriander, I can go on and on.

Actually, salt is an iffy topic. I like to add it, but I recently found out that cooking beans with salt will actually strip the skins from the beans. So if you are planning on making a bean soup, you may want to make your stock with no salt. When making the bean soup, I add salt at the very end. I no longer add salt to my stocks for this reason alone (because I make a lot of bean soups).

Chop veggies in half just to open them up and throw em in the pot. You can leave the skin on everything (just wash off first – onions, garlic, etc.) You can roast corn and garlic ahead of time to give it a nice roasty flavor. To extract the most flavor from your stock ingradients, start with cold water. Add enough to cover veggies, but I add more and let it boil down. Bring to boil with cover on and then remove cover. Boil uncovered (low heat) until liquid has reduced by almost half or until taste is good for you. If you are using a pressure cooker, well, I do not have one, but I know if you bring it up to temperature and then shut off the heat, it cooks the stock in 30-45 mins rather than the normal 2-6 hrs.

OK, so your stock is done now. Strain out the veggies into another pot and make sure you save any of them you wish to eat (mushrooms, carrots, any root veggies, mmm theyre real good right out of the stock).

So once you have your vegetable stock, you can do many things with it. I will list some of my favorite things to use it for in Part 2 of this posting to (coming soon).

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Ingredients:

wheat berries (1 cup)
3 cups water
raisins
dried cranberries
chopped trail mix nuts (pepitas, cashews, almonds, walnuts) – whatever nuts you have
cheese (i used an aged gouda and manchego- goat cheese from spain-one of my favs)
apple (1 or 2)
Handful and a Half of Parsley (Coarsely Chopped)
Kale (4 to 8 leaves – stem cutout – chopped)
One Lemon
Apple Cider Vinegar (1-3 Tablespoons)
Good amount of Salt and Pepper (I like a lot of pepper)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Olive Oil

Put Wheatberries in Water and let sit for 4 to 6 hours or cook on low heat uncovered for approximately 45 minutes or until soft. Let Cool.

Meanwhile, wash and chop greens and apples. Put in medium mixing bowl with the lemon juice from the lemon (so the apple does not oxidize and turn brown).  Add the vinegar too.  Chop nuts and add them.  Chop the raisins and cranberries and add them.  Cut the cheese into small cubes and add them.  Add salt and pepper to taste, a little cinnamon, grate a pinch of fresh nutmeg, and add some olive oil (2 tablespoons or so).  Toss and serve or refrigetate.  Lasts a few days in fridge, but the greens dont hold texture so long.

In our house, this salad did not last long so I couldn’t get a photo.

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For Soup:
Great Northern Beans (soak overnight)
Portabella Mushrooms ( 2 big ones)
Home Made Vegetable Stock
Ginger (inch and a half)
onion (1 Large or 2 medium)
Garlic (5-10 cloves)
Potatos (3 medium)
Carrots (2 big)
Five Spice Powder
Garlic Powder
Corn (Kernels from Cob – 2)
Bay Leaves
Kelp or some Sea Vegetable
Miso Paste
Hot Chile of your choice
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

For Grains:
Ghee or Butter
Whole Grains ( cup barley, brown rice, or wheatberries)

Soak beans overnight, strain out water once or twice.

Throw em in a pot with some water to cover them and them some.

no salt here! beans will shed their skins.

Defrost any vegetable stock from the freezer. Or get some stock ready and warm to add to the pot.

chop up the aromatics – onion, carrots, garlic, ginger. get a hot sauce pan and throw some olive oil in there then the aromatics. throw the carrots in with the beans.

sweat the aromatics for about 2-3 mins just to get them going. dump them into the pot with the beans. add vegetable stock. add bay leaves and kelp, hot chile, some five spice powder and garlic powder. and put the lid on for 10 – 15 mins (low heat).

Heat up some water 3 cups or so.

Heat up a small saucepot. Put some ghee (or butter) in and then your grain. Let it toast for 5 minutes or so (dont burn it or forget about it or misjudge the intensity of the heat) and stir after each minute until nice and toasty. Add in double the amount of water to grain. Put the heat on lowest setting, cover and walk away from it for 50 mins, making sure the heat is producing a slow simmer.

In the meantime, chop the brussel sprouts in half. Peel the potatos, and chop them into bite size pieces. Then, add potatos and brussel sprouts to the pot. Chop the kernels off the corn cobs and put them in too. Simmer another 20 – 30 minutes untill all veggies are cooked through.

5 Minutes before taking off the heat, chop up and add in mushrooms and season to taste, ass salt and pepper, (keep in mind though we will add the miso after we take the soup off the heat – so we can get all the probiotics the miso holds as its little treasures – they will all die in boiling water). Add in more garlic powder and five spice powder. Take out bay leaves and kelp.

Turn off heat for grains (after 50 mins) but dont take the cover off. Wait 5 mins, take the lid off, and fluff with fork.

Taste the soup. Maybe more salt? In this case, take the soup off the heat, let sit for 1 min. Add in miso paste, about one to two tablespoons, depending on your taste. Taste it again. Enough miso flavor? If so, does it need salt? Maybe maybe not, its up to you. But it does need a little of that good olive oil from the stash. Dizzle over each bowl. and serve with love. =)

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