Make the miso soup the star of the meal by adding lots of tofu and zoodles!
So last week I wrote about my forays into meal planning and I figured I would update you on how that went! I thought long and hard about whether it was successful or not, and definitely think it leans more towards being a….fail.
Breakfast worked perfectly, but I ended up having lunch dates every day this past week so I never ate lunch at home. Dinner was great Monday and Tuesday, but I ran to Whole Foods on Wednesday for the items we needed for Wednesday and Thursday dinner. OH and I swung by Target on Tuesday for some baking groceries so I could make these for Nate’s work. Overall, I definitely spent way too much money at the grocery store and farmer’s market for having to go back twice this past week. Lessons learned!
I wish I had some more time to refine my meal planning skillz but I’m back on the road on Monday! I’m pretty much traveling non-stop through the end of January for my job. I’m taking the week of Thanksgiving off but we’ll be on the east coast, and then I’m taking two weeks off around the holidays and we’ll be in Mexico with my family, and then Tahoe with our friends. So while I’ve definitely taken full advantage of my month working from home, I’ll certainly miss it!
The things in particular that I will miss about working from home include:
- taking workout classes at reasonable hours of the day
- cooking dinners for me and Nate every night
- the incredibly beautiful weather we have in SF (Spokane has a low of 29 this week! YIKES)
- lunch dates all around the Bay Area
- not having to smush all of my SF social stuff into just a weekend
- working from my pajamas in front of the TV
However, to end on a more positive note, there are plenty of benefits to being on the road! Including:
- my corporate card being able to pay for all of the delicious salmon that I will eat
- someone else making coffee for me
- the E! network! (we don’t have cable at home…)
- working in person with my colleagues and clients again
- spinning classes at The Union
- having a rental car - helps me run some errands that would otherwise be a pain here in SF!
Most of all, I’ve enjoyed experimenting in my kitchen a whole lot. Like ZOODLES. I discovered zoodles this month working from home! I’ve made them a bunch of times and I don’t know why it took me so long to take my zoodle maker out of this case. While it’s delicious to top zoodles with a big batch (for some reason “big batch” combined into “bitch” in my mind and I typed that out first…whoops!) of a meaty, hearty marinara sauce, I decided to try out zoodles in all other sorts of forms.
Turns out, they taste AMAZING lightly cooked in a salty, umami miso broth with lots of tofu and mushrooms. This one is certainly going to be added to the meal planning rotation!
- 1 block extra firm tofu
- 1-inch knob ginger, grated
- 2 cartons of stock - I used the miso stock from Whole Foods but vegetable stock will be fine!
- 4 cups shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tbsp yellow miso
- 4 scallions, chopped
- 2 zucchinis, spiralized
- Toasted sesame seeds for sprinkling
- Red pepper flakes to taste
- In a large pot, simmer the ginger, mushrooms, stock, and red pepper flakes to taste for a minimum of one hour
- While that is simmering, drain and press the tofu (Google actually has a great step-by-step guide for this)
- Cut the tofu into cubes
- In four shallow bowls, place ¼ of the spiralized zucchini and tofu
- Turn the heat off of the soup
- In a seperate bowl with warm water, dissolve the miso
- Pour the miso into the large soup pot
- Divide the soup across the bowls, on top of the tofu and zucchini
- Top with scallions and sesame seeds
I like the way fresh tofu tastes in this soup, but I have also eaten it by baking the tofu cubes before as well. Adds a different texture to the soup!
For people who want more heft to the soup, you can add quinoa or rice into each bowl before you pour the soup over
If you like this, you’ll love: Miso Ginger Chicken and Chickpea Soup
Thanks for stopping by! 
