As a few of you might know, I found out 2 weeks ago that my job was being eliminated. I’ve never actually been laid off before so it was a weird feeling to say the least, and I immediately kicked into savings mode. What can I cut-out that will allow us to stretch our money further? I’ve always said I was going to use the existing food I have in my tiny little pantry, refrigerator and freezer before buying anything new to add to our stock pile but have neer actually done it. This seemed like a great time to start this project. I know I’ll have to continue buying fruits, vegetables and dairy products but I probably have enough food to last us for a very long time.

It was a bit cold in Dallas last night so I decided to make us a soup for dinner. I had on-hand: chicken soup stock, miso paste, Pareve Soy cheese (Follow your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella) that I’d recently used in my experiment with Kosher Chicken Cordon Bleu, soy sauce and a few green onions.

I’ve always wanted to make Susie Fishbein’s Miso Soup recipe (page 98) from her Kosher by Design Lightens Up so I decided to give it a whirl with the ingredients I had. Here’s how it went:

Miso Soup

• 6 cups chicken stock or water (I used 5 cups of chicken stock and 1 cup of the Imagine no-chicken broth)
• 1/2 cup light miso (I used Mellow White Miso by Cold Mountain purchased at Wholefoods and originally used to make Miso Glazed Cod)
• 2 tablespons low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch dice (1/4 of a 14-ounce block) (I had about half of a block of the Follow your heart vegan gourment mozzarella from my Chicken Cordon Bleu so I used that. It is soy after all and it really doesn’t have much taste but it does have the same consistency as tofu).
• 4 medium shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced (I didn’t have any mushrooms so I left out this ingredient. My 6 year old won’t touch mushrooms anyway).
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Bring the water or chicken stock to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat. Add the miso and stir to help it dissolve. Add the soy sauce and the tofu. Stir. Add the shiitake mushrooms and scallions and heat through.

Verdict

My husband was loving the soup until I told him the “tofu” was actually pareve soy cheese. Then he decided he liked the stock but not the “marshmellows” as my daughter calls tofu. But to me, the fake cheese cubes tasted very similar to tofu and were a nice substitute. Overall, it was not bad considering I had to make do with what I had. In the future, I’d like to make this recipe with the actual ingredients it calls for and include sushi with the meal. Yum.

Have any of you made Miso Soup? Do you have any tips or tricks you want to share?

On a happy note, about a 1 1/2 weeks after I was laid off, I received a job offer within the same company, so thankfully my unemployment did not last long. I’m thrilled to be back at work, but I’m not giving up on my “use what’s in my pantry” challenge. Anyone want to take it with me?

Happy Kosher Treif Cooking!