Easter Salad

This salad was super easy to put together, mostly because everything was already cooked and I just had to assemble. It's a bit of a hodgepodge of ingredients but each one added it's own character to the salad. I brought everything together with a bit of lemon vinaigrette. The eggs were soaked with beet juice so they turned a pretty shade of pink which makes this salad perfect for Easter.

the ingredient list:

spinach
Trader Joes frozen sweet corn (it's super yummy)
red beets
sauteed tofu
parsley
green onions
artichoke
carrots
boiled egg

Vinaigrette:
Lemon juice
olice oil
salt , pepper

Miso Soup

I had the urge to make miso soup ever since I saw it on 101 cookbooks. I'd never cooked with miso paste, and it seemed like the variations on the dish were endless. I made this miso soup with soft tofu, green onions, brown mushrooms, soba noodles, white miso, and leeks (but only because I had them leftover) . It would have been nice to add bok choy or something else green. I topped it off with cilantro which added a really fresh flavor kick at the end. The trick to miso soup is getting the miso concentration just right. I added about 2 tablespoons of the miso paste, let is simmer for about 5 minutes, and then taste. I continued to add more little by little until it reached the right taste profile. But be careful, it's easy to add too much miso. Here is the recipe.

Saute 1 bushel leeks or bok choy, mushrooms, and tofu in a pan with a little oil until wilted (leeks take a fair amount of time to get tender)
Pre-cook soba noodles (boil for about 5-10 minutes in salted water)
Add sauteed greens, mushrooms, and tofu to the noodles in water.
let simmer for 5 minutes
Add 2 tablespoons miso paste and stir until dissolved.
Add more miso to taste.
Serve with chopped fresh cilantro and more chopped green onions.

Enjoy!

You can really add anything in the miso to make it your own. Some other ideas are:
egg drop
parsley
snap peas
ginger
sprouts