Bears and Hugs but no Bear Hugs

I need a hug. It has been an emotional day. My first mistake was starting my day checking one of the news web sites to read comments on the debate last night but ran across an article about the tragic death of some innocent bears instead. I love bears. Do you know the story of the “Teddy Bear”? The marketing hype was that while hunting Teddy Roosevelt spared the life of a sad bear. The truth is that he personally didn’t shoot the trapped, scared being but told someone else to put it out of its misery then they ate the paws on the last day of the hunting trip. Roosevelt was deemed compassionate, the bear, dead.

Anyway, this morning I read an article about seven bears that are going to be put to death because someone was feeding them and now they are considered too dangerous to live. It just makes me want to cry. This is my food blog (I also have a blog more about animal rights) so I won’t go any further into my opinion on this situation on this post. However, I still need a hug. In the absence of any actual hug, a rich miso soup hug will fill the void.

I believe miso soup is healing. I first started seriously considering this after reading Alicia Silverstone’s book The Kind Diet. When I first went vegan I had miso soup almost daily for the first few months. It just felt right, and yes healing. Unfortunately I don’t think it would provide much comfort for the bears.

The key to the miso soup I make is that I don’t stew the veggies or even the tofu. It is all stir fried before adding to the broth and noodles. I think it makes for a richer taste. And I just love crispy tofu no matter how it is served. Yum.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cooking oil of choice
1/4 package super firm tofu
4 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced ginger
Lots of pepper blends
5 artichoke hearts
1/4 package rice noodles
1/2 cup shreaded carrots
5-6 kale leaves (tear from stems and into chuncks)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
Water (amount depends on how soupy you want your soup)
3 tablespoons miso (I use yellow miso)
1 cube Not Chick’n Cube

Steps:
1. Add oil, tofu, and pepper to skillet and cook on medium heat until tofu is crispy on two sides
2. Add carrots, kale, garlic, mushrooms, and ginger. Cook until kale is tender but not limp
3. While tofu and kale are cooking, cook rice noodles according to package. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
4. Drain noodles and add enough fresh water to cover
5. Add miso, artichoke hearts and chick’n cube. Stir until miso dissolved
6. Add tofu and kale mixture to noodles