Comfort Food When Sick

It's all well and good to be a pioneer.  Heading out into the great unknown can be an adventure, but when when I'm feeling under the weather all I really want is comfort food.

Since we changed to a plant-based diet we are not sick as often or as long, but when I have a sore throat and feel cruddy I still want something to make me feel better.  So what could ever replace my beloved homemade chicken noodle soup?  Or good ole Sprite?  It turns out hot tea and/or smoothies really soothes my throat.  That's easy.  I don't miss the soda pop at all.  But what about my wonderful homemade chicken and noodles?  It was one of my favorite dishes to make, especially when I felt unwell.  It turns out the answer involves miso - something I never even heard up before our diet change.  Here's my new favorite comfort food for when I'm healing:

Miso Soup

Miso soup is a wonderful replacement for Chicken Noodle Soup when you are feeling unwell.  Miso has a long history and is known for it’s healing properties.  Miso paste is found in the refrigerated section at Whole Foods, and Koyo brand Udon noodles and the kelp/dulse seasoning are found in the asian aisle.

Our favorite noodles are Udon, but feel free to try any noodles you want.   Fetticini nest balls from WalMart are egg free wide noodles that are nice to use, too.  Whole wheat noodles tend to be too strong a taste for this soup.  

Add a bag of mixed veggies to up the nutrients, and color.  Or tofu cubes if you like tofu in your miso soup.  Real onion, seaweed, and garlic can be used for a chunkier soup.

2 packages noodles

1 T sea salt

2 T  onion powder

1 t Kelp and/or Dolse granules sea seasonings (can skip or use parsley flakes instead)

2 T soy sauce (optional)

2-4 T Miso paste (yellow, white, brown rice, or barley)  

Fill dutch oven 3/4 full with water and put on to boil.  Once it is boiling add the noodles stirring to keep separate, using the cooking time on the package.  While the noodles are cooking, add salt, onion powder, kelp seasoning, and soy sauce.  

Once noodles are cooked, remove from heat.  Ladle 1/2 cup of the broth into a 1 c glass measuring cup or a mug and whisk miso until dissolved in broth, then add mixture to the soup pot.  Adjust any seasonings as desired.  

Having weathered a few storms now on a plant-based diet I can say with joy that I don't miss chicken noodle soup or Sprite at all, I've found new comfort foods.

Black Bean Burgers Recipe

Black Bean Burger with all the works.

We may be pioneers in a new way of eating, but we still want our burgers.  I searched high and low for a recipe that was whole foods based, tasted good, added some extra nutrition, and yet still tasted familiar. This recipe is my version of black beans burgers, and they sure make us happy.  My middle son gets a look of ecstasy on his face just smelling them frying on the griddle.  He says they smell like bacon, and he really likes the smell even if he won't eat bacon anymore.  This recipe will make 10-12 burgers, and it only takes about 30-45 minutes to make start to finish.  You can refrigerate or freeze the leftover burgers for fast and easy burgers another day.  

Black Bean Burgers

1/2 c onion (1/2 an onion)

1/2 c veggies (1/2 a green pepper)

1 c oats 

2 T ground flax 

2 T ketchup 

2 T steak sauce (optional, just use 4 T ketchup of preferred)

2 T mustard

2 t onion powder

2 t garlic powder

4 c WELL DRAINED cooked beans (or 2 cans drained and rinsed beans)

Add any veggies you have on hand, this time it was green peppers.

First round in food processor: veggies, onion, flax and oats.

This is how much I pulverize the veggies.  You can't tell they are veggies, can you?

Start heating the griddle or skillet to medium heat.  Roughly chop onion, veggies, oats, and flax and place in food processor.  Process until chopped finely.  If you don't have a food processor you can chop everything finely by hand, and you can mix it with a stand mixer or potato masher.  However you do it, I like to make sure everything is really chopped fine so no one can identify the veggies used.

Add ketchup, steak sauce, mustard, onion powder, and garlic powder.  Blend well.  Then add the well drained beans and mix partially.  Leave some bean chunks for texture if desired. 

Bean mixture, ready to scoop onto griddle.

Spray griddle with cooking spray.  Scoop a large spoonful of the mixture and place on griddle, pressing down with the back of spoon to shape it into a round shape.  When well browned on the first side, flip to other side and pat edges of burgers with spatula to round out the burgers into a nice circle shape (it’s pretty mushy and malleable).  Flatten it to even out the shape, and cook on the first side again if needed.  You really want them browned on both sides to help them stay together.

Here's how they look at "burger shaped".  My youngest son likes smaller burgers made for him, thus the little guys in the middle of the griddle.

Patting the edges really helps the bean mixture form a circle shape.  Rough edges is where is will break apart if given a chance.

FInished burgers on plate.  No paper towel needed because there's no grease!

Serve on whole wheat or homemade bun, slather it with ketchup (corn syrup free ketchup), mustard, vegenaise, miso mayo, BBQ, hot sauce, or whatever you like on your burger.   I LOVE mayo on my burgers so when we went to plant-based-whole-foods diet I remember standing in the grocery store staring at the mayo section with longing.  I actually checked every single brand, but alas they all had egg or milk in them.  All of them.  Yuck.  I was looking in the wrong place.  Go to a health food store, or a grocery store with a health food section and you should be able to find Vegenaise or Earth Balance mayo with no problem in the refrigerated section.  Now I'm a happy camper and I love to smother vegenaise on my burgers.

Sides: notice there is lettuce on the side for a salad or for a burger topping rather than fries.  We still eat fries, but not always the same night as burgers.  No one complains and it sure is easier.  On this night we followed up with Chocolate Avocado Pudding and we were all well satisfied.