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Miso Tahini Dressing

Yum Community — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:50:51 PDT

YumSugar member girlA offers up a super speedy, three-ingredient dressing in The Dairy-Free Diva Recipe Exchange cooking group. This dressing has the perfect combination of saltiness, creaminess and nutty flavor that would be great on salads, wraps, sandwiches, baked tofu, steamed veggies or as a veggie dip. It’s also a breeze to make. To see her recipe, read more.

Learn to Love: Miso

FitSugar — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:30:00 PDT

Starting off a sushi dinner with a steamy bowl of miso soup is a ritual I can't seem to break. The soft tofu and seaweed flavored with yummy miso makes for a comforting starter, and I'm benefiting my health to boot. While the soup is a standard on Japanese menus, there are plenty more uses for miso and a list of reasons to pick some up at the store.

Miso's high sodium content makes it an ideal salt substitute in meals. The flavor enhancer is made by fermenting soybeans with a B12-synthesizing bacteria, making it a good source of the vitamin, and one tablespoon of miso provides two grams of protein and has just 25 calories. The zinc and copper found in miso support the immune system and energy production.

You can find miso paste at many supermarkets, so pick some up and start including it in your recipes. Try using it to flavor soups, salad dressings, sauces, stir-fries, and marinades. Have you experimented with miso in your cooking?

Source

Monday's Leftovers: Miso Chicken With Brown Rice

partysugar — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:45:16 PDT

I was browsing MyRecipes.com trying to figure out what to do with leftover Asian style grilled chicken, when I found this tasty looking recipe. Chicken is coated with a fragrant miso, ginger, and garlic sauce before being tossed with brown rice and fresh vegetables. This recipe is incredibly adaptable so alter it to suit your liking. Green beans, bell peppers, and bean sprouts would be wonderful additions to this delicious rice dish. To look at the recipe,

Yummy Link: Soft-Boiled Eggs With Miso, Lemon, and Cilantro

YumSugar — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:13:31 PST

As you may know, I've got a big weakness for eggs. In fact, this photo of soft-boiled eggs with miso, lemon, and cilantro is making me so weak, someone's going to have to catch me. - Cookthink

How Much Do You Know About Miso?

FitSugar — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 03:30:00 PDT

Now that Fall has blown in, it makes me crave bowls of steamy, warm soup. Miso is one of my favorites, since it has a light salty flavor that you can add just about anything to.

I remember the first time I heard about miso, I knew nothing about it. So let's test your knowledge to see what you know.

Take the Quiz

Is Soy Safe?

FitSugar — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:45:00 PDT

I have heard much talk about the connection between soy and breast cancer. I've heard eating soy can prevent breast cancer, but I've also heard that it can increase your risk, or be harmful for breast cancer patients.

First off, let's bring up the fact that soy is not some new food we just discovered. It has been eaten in many Asian cultures for thousands of years, including products such as tofu, edamame (steamed whole soybean), soymilk, and fermented soy products such as tempeh, miso, and soy sauce.

Recently, in North America, soy has become a huge hit. All these products are becoming widely available, in addition to some new ones like soy nuts, soy-based meat alternatives, soy-based beverages, soy chips, soy ice cream, soy yogurt, and soy cheese.

Soy contains phytoestrogens, a group of chemicals that act like the hormone estrogen. Estrogen is a hormone necessary for having babies, and is also involved with bone and heart health in women. Higher exposure to estrogen over a lifetime is linked with increased breast cancer risk. Therefore, you can see why people might be worried about the estrogen-like phytoestrogens in soy products.

So can phytoestrogens from soy foods affect breast cancer risk? To find out

read more Right now, there is no evidence that consuming phytoestrogens found in soy products will affect healthy women, or increase their risk of breast cancer. The American Institute for Cancer Research stresses that studies on soy and breast cancer are not conclusive, and more studies need to be conducted before any dietary recommendations can be made. Fit's Tips: Women can help prevent breast cancer by staying healthy, by eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans, and by getting plenty of exercise and maintaining a healthy weight. Source

Make Way for Miso!

YumSugar — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 15:03:12 PST

Turns out that a bowl of delicious miso soup may burn belly fat. Since this is great news and since it's still National Soup Month, I thought I'd pass on this great little recipe. You could always make miso soup with an instant packet (just add water), but a homemade version is going to be a little heartier and taste a lot better. Unfortunately you will need to find miso paste (try Whole Foods or some place like that), but if you can track it down, it'll be worth it. To check out a recipe for vegetable miso soup,

Vegetable Miso Soup
From The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

6 cups (1.5 L) Vegetable stock
6 cups (1.5 L) Water
1/2 cup (125 mL) Medium soybean miso
1 Pkg (12 oz/375 g) extra-firm tofu, cut in 1/4-inch (5 mm) cubes
2 cups (500 mL) Sliced mushrooms
1 Sheet nori (optional)
2 Carrots, sliced
3 cups (750 mL) Broccoli florets

In large saucepan or Dutch oven, bring vegetable stock and water to boil. Dissolve miso in 1/4 cup (50 mL) water; whisk miso mixture into pot.

Stir in cubed tofu and sliced mushrooms; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes. (Make-ahead: Let cool for 30 minutes; refrigerate in shallow airtight containers for up to 2 days. Reheat to continue with recipe.)

If using nori, cut sheet into 3- x 1/4-inch (8 cm x 5 mm) strips with scissors; add to stock mixture in pot.

Add sliced carrots and broccoli florets; cook for about 5 minutes or until broccoli is tender-crisp.

Nutritional Info:
Per serving: about 105 cal, 8 g pro, 4 g total fat (1 g sat. fat), 11 g carb, 3 g fibre, 0 mg chol, 1,128 mg sodium. % RDI: 9% calcium, 12% iron, 48% vit A, 23% vit C, 14% folate.

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How to Put Good Bacteria Back in Your Gut With Food

Heather Dale — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:13:36 PST

A healthy gut is a happy gut. To keep your intestinal tract in optimal working order, it needs lots of "good" bacteria - no, that is not an oxymoron! There are only three types of basic bacteria in our digestive systems, so boosting the "friendly bacteria" with probiotics can help balance the pH of the intestinal tract, creating a less desirable environment for pathogenic bacteria (the bad stuff). Research has shown that probiotics can help in the battle against a wide variety of medical conditions including: allergies, cholesterol (it helps raise the good kind), colon cancer, high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome, and diarrhea. Probiotics can also boost your immune system, which is especially important during cold and flu season.

Today, probiotic supplements - which often contain members of the lactobacillus and bifidobacterium groups of bacteria - are popular, but unfortunately many of these supplements fall short on bacteria content. But with the help of a few common foods, we can increase the number of beneficial bacteria in our digestive tracts and skip the supplements altogether. Learn these foods when you keep reading.

10 Ingredients to Liven Up Your Salad Dressings

Anna Monette Roberts — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:15:13 PDT

The sky is the limit when it comes to making homemade salad dressings, yet most people still toss their greens in something store-bought or a simple mix of olive oil and balsamic. Adding a few simple ingredients can totally transform the flavor of your salads, many of which are kitchen staples.

Fresh or dried herbs: Quickly chop herbs like parsley, mint, thyme, dill, tarragon, cilantro, basil, or chives, and whisk them into your dressing at the last minute. Dried herbs have more concentrated flavor, so use a third of the amount you would for fresh herbs.
Flavored oils: Thee are tons of specialty oils available like walnut, pistachio, pumpkin, peanut, sesame, even smoked olive oil. Even blending just a tablespoon of a flavored oil with a neutral tasting oil like canola will add roasted, nutty accents to your dressing.

See eight more ways to liven up your salad dressings.

Reader Recipe: Carrot-Ginger Dressing

Yum Community — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:14:14 PDT

Yum reader LindsayTarquinio recently shared her quest to re-create her favorite carrot-ginger dressing from her local sushi place. Be sure to head on over Kitchen Goddess for more reader recipes and to share your own.

One of my favorite treats is a great sushi date with my husband. Not many things top a beautiful plate of sashimi for me . . . but sushi isn’t just about the raw fish . . . the experience isn’t complete without warm miso soup and cool, refreshing ginger dressing-topped salad.

I CRAVE ginger dressing - but I think that it is pretty much impossible to find a store-bought dressing that is anything near the lovely flavor of the restaurant version. So, I whipped out my blender and decided to experiment!

Here is what I came up with: it is bright and flavorful, super healthy, and the perfect topping to any salad . . . or the perfect add-in to any stir-fry!

Get the full recipe by reading more.