Raw vegan miso soup, with zucchini and pumpkin noodles

As winter time approaches here in New Zealand I’ve been thinking about a strategy for stay raw throughout the winter. I know from past experience that while it’s easy and quite natural for me to eat raw during warm weather, when it starts getting cold it’s harder for me to stay raw naturally, and I especially love soups in the winter months.

Today I think I found a solution, and I’d just like to take a moment to express my gratitude for miso. I have loved miso since I first tasted it. But to make things even better, it’s a fermented food. Which means that even though the ingredients are cooked (and not raw), the fermentation process turns it back into a living food, full of enzymes and friendly bacteria that help to promote healthy digestion.

Simply dissolving a spoonful of miso paste into a cup of warm water makes a delicious, nourishing broth. And from there you can add whatever vegetables you like and have on hand.

Miso comes in many varieties, all with different flavors, depending on the base ingredient used to make it. The one I use most is the sweet brown rice miso, I find it’s the most versatile. But I also love the brown rice miso in soups. For stronger flavor, try the barley or soy bean miso. Just be careful to choose a miso that’s made with non-GM foods, and one that’s raw and unpasteurized.

The pasteurizing process was developed to kill any bacteria, so pasteurizing any fermented food, like apple cider vinegar, yogurt, miso, sauerkraut, kills all the beneficial bacteria – totally defeating the whole purpose of fermenting the food in the first place. It seems totally ridiculous to me that anyone would even consider doing it, but we’ve strayed so far from nature and what’s natural that we do ridiculous and counter-productive things like this all the time. We’ve become so paranoid about bacteria that we’ve forgotten that without these amazing little creatures, the world as we know it would not exist.

The trick to miso soup is to never boil the miso. If you boil the miso you’ll kill the friendly bacteria and enzymes.  Always boil or warm the water, wait for it to cool down a bit and then add it to the miso. To qualify as a raw food you want to make sure you don’t heat it above 110-118 degrees F (43-47 degrees C), because above that temperature you start destroying the nutrients and enzymes of the food.

So with all that said, let’s get onto the business of making raw vegan miso soup with zucchini and pumpkin noodles. The easiest way is to prepare the vegetables and divide them into a bowl for each serving you need. Warm up enough water to fill the number of bowls you are preparing.

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp of white miso paste
handful of dried, shiitake mushrooms, sliced
handful of wakame seaweed flakes (or other seaweed of your choice)
fresh vegetables (zucchini, capsicum/bell pepper, green or red chili pepper, cabbage, spinach, etc), sliced thinly
handful of mung bean sprouts
zucchini and/or pumpkin for ‘noodles’ (or any other squash you like)
water

Instructions:

Put the water on the stove to start warming up, and while you’re waiting for it add the seaweed and shiitake to each of the bowls. Break up the shiitake into smaller pieces so they will soften more quickly. Start slicing the remaining vegetables, except for the zucchini and pumpkin to be used as noodles.  When the water is warm enough, add enough to the bowls to cover the seaweed and dried shiitake and allow them to soak and soften while you continue to prepare the rest of the vegetables.

If you’re using any vegetables, like cabbage that are a bit crunchy you might want to add them to a separate mixing bowl, add a little sea salt and massage and squeeze them until they are more tender. In my soup I added some red cabbage kim chi that I made yesterday, so it wasn’t fully fermented and sour, but very tender, similar to the effect that you get from cooking.

To prepare the ‘noodles’, cut open the pumpkin or squash and, using a spoon, remove the seeds and any mushy pulp that was around the seeds by scraping them out with the spoon. Zucchini can be cut in half lengthwise. Use a vegetable peeler to make long strips from the zucchini and pumpkin. Try to make the strips as wide as possible.

Zucchini and Pumpkin Noodles

Lay the strips out on a cutting board and stack about 4-5 strips on top of each other. Then starting at one of the short ends roll the strips up. Use a sharp knife to cut across the roll of strips in whatever thickness you prefer. I felt like linguini, so I cut my strips as narrow as I could.

Zucchini and Pumpkin Noodles

For each bowl, dissolve 1-2 tbsp of miso paste in some warm water by putting it in a cup, adding the water and mixing with a spoon or fork until dissolved. Pour the miso into the bowl. Do this for each bowl in turn. Divide the remaining sliced vegetables and noodles to the bowls and top up with the warm water and stir. Serve and enjoy!

The finished miso vegetable soup with zucchini and pumpkin noodles

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Raw Garden Vegetable Soup

Since I haven’t gotten around to making any raw soups yet, I thought I’d go in search of a video recipe, and I found a good one. Garden Vegetable Soup, by Jennifer Cornbleet. It looks and sounds delicious. I actually have enough of the ingredients to try one myself tomorrow. They are not so different than a green smoothie, except in the seasonings. Jennifer talks about the 6 basic components of a raw soup in the video, I love the way she breaks it down so simply, it gives me a much better foundation to work from when I create my own. I’m really good at creating delicious cooked soups, but raw soups seemed a bit daunting. Not any more

So here’s a rough transcript of the video, which is further down the page:

Garden Vegetable Soups are a great way to get more greens and vegetables in your diet. Lots of great soup recipes in her book, Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People .

There’s 6 basic components that go into any great tasting blended raw vegetable soup

1. Some kind of watery vegetables and/or greens. For example tomato, zucchini, celery, spinach, red bell pepper, Romaine lettuce, chard, kale. Try not to mix together too much red and green or the color won’t be so great. One tomato in an otherwise green soup will be fine, but try to keep it either mostly red or green.
2. Water to thin out the soup a little bit.
3. Some kind of citrus juice, lemon, lime or orange to perk up the flavor.
4. Salty seasoning. Natural sea salt or miso (fermented soybean paste) gives it a nice deep flavor similar to what you would get from vegetable stock or bouillon.
5. Pungent seasonings such as fresh herbs and spices, garlic, onion, a bit of curry powder.
6. Some kind of fat to make the soup creamy. You can use avocado, olive oil or soaked nuts and seeds.

Instructions:

Use a blender to get a nice creamy consistency.

Coarsely chop zucchini (no need to peel it because you get a lot of nutrients in the peel), chop celery. Cut a tomato roughly, no need to remove the seeds since it’s a blended soup. Add some spinach, Swiss chard or kale. Add basil (pungent herb), use quite a bit so it’s both a pungent flavor and another green. Add some water (looks like about 2 cups).

Seasonings: lemon juice, natural sea salt and miso (mellow white miso) – about a tablespoon. Pungent seasonings: crushed garlic, green onions, a little bit of cayenne pepper.

Blend all the ingredients and add the fat (avocado) afterward. Blend until the soup has liquefied.

Cut avocado in half, twist to separate. Scoop half the avocado right into the blender. You can remove the avocado stone by pressing your knife into it just a bit and twisting the avocado while holding the blade of the knife still.

Blend again, just enough to blend the avocado in. If you over-blend avocados it can ruin the flavor and color.

You can serve in a bowl, or put it into a jar with a tight-fitting lid to take with you.

Raw food author and chef Jennifer Cornbleet shows you how to quickly make a delicious raw Garden Vegetable Soup. From her DVD, Raw Food Made Easy .
Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People

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Slow Cooker Baked Chocolate Zucchini Cake

We’ve still got an overabundance of zucchini from the garden and while trying to come up with new ways to use it all I stumbled upon baking… in a crock pot. I never would have thought this would work, but I’m so glad it does. With a slow cooker (a.k.a. crock pot) you don’t have to keep an eye on it like you do with an oven. You just pour the batter in, go off to do something else and come back 2 hours later – ideal! The cake is moist and divine… well, what dish with chocolate is not divine?

If you have a really large crockpot, just double this recipe.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup soft brown sugar (if you can find rapadura sugar it’s the best)
2 small eggs
1/2 teas natural vanilla essence
4 T yogurt
1-1/4 cup wholewheat flour
2 T cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice (or nutmeg)
2 cups grated zucchini
2 T dried cranberries (optional)

Instructions:
Mix oil and sugar in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Add the eggs beat until creamy looking. Mix in the vanilla and yogurt.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda & salt into the mixing bowl, then add spices. Mix just enough to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the grated zucchini and cranberries and mix it through the batter. I find it easiest to do by hand.

Turn the crockpot on high and spray the inside with spray on oil, then line it with non-stick baking paper. The baking paper will stick to the sprayed on oil.

Slow Cooker Chocolate Zucchini Cake Is Done!

Pour the batter into the prepared slow cooker, cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Depending on your crockpot it may take anywhere from 90 minutes to 2-1/2 hours to cook. Once you learn how long your slow cooker takes you can just leave it to cook and come back after that time to remove it. No need to keep checking like you need to with a conventional oven.

When the cake is cooked, remove the lid and lift out the crock. Be careful it will be hot. Leave it to cool for 20-30 minutes, by that time you should be able to touch the crock without burning yourself. Turn the crock upside down over a wire cooling rack and the cake should easily fall out. After the cake cools completely you can store it in the fridge for a few days – if it lasts that long! It’s nice eaten warm, but the flavor improves after a day in the fridge.

COOK’S TIP:
To line the slow cooker with baking paper…
Take a sheet of baking paper and lid on it. Using the lid of the slow cooker as a guide, trace a line all the way around the lid and trace another line about 2 inches away from the lid all the way around. Use scissors to cut the paper at the OUTER circle. Then make lots of cuts from the outside edge toward the center, stopping at the inner circle. Spray the inside of the crock (bowl) with oil. Now place this cut paper into the crock (bowl) and smooth it out over the bottom and up the sides. If necessary, cut a strip of paper to fit upright against the sides to cover the cut strips and make a smoother surface. You can reuse this paper for several batches of cakes.

Here are some photos, which might help to explain it a bit better:

Step 1: Trace the lid. Trace all around the lid, then draw another line about 2 inches outside of the lid.

Step 2: Make the cuts. Make the cuts from the outside edge, toward the center. Make the cut from the outer line to the inner line.

Then just cut a strip of paper to stand upright and wrap around the inside of the bowl, covering the cut strips. This way it’s really easy to re-use the baking paper for another cake.

Related products you might be interested in:

• Crockpots
• Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker: 200 Recipes for Healthy and Hearty One-Pot Meals That Are Ready When You Are

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Healthy Zucchini Muffin Recipe

I’ve modified the recipe I posted previously, added more zucchini and reduced the amount of sugar, so it’s healthier and the results are so much better! I’m really pleased with the way these turned out. Better tasting and better for you! Now that’s my kind of dessert! Actually, you could eat these muffins any time… they make a good snack (perfect for kid’s lunch boxes – get some extra vegies into them without them realizing), if you’re like me and can’t eat a lot first thing in the morning they are lovely for breakfast with your morning coffee or tea. So without further ado, here’s the recipe…

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil *see below for healthier variation
1 cup soft brown sugar
3 cups grated zucchini
2 teas vanilla
1-1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teas salt
1 teas baking soda
1 teas baking powder
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Instructions:
Beat eggs until light and foamy; add vegetable oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla. Mix lightly but blend thoroughly.

Mix together the remaining dry ingredients, except nuts until they are thoroughly blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the first mixture, stir just enough to blend everything together. Stir in walnuts.

Spoon the batter into lightly oiled muffin tins, filling 3/4 of the muffin cup. Bake at 175C (325F) for about 20 minutes or until done. To check if they are done, insert a clean toothpick, skewer or wooden matchstick into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, they’re done.

Healthy Zucchini Muffin Recipe

Cool and serve. Can be refrigerated for a few days (the flavor seems even nicer the next day), eaten warm from the oven, or wrap and freeze them.

Makes 24 small muffins.

* Variation for even healthier zucchini muffins:

Allie, one of our readers, has this excellent suggestion for an even healthier variation. (I bet it’s even yummier too!)

I also modified the fat; instead of 1 cup oil I did 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce. It didn’t change the taste, but it was a little moister and healthier. This is also a great trick for brownies! ~ Allie

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Zucchini Muffins

While I’m trying to cut back on sweets and baked goods, occasionally I still indulge in something sweet. When I do, I figure it might as well be with something that has some beneficial ingredients as well. We have an unbelievable amount of zucchini (courgette) growing in the garden at the moment, so naturally zucchini bread sprang to mind. I baked them as muffins instead of bread though, because I find muffins so much easier to deal with than slicing bread. Next time I make these I’ll add lots more zucchini, I think the recipe can handle it.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1-3/4 cups soft brown sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teas vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teas salt
1 teas baking powder
1 teas baking soda
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Instructions:
Beat the eggs until light and foamy. Add the vegetable oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla. Mix lightly until everything is thoroughly blended.

Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to the first mixture, stirring to blend. Make sure everything is thoroughly blended but don’t over mix. Stir in the walnuts/pecans. Pour the batter into oiled muffin tins, filling to about 3/4. Bake at 325F (175C) for 20 minutes or until done. Check to see if they are done by inserting a toothpick or wooden skewer into the center, if the toothpick comes out clean they are done.

Cool and serve or wrap and freeze.

Makes 20 small muffins.

Zucchini Muffins

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Ingredients:
8 ounces of Mediterranean style vegetables, prepared
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 ounces of dry couscous
Approximately 2 ounces of feta cheese
Approximately 2 ounces of pitted, sliced black olives

Directions:
Place a selection of prepared Mediterranean vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, red onion, and peppers in a baking tray and top with a little olive oil. You’ll need approximately 8 ounces of chopped vegetables.

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake vegetables for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile cook 4 ounces of couscous according to package instructions, but replace the water with the same amount of vegetable broth for more flavor. Fluff couscous with fork and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a little bit of salt and pepper to taste. Mix through.

Serve couscous topped with Mediterranean vegetables and a sprinkle of chopped feta cheese and olives.