Me sooo need Miso

  Last weekend, we traveled to Long Beach Island for a bachelor/bachelorette beach weekend celebration.  Almost the whole wedding crew made it, except for one of the bridesmaids who lives far far away.  I made the suggestion of having a little octoberfest potluck for dinner since I knew the boys would be bringing lots of special brews, and since we all love fall food festivities.  We had quite the spread!  One of the bridesmaids brought some special treats from lancaster...garlic herb french frommage, stilton, crackers and shoo fly pie.  Erich made home-made pretzels with the stinkiest cheese sauce.  I made an apple cake that was hardly touched despite it's delicious flavor.  (Don't worry, we've been savoring it everyday this week!)  Maura and Jim made a delicious kielbasa, cabbage and apple main course.  There was sooo much food, too much food one might say... Which left us with a bit of a stomach ache.  So after celebrating with rich food and endless amounts of beer/wine/alcohol/mulled cider, we felt it was only necessary to go on a little detox after we returned.  Hence "Me sooo need Miso."  It's easy to whip up especially when you have copious amounts of miso on hand, and it leaves you feeling nourished and satisfied.

Crew goes to beach.

We were lucky with the weather.  We even dipped our toes!  Not too chilly either!

Fall shoes step aside.  It's beach time!

Erich crafting up some special pretzels.

Check out those salt flakes!  Sorry I didn't get a chance to take a shot of the finished product.  

We ate them quick!

Miso in love with you.

Recipe
serves 2-3

4 cups of water
2-4 Tbsp. miso (any kind works, we used orange)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 bunch of spinach
2 green onions
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes divided between bowls
3 oz. udon noodles
pickled carrots

Cook noodles, rinse with cold water to prevent them from over cooking and separate into bowls.  Boil 4 cups of water and add miso one table spoon at a time, until you reach your desired taste.  Whisk to dissolve miso.  Clean, and cut stems off of spinach.  Add sesame oil to pan and cook spinach for a few minutes until the excess waters is gone.  Add spinach to miso soup.  Ladle soup into bowls, and add green onion, a pinch of red pepper flakes and pickled carrots.  Enjoy!