Soup for breakfast you say? I thought it kinda strange too when my husband told me about the soup he used to eat while living with Japanese roommate during college. For years he would reminisce about the breakfasts they would have together ~ delicious, healthy and convenient Japanese soups complete with dried little fishes floating around in the bowl. A recent journey into a grain-free diet has brought him back around to having nutrient rich soup for breakfast and this recipe is his own creation. It is chock full of goodness from nettles and shiitake mushrooms to miso and seaweed. What better way to start your day?

Normally I love to have yogurt with berries and ground flax seed for breakfast or some nice veggies scrambled with eggs and cheese, and so do my kids. Seaweeds and shiitake mushrooms are a bit hard for me to handle even though I want to love them, really! Yes, I am a reforming picky eater. So when my hubby started making this soup I observed him with interest and a bit of jealousy along with a healthy dose of happiness that he was making such a great start to his day. And just the other morning, I took the plunge and tried his soup. One taste made my body light up and I found it was delicious! (Just like I tell my kids, you never know if you will like something until you give it a try...) The last two days I have indulged in a big bowl of this delicious soup early in the day. My energy has been a steady, wonderful hum and I don't feel hungry until noon, pretty amazing!

This morning hubby man taught me to make this very special soup so I could share it with all of you! He doesn't really measure anything exactly so this is the best interpretation of his method based on my careful observation. He also uses the frozen veggies and dried herbs for convenience. Feel free to substitute fresh ingredients in their place, though you may need to adjust the quantity. If you can find little dried fishes to add to your soup, go for it! Please let us know where you found them, we can't find them anywhere which is kind of a bummer for my husband.

Ingredients ~

Makes about 2, 16 ounce bowls of soup

2 to 3 cups of Water
1/2 to 1 tsp. Wakame Flakes
1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen Spinach
1/2 cup sliced, frozen or 2 big dried Shiitake Mushrooms
1/2 to 1 tbsp. (scant) Dried Nettles
1/4 block of cubed Tofu, optional. We use a great sprouted tofu that is easier to digest than regular tofu.
A splash or a squirt to taste of Bragg's Liquid Aminos (optional)
2 Eggs
2 big tbsp. Miso Paste

Method ~

Stage One

Create Your Broth

Add to a sauce pan:

2 to 3 cups of water at least 2" deep
Sprinkle in about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon wakame flakes. These expand hugely as they get saturated with the water, pretty cool.
1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen spinach
1/2 cup sliced shiitakes or 2 big dried ones ~ "I like shiitakes!"
About 1/2 to 1 scant tablespoon dried nettles, as if you were making a light nettle tea in a cup.

Ideally you would lightly boil this for about a 1/2 hour, otherwise just get it to an active simmer and move on the stage two. While you are waiting for your soup to cook is a great time for a cup of tea and writing in a journal or a nice round of yoga.

Stage Two

Tofu and Bragg's

Turn down heat a bit and add to the sauce pan:

Add 1/4 block of tofu cubed (or you can add this in the first stage)
For a little flavoring, add a squirt of Bragg's to tweak out the flavor

If you are pressed for time, you could combine stages 1 and 2. Both of these ingredients are optional so you can skip this step all together if you want.

Stage Three

The Eggs

Drop two eggs into the soup kinda swirling it around as you drop it. Now you have two sources of protein, egg and tofu!

Then break up the yolky parts a little, if you can find them. "Some times you can't find them and I don't know what happens then."

Bring to another simmer to make sure egg gets fully cooked.

My Hubby is a self-admitting heat-adjusting fanatic... and he is, he can take 20 minutes to make a piece of toast in the oven carefully watching and adjusting the toasts placement as well as the temp of the oven. So you may not need to increase the temp here, just make sure your eggs are fully cooked.

Stage Four

The Miso and the Broth

Take a nice big tablespoon of miso and smear it around the inside of your bowl. If you just add the miso as a big blob in the bottom of the bowl, it may not dissolve and you may go crazy trying to hunt it down to mix it in. This way is fast and makes it easy to mix the miso into the soup.

Finally add the broth to your miso smeared bowl. You want to be sure that the soup has cooled a bit and is not boiling so as to keep the cultures in the miso vital and alive.

Carefully mix in your miso into your amazing broth and enjoy!