Edamame wasabi rice stew

This was today's lunch (yesterday's dinner). Seattle spring has been quite drizzly and chilly so far. I was a homebody hard at work on our book yesterday, so I made this hearty soup with a zing out of ingredients I already had in the house. It felt a little like stone soup, but tasted great.

4 cloves of garlic

and half a red onion, diced fine

got sauteed in a splash of sesame oil to start this one off.

Then I added thin slices of 4 crimini mushrooms, halved.

I added 4 cups of water,

a dried morel mushroom I found kicking around in my pantry (chopped up into little pieces).

Once that came to a boil, I added all the leftover

white and brown rice we had from takeout (about one cup) and kept boiling for about 5 minutes. I turned down to low heat.

Then I added

the soy sauce from two little packets

that came with our takeout the other night, plus a dash more salt.

Tossed in approximately

15 snow peas

sliced so they looked almost like green onion rounds if you squint.

To finish it up, after the rice was all soft and the broth looked thick and milky, I turned off the heat and added

1 tsp of wasabi powder and

1 cup of frozen edamame (not the in-the-pod kind!!).

Stirred it around, let those edamame cook.

Before I ladled into out, I put a few pieces of dried nori (the kind I bought euphemistcally calls itself "sea vegetable"-- which I guess seaweed is, but...) in the bottom of each bowl.

We had it with a spinach salad and from-the-freezer vegetarian gyoza for a big, satisfying dinner.

Tip: Stretching leftovers with veggies

We tried the delicious and hospitable Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant in the International District Sunday night-- couldn't resist the name, even though we weren't in a seafood mood. We loved the special vegetarian hot pot the owner made for us, and the vegetarian lo mein was very good-- but a little greasy when it came to leftover time. This is where the tip comes in: I added fresh peas and bite-sized pieces of fresh broccoli to the to-go containers (the traditional Chinese takeout kind, without the wire handle) before I microwaved for a minute and a half or two. I shook and stirred everything up before plating, and TA DA! More food, and better for me! The result is lower in sodium, lower in fat, and higher in nutritional value for each serving.