Asian-Inspired Shrimp and Mushroom Soup

Though I hate to eat alone, it's always a good opportunity to try something new and adventurous without worrying I'm going to ruin anyone's dinner but my own. So I went for it with this Asian-inspired Shrimp and Mushroom Soup.  And if you don't eat shrimp, you could replace that with just about anything and it would still be just as delicious (chicken, scallops, tofu). It may seem like a more complicated recipe than most of the ideas posted here, but don't be fooled—I'm not that great a planner. I just looked at what I had on hand, and these seemed to go!

Ingredients:

18 uncooked shrimp (or other protein)

1 package tofu shirataki noodles

2c vegetable broth

1c water

1 package gourmet blend mushrooms (oyster, shiitake and baby bella)

2 T. ginger, thinly sliced and chopped

1 large clove fresh garlic, minced

1 scallion, finely chopped

fish sauce

1 t. red curry paste

1 T. lime juice

1 T. light soy sauce

Prepare tofu noodles according to package directions. 

Over medium-high heat, stir together 3/4c. of broth with a splash of fish sauce and the red curry paste, mushrooms, ginger and garlic. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms and ginger begin to soften. 

Add the remaining broth and noodles; simmer for about 8 more minutes. Add in the shrimp, scallions, lime juice and soy sauce and cook for another 3 minutes or so—just long enough to cook the shrimp all the way through, but keep the scallions nice and bright green. Serve it up and enjoy!

Makes 2 big ol' servings (at about 27g of protein each), or 4 decent sized servings. 

Note: Because of the high sodium content in broth, I try not to make soups too common in my diet. I'd recommend eating something like this on a day when you haven't overloaded on sodium from other sources (don't eat a jar of pickles for breakfast, a 2-liter of diet pop at lunch, and then this for dinner. Well, partly cuz that's disgusting. And partly because of the sodium.)