Vegan Pho

It seems like everyone around me is coming down with a case of the yuckies and Cassi can not afford to get sick but just as good as the day is long, Friday while at work I was starting to feel a little out of balance. I had to nip this in the bud quickly! I had a lot to do Saturday plus New Year's Eve is coming up! My first instinct is always to sweat it out! I remembered that I still had a few bars of camphor to use as a soak but I needed a good spicy soup to help the process. My normal go to is ramen but I've had one too many bowls this week. Then I saw a friend on Facebook post a picture of a bowl of Pho she had for lunch and remembered a few weeks ago I picked up some

Pacific Vegetarian Pho soup base from Kroger that was on clearance! Normally Pho is made with a chicken stock and now the only way I can get it is if I make it myself. When I saw this soup base I was all over it. It is a mushroom based stock so it's a extra bonus because i'm getting my Vitamin D as well.

My original plan was to use my soup base, bake a little tofu and throw in some veggies but by the time I left worked I just wanted to get home, eat my soup, soak in the tub and sleep. So cutting up veggies and baking tofu was out. I still needed to pick up bag of noodles and mung beans sprouts so I stopped off at the Viet Hoa. They have redone the market so all the vegan items are with the produce, I love this because I can go to one area, grab everything I need and leave. As I was grabbing the sprouts I glanced over at the new mock meat and spice shelf and saw a can of Lo Han Chai Vegetarian Chop Suey. Yes I know it's Chop Suey mix but it has veggies, wheat gluten and the sodium is really low so I grabbed it. It is filed with bamboo shoots, corn, mushrooms, and fried wheat gluten.

This starter base is really fast "cooking". You just measure it out, bring it to a boil with the lid on and it's done! While the Pho was boiling I placed my noodles in a warm bowl of water to soften up, cut up my bok choy and placed my basil and sprouts in the bowl. Once the broth reached a boiled I added the Chop Suey mix in to warm it up a little. After it was a bit warm I pour it into my bowl with all of the fresh veggie goodness, noodles and Pho was ready to eat! This Pho hit the spot, it made me feel so much better and it was vegan! I forgot the jalapenos and there was no way I was getting back out so I added a little crushed red pepper to give it the heat I needed.

After I had my Pho I still needed to sweat the toxins out and I remembered reading about a ginger detox bath. So I googled and found an article for a detox bath. All that was needed was half a cup of grated ginger. After about 10 minutes in the tub I started to sweat so I knew it was working. Afterwards the slight body ache and sore throat I had was gone! Success, no yuckies for me! If you choose to do a ginger bath PLEASE make sure you drink plenty of water before and after because you will sweat.