The second one I can use my food EBT card (nice) but I will pay cash (debit card) for the one you mentioned if you say it's worth it.
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I ordered the Koyo ramen
Have you ever had creamed spinach?You just gave an idea of how to use up some of the tahini I have (it's a great sub for peanut butter)
I also ordered some dried cherries for my next batch of hummus
Hey... any ideas for using spinach (cooked)? I still have a bunch of "new zealand spinach" I was going to make a quiche but it's too hot to run the oven.
I use this one, because it's organic, and 210 calories per packet. I like the lemongrass ginger flavor and the garlic pepper flavor, but I have some of the mushroom flavor that I haven't tried yet.
I looked at it on Amazon, not sure where you ordered it, or which kind, but it seemed expensive on Amzn. It's pretty cheap in the grocery stores, around 1.29 a packet, and the stores all seem to have it.
You just gave an idea of how to use up some of the tahini I have (it's a great sub for peanut butter)
I also ordered some dried cherries for my next batch of hummus
Hey... any ideas for using spinach (cooked)? I still have a bunch of "new zealand spinach" I was going to make a quiche but it's too hot to run the oven.
I've never had New Zealand spinach, so I don't know how it cooks down, in terms of texture and flavor. When I get delicious organic baby spinach leaves I use them in salads, or drop them into soups like ramen or any soup. You drop them in at the last minute, after removing the soup from heat. When it's mature spinach it's better sauteed with garlic, IMO.
Yeah, weather too hot for cooking. I like Jimi's suggestion, creamed spinach, if that works with the flavor of NZ spinach, or if you like it in quiche then you can put it in an omelette instead, which is quick on top of the stove, so you don't have to run the oven.
Brilliant idea to use tahini instead of peanut butter for the ramen dish I showed.
I have looked for these around here and no luck yet
I have looked for these around here and no luck yet
I know Whole Foods carries them, but I find them at our HEB Stores and Central Market here too. Anyway I searched the Whole Foods national site for a location near Peoria and nothing came up.
So I guess Amazon is a fair option for you as long as you're buying a package of 12.
The garlic pepper flavor is 18.40 for 12 packs, which comes down to 1.53 per packet:
Or the Asian vegetable flavor, 12 packs for 20.50 (1.70 per packet):
I don't see the ginger lemongrass flavor I like to get, but honestly Jimi, it doesn't matter. The included dust packets in this brand add almost no flavor. You can add your own herbs and spices.
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Okay, I'm editing to stop the nonsense of paying 18.40 for a pound and a half of ramen, even if it is organic, especially since the Koyo flavor packets add practically nothing. Even if you could get Koyo at grocery store prices, at 1.29 for 2.1 oz. noodles per packet it still comes out to 15.48 for a pound and a half. Better to buy organic angelhair pasta, which isn't cheap either. I paid 6.25 for a pound of organic angelhair recently, but I prefer it over regular spaghetti because angelhair cooks as quickly as ramen, so you don't have to boil it in a separate pot. You can add it straight into whatever sauce you're making, or just cook it in a small amount of water and add your other ingredients into the same pot.
Ramen ingredients are in the broth, not the noodle, and are as varied as your imagination can make them. Sure, we all love ramen because it was a snack you could cook in your dorm room with your little hot water kettle. It was food when you were a broke young adult in your first apartment. It's camping food. It's convenient. Some of them are super cheap, like Top Ramen at 40 cents per packet, Maruchan at 25 cents, but those are not organic. Some of them have stupendous flavor packets, like the Nongshim Shin Ramyun, but it isn't organic and I'm trying to get away from glyphosate completely as much as possible.
End of rant. If anybody wants me to hunt down ramen recipe links to use with organic angelhair pasta, I'll be happy to do it. It isn't as convenient as adding a powder packet to noodles and water, but IMO it can be a lot better, and there are ramen flavor powders out there, sold by themselves without noodles. There organic bouillon powders, pastes and cubes, not to mention organic tom yum paste, masaman and other asian flavoring mixtures, even Molly McButter if you like that, canned soups, broths, stocks, etc. into infinity.
If you don't mind boiling the noodles in a separate pot, Costco in my area has organic spaghetti (not angelhair) currently at 2.02 per pound, if you don't mind buying 8 pounds at a time, which is Costco's schtick. I'm tempted by that offer, but I'm skipping it because it isn't angelhair, and angelhair really does cook down as easily as ramen noodles.
Anyway the fun of ramen, when you are fully an adult, no longer concocting snacks in your dorm room, is adding good stuff to it: mushrooms, baby bok choy, miso, green onion, peanut butter sauce, crushed garlic, tamari. The so called "ethnic food" aisles in grocery stores have things like powdered shrimp and lily buds.
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Yes but I have lactose issues (since my mid 40s) so will have to sub some ingredients (easy to do actually)
Mine is very similar (and organic with miso sauce) besides, I have all kinds of asian flavors stuff including ginger paste, garlic, soy sauce, teriaki, fish sauce, oyster sauce, kug pao and more. I'm not vegan so might add some meat once in a while (like pre-cooked chicken) and of course some vegis.
This was a gift from a friend who tried it and thought I would like it because it contains no soy. It is estimated that there really is no longer any reliable organic soy in the world's markets, because organic certification is based on verification of agricultural methods, with no checking for GMO contamination from pollen drift. That's the elephant in the room.
Anyway, it's yummy, cashew based cheese, low in calories, flavorful of garlic and basil. I probably won't buy it, because it isn't organic, and I don't understand why the makers would add lactic acid, since many consumers of plant based cheese are lactose intolerant and it's why they choose vegan cheese. And doesn't the lactic content keep it from really being vegan? Where else do you get lactose other than milk?
Breakfast-lunch today (no cooking in this heat):
The Miyokos brand doesn't add lactose, and most of their products are organic.
Anyway, it's yummy, cashew based cheese, low in calories, flavorful of garlic and basil. I probably won't buy it, because it isn't organic, and I don't understand why the makers would add lactic acid, since many consumers of plant based cheese are lactose intolerant and it's why they choose vegan cheese. And doesn't the lactic content keep it from really being vegan? Where else do you get lactose other than milk?
Breakfast-lunch today (no cooking in this heat):
The Miyokos brand doesn't add lactose, and most of their products are organic.
I would love to see some of your DIY ramen bowl creations. I'll be trying to create and post some too, using angelhair, since I ran my mouth off about the cost of the little ramen packets, but I always have added a little something on my own, like grated carrot, onion, snow pea pods, ginger and whatever odds & ends I have around.
Lactic acid is not lactose (milk sugar) In fact, with yogurt the lactose is used up by the active cultures and converted to lactic acid (thus the sour/tart taste) There are other sources besides dairy (very common methods of fermenting vegis and I'm going to try this myself) Example:
Yes... avoid GMOs if possible (it's in everything especially anything made from corn and/or soy) There are some non GMO corn and soy products but beware and do your homework. Just claiming "organic" is no guarantee.
Use almond milk, that's what I have to use and it's great
Go for it, it's not hard at all and very healthy to eat fermented foods
Thank you my friend
, more than half of the "claimed organic" items go unchecked and if they do get caught it's just a minor slap on the wrist with very little to no publicityThe answer: GROW YOUR OWN
For breakfast-lunch today I intended to start working out easy ramen bowls using organic angelhair pasta, but I didn't want to risk letting this lovely ruffly organic lettuce go bad:
nor the pretty organic blueberries, so I'll do ramen #1 tonight. For breakfast-lunch I made a blueberry pecan salad. I'm showing it before I dressed it with a little salt, sunflower oil and premium aged balsamic vinegar.
It was so good. There is nothing more sad than looking at the last blueberry rolling around the bottom of the bowl.
nor the pretty organic blueberries, so I'll do ramen #1 tonight. For breakfast-lunch I made a blueberry pecan salad. I'm showing it before I dressed it with a little salt, sunflower oil and premium aged balsamic vinegar.
It was so good. There is nothing more sad than looking at the last blueberry rolling around the bottom of the bowl.
That looks delicious
I'm serious about the homemade ramen effort, using organic angel hair pasta. Here is the kind I like to get, the coiled nest kind, even if it costs more, because I can measure the calories easily without having to have a food scale, or so I thought.
The one pound bag says it contains eight servings, each serving 210 calories. Until I did this actual calorie work, I was calculating each coil at 100 calories. But the bag contains a total of 1680 calories. As you see laid out here, it contains 11 coils and and enough broken debris to make up another half coil, so I took the runt coil and added it to the debris for a total count of 11 coils. Therefore each coil has at has 152.72 calories, perfect to use two coils to make ramen for one.
This first effort is to achieve the ease of the cheap ramen noodle brick with flavor dust and hot water, for those who just want that quick midnight snack, or a meal when you're too tired and hungry to cook, but I want it to taste mouthwatering. I put three cups water in the sauce pan, brought it to the boil, lowered the heat, added two angelhair coils and quickly cooked them down. To the water and cooked noodles I added two teaspoons of the vegan chicken bouillon base.
It's very thick and rich. As you can see, it heaps on the spoon.
Most of the Better than Bouillon brand flavors are available organic, but not this vegan chicken one. They do have an organic seasoned vegetable one.
Stir stir stir, and Into the bowl it went. I finished it with some red pepper flakes. I'd thought of adding a dash of tamari, but it's so salty already, if you wanted the tamari or soy sauce you'd use less than two heaping teaspoons of the bouillon base, and believe me, don't add salt. This base is very salty.
And here we have Ramen 1, the vegan chicken version.
Noodles to chew, broth to slurp, very satisfying, about 300 calories the pasta, and the bouillon about 150
(see edit below) because I used the heaping teaspoons which about double the38 cal. per teaspoon count shown on the jar. And note: this is a BIG BOWL. You could halve the recipe and still have a good serving for one.
EDIT: The bouillon base adds only 60 calories to the pasta. I misread (38 servings in the jar), not 38 calories per serving. It's 15 calories per level teaspoon. Since I used two heaping teaspoons, total calories from the bouillon base are 60, so:
Pasta 300 cal.
Bouillon base 60 cal.
Total dish 360 calories
Effort 1 is pretty much equivalent to what you get with cheap ramen packet, but this tastes much better. Again, you can add in whatever you want or what you have in the fridge. Some frozen baby peas, rinsed to clear off ice crystals, would add the protein to make it a meal. Some chopped green onion on top would be pretty A few toasted sesame seeds, more nutrition than you get in the cheapy ramen products. Some of the cheap packet ramen are really nothing more than mild noodle soup. You could use a beef bouillon base instead of vegetable.
The organic "Better than Bouillon" is expensive. The ingredients are relatively clean, but one of the flavors contains yeast extract and maltodextrin, and one of them has canola oil. I don't see why those have to be there, so I won't buy this one again. Tak Cheung with the YouTube channel "Wok with Tak", makes his ramen base with only water and spices. I took a screen shot of the seasoning palate he shows. These are all familiar except for "mushroom seasoning". I'm not sure what that is.
Here is a recipe link for making your own bouillon powder:
https://www.101cookbooks.com/homemade-bouillon-powder/
If I were a southern cook or an Asian cook I might make broth from a pork chop or something. Some ramen fans swear you have to have pork belly, that authentic ramen broth should be oily, but if your ramen has always been the silly cheap ramen packets you won't be looking for that. Also I have never cooked with miso. Maybe once a long time ago. Some will think it essential for that depth of umami. Not me, but your ramen, your choices.
Mmmm. My favorite men are ramen.
The one pound bag says it contains eight servings, each serving 210 calories. Until I did this actual calorie work, I was calculating each coil at 100 calories. But the bag contains a total of 1680 calories. As you see laid out here, it contains 11 coils and and enough broken debris to make up another half coil, so I took the runt coil and added it to the debris for a total count of 11 coils. Therefore each coil has at has 152.72 calories, perfect to use two coils to make ramen for one.
This first effort is to achieve the ease of the cheap ramen noodle brick with flavor dust and hot water, for those who just want that quick midnight snack, or a meal when you're too tired and hungry to cook, but I want it to taste mouthwatering. I put three cups water in the sauce pan, brought it to the boil, lowered the heat, added two angelhair coils and quickly cooked them down. To the water and cooked noodles I added two teaspoons of the vegan chicken bouillon base.
It's very thick and rich. As you can see, it heaps on the spoon.
Most of the Better than Bouillon brand flavors are available organic, but not this vegan chicken one. They do have an organic seasoned vegetable one.
Stir stir stir, and Into the bowl it went. I finished it with some red pepper flakes. I'd thought of adding a dash of tamari, but it's so salty already, if you wanted the tamari or soy sauce you'd use less than two heaping teaspoons of the bouillon base, and believe me, don't add salt. This base is very salty.
And here we have Ramen 1, the vegan chicken version.
Noodles to chew, broth to slurp, very satisfying, about 300 calories the pasta, and the bouillon about
(see edit below) because I used the heaping teaspoons which about double the
EDIT: The bouillon base adds only 60 calories to the pasta. I misread (38 servings in the jar), not 38 calories per serving. It's 15 calories per level teaspoon. Since I used two heaping teaspoons, total calories from the bouillon base are 60, so:
Pasta 300 cal.
Bouillon base 60 cal.
Total dish 360 calories
Effort 1 is pretty much equivalent to what you get with cheap ramen packet, but this tastes much better. Again, you can add in whatever you want or what you have in the fridge. Some frozen baby peas, rinsed to clear off ice crystals, would add the protein to make it a meal. Some chopped green onion on top would be pretty A few toasted sesame seeds, more nutrition than you get in the cheapy ramen products. Some of the cheap packet ramen are really nothing more than mild noodle soup. You could use a beef bouillon base instead of vegetable.
The organic "Better than Bouillon" is expensive. The ingredients are relatively clean, but one of the flavors contains yeast extract and maltodextrin, and one of them has canola oil. I don't see why those have to be there, so I won't buy this one again. Tak Cheung with the YouTube channel "Wok with Tak", makes his ramen base with only water and spices. I took a screen shot of the seasoning palate he shows. These are all familiar except for "mushroom seasoning". I'm not sure what that is.
Here is a recipe link for making your own bouillon powder:
https://www.101cookbooks.com/homemade-bouillon-powder/
If I were a southern cook or an Asian cook I might make broth from a pork chop or something. Some ramen fans swear you have to have pork belly, that authentic ramen broth should be oily, but if your ramen has always been the silly cheap ramen packets you won't be looking for that. Also I have never cooked with miso. Maybe once a long time ago. Some will think it essential for that depth of umami. Not me, but your ramen, your choices.
Mmmm. My favorite men are ramen.
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I didn't time it, but it's about the same as the time it takes the regular ramen brick to get soft. Boil the water, drop the coils, lower the heat, uncoil the coils with a fork as they soften. In fact, once I got the noodles uncoiled I took the pan off heat while I got the bouillon base out of the fridge and opened the spice jar of pepper flakes, and when I came back to it, the noodles were done.
Very, very comparable to the quickness of the ramen noodle brick. That's why I recommend angelhair for a cheaper alternative to organic ramen packets. And you're using the water to mix stuff in for ramen broth, so you don't have to drain the pasta. Like ramen.
If you're not trying to carefully measure calories without a food scale, you don't have to buy the coiled nests. It's cheaper to buy organic angelhair in long straight packages. In any case, it's super thin, so it cooks in no time.
I have more ramen tricks up my sleeve, to show in coming days.
Something I thought would be easy, finding an inexpensive organic bouillon cube or powder, just isn't, but I will again link the "Wok with Tak" spice array for making your own flavor dust. Other than the "mushroom seasoning" his collection includes common spices that most people who cook at home already have. Also linking again the recipe for making your own bouillon powder.
This time I made beef ramen, using the "Better than Bouillon" organic roasted beef variety.
This brand has some horrendous ingredients, organic or not, including corn syrup solids (the beef one doesn't have that). The beef one contains cane sugar. All the brand's flavors seem to contain maltodextrin and other sketchy stuff that clean eaters won't want. But I have to use up the expensive jars I bought, one vegan chicken, the other the organic roasted beef flavor.
Here are my veg for this version, bit of slivered onion and a few broccolini florets:
So again, three cups of water, to which this time I added a teaspoon of organic yellow curry powder, the Madras style you can get anywhere. Brought it to the boil, added the slivered onions, reduced the heat, dropped in two coils of angelhair pasta and began stirring and turning to uncoil. It takes just moments, and by the time the pasta is uncoiled it's almost done and you can remove it from heat.
I added two heaping teaspoons of the beef bouillon base, stir stir stir, and into the bowl. Stirred in the red pepper flakes before topping with the little broccolini trees. They get tender crisp in the heat of the dish, so they don't need any cooking. The whole dish needs no salt because the Better than Bouillon base is almost too salty. Maybe I should use less of it.
And here we have Ramen 2, the beef vegetable version (crappy pic, sorry):
A very satisfying 300 calories the pasta, 60 calories the bouillon base (15 cal. per teaspoon, quadrupled because I used two heaping teaspoons of it).
Effort 2 is a little more work that the first one, which was just to approximate the quick snack or fast meal you get from the cheap ramen packet, but effort 2 is a sustaining meal, rich in real nutrients, and lip tingling from the curry powder.
For alternatives, here again is Tak Cheung's spice array for making your own ramen flavor base:
And here again a link to a collection of variations of DIY bouillon powder recipes:
https://www.101cookbooks.com/homemade-bouillon-powder/
Your ramen, your choices.
This time I made beef ramen, using the "Better than Bouillon" organic roasted beef variety.
This brand has some horrendous ingredients, organic or not, including corn syrup solids (the beef one doesn't have that). The beef one contains cane sugar. All the brand's flavors seem to contain maltodextrin and other sketchy stuff that clean eaters won't want. But I have to use up the expensive jars I bought, one vegan chicken, the other the organic roasted beef flavor.
Here are my veg for this version, bit of slivered onion and a few broccolini florets:
So again, three cups of water, to which this time I added a teaspoon of organic yellow curry powder, the Madras style you can get anywhere. Brought it to the boil, added the slivered onions, reduced the heat, dropped in two coils of angelhair pasta and began stirring and turning to uncoil. It takes just moments, and by the time the pasta is uncoiled it's almost done and you can remove it from heat.
I added two heaping teaspoons of the beef bouillon base, stir stir stir, and into the bowl. Stirred in the red pepper flakes before topping with the little broccolini trees. They get tender crisp in the heat of the dish, so they don't need any cooking. The whole dish needs no salt because the Better than Bouillon base is almost too salty. Maybe I should use less of it.
And here we have Ramen 2, the beef vegetable version (crappy pic, sorry):
A very satisfying 300 calories the pasta, 60 calories the bouillon base (15 cal. per teaspoon, quadrupled because I used two heaping teaspoons of it).
Effort 2 is a little more work that the first one, which was just to approximate the quick snack or fast meal you get from the cheap ramen packet, but effort 2 is a sustaining meal, rich in real nutrients, and lip tingling from the curry powder.
For alternatives, here again is Tak Cheung's spice array for making your own ramen flavor base:
And here again a link to a collection of variations of DIY bouillon powder recipes:
https://www.101cookbooks.com/homemade-bouillon-powder/
Your ramen, your choices.
Loaded brussels sprouts.
To my knowledge the traditional ingredients for loaded potatoes are cheese, sour cream, bacon bits and chopped green onion. However, IMO the brussels sprouts flavor is too strong to add onion, even the chopped green ends of long green onions, so I substituted some chopped tomato for a refreshing finish.
I used about half the 2 lb. bag of sprouts. There wasn't much wilted or rotty to trim off. I wanted to leave a bit of stem end intact, to hold the pieces together, so I carefully shaved off the oxidized layer from the stem ends before halving them, leaving some of the ends in place. Then tossed them with melted butter and salt. Onto a baking sheet and Into the oven they went (350, not preheated).
I guess they cooked about 20-25 minutes. I took them out when I smelled browned deliciousness, transferred them to my plate.
I ground on some black pepper, sprinkled them with grated cheddar, then loaded on the sour cream and bacon bits. Finally, I finished them with some chopped tomato for a touch of freshness.
Other options instead of chopped tomato, had they been available, would have been fresh parsley or basil ribbons, or fresh chopped dill. Even grated lime zest.
It was delicious. That's a load of dairy calories, but keep in mind there is no potato, no bread, and only the slightest amount of meat in the bacon bits. I could only eat about half, so the other half waits for supper tonite.
I considered using some nutmeg, which goes well with cruciferous veg, but in oven roasting I was afraid of burning the delicate nutmeg.
The recipe is easily veganized with good organic non-dairy analogs available out there for the butter, cheese and sour cream, as well as vegan "bacon" bits, or you can skip any vegan attempt at bacon and instead use cooked, crumbled vegan chorizo. Or, probably even better, instead of any vegan meat analog, use some chopped pecans or walnuts warmed with the slightest amount of coconut sugar or maple syrup, just enough to make them crunchy, not syrupy.
Your dish, your choices.
Props to YouTuber Hungry Fatchick for inventing the recipe.
To my knowledge the traditional ingredients for loaded potatoes are cheese, sour cream, bacon bits and chopped green onion. However, IMO the brussels sprouts flavor is too strong to add onion, even the chopped green ends of long green onions, so I substituted some chopped tomato for a refreshing finish.
I used about half the 2 lb. bag of sprouts. There wasn't much wilted or rotty to trim off. I wanted to leave a bit of stem end intact, to hold the pieces together, so I carefully shaved off the oxidized layer from the stem ends before halving them, leaving some of the ends in place. Then tossed them with melted butter and salt. Onto a baking sheet and Into the oven they went (350, not preheated).
I guess they cooked about 20-25 minutes. I took them out when I smelled browned deliciousness, transferred them to my plate.
I ground on some black pepper, sprinkled them with grated cheddar, then loaded on the sour cream and bacon bits. Finally, I finished them with some chopped tomato for a touch of freshness.
Other options instead of chopped tomato, had they been available, would have been fresh parsley or basil ribbons, or fresh chopped dill. Even grated lime zest.
It was delicious. That's a load of dairy calories, but keep in mind there is no potato, no bread, and only the slightest amount of meat in the bacon bits. I could only eat about half, so the other half waits for supper tonite.
I considered using some nutmeg, which goes well with cruciferous veg, but in oven roasting I was afraid of burning the delicate nutmeg.
The recipe is easily veganized with good organic non-dairy analogs available out there for the butter, cheese and sour cream, as well as vegan "bacon" bits, or you can skip any vegan attempt at bacon and instead use cooked, crumbled vegan chorizo. Or, probably even better, instead of any vegan meat analog, use some chopped pecans or walnuts warmed with the slightest amount of coconut sugar or maple syrup, just enough to make them crunchy, not syrupy.
Your dish, your choices.
Props to YouTuber Hungry Fatchick for inventing the recipe.
Next ramen, and I think this will be my last post on DIY using organic angelhair pasta. I think ramen enthusiasts have enough initiative to figure out what they want in their broth, whether it's bouillon cube or powder, store bought broth, a spice paste, or your own creation using spices.
This time I used Mae Ploy red curry paste.
stock photo
I love this brand. The ingredients are very high quality, with no oil or soy content. I used the red curry variety, which is not an Indian curry but a Thai one, an entirely different flavor profile, with garlic, dried red chili, lemongrass, shallot, salt, galangal, shrimp paste, kaffir lime peel, pepper. There is a vegan variety of this brand's red curry that doesn't contain the shrimp paste, but for myself I like the umami kick it gives. It doesn't taste shrimpy or fishy in the least.
I started by browning a small can of drained mushrooms:
Then flooded the pan with the usual three cups water, let it come to the boil, reduced to simmer, added two heaping tablespoons of the red curry paste, stirred to mix well, added the usual two coils of angelhair and let it soften, just stirring and turning it with a fork to get it uncoiled and exposed to the liquid. When the noodles were soft, I stirred it all up to make sure the sauce was well distributed. This paste is salty, so the dish needs no salt.
I garnished with some vicious dried chiles de arbol, sliced green onion and some pretty basil leaves. Double delish. That's my salad alongside, a sliced baby cucumber.
This ramen version achieves that spicy dish, like your Nongshim "gourmet spicy" or some of the Buldak flavors, and you could put this dish over the top by replacing some of the water with coconut milk.
For your further explorations of healthy ramen, here again is Tak Cheung's spice array for making your own flavor base:
And here again a link to a collection of variations of DIY bouillon powder recipes:
https://www.101cookbooks.com/homemade-bouillon-powder/
Your ramen, your choices.
Here's my stupendous dessert tonite.
This time I used Mae Ploy red curry paste.
stock photo
I love this brand. The ingredients are very high quality, with no oil or soy content. I used the red curry variety, which is not an Indian curry but a Thai one, an entirely different flavor profile, with garlic, dried red chili, lemongrass, shallot, salt, galangal, shrimp paste, kaffir lime peel, pepper. There is a vegan variety of this brand's red curry that doesn't contain the shrimp paste, but for myself I like the umami kick it gives. It doesn't taste shrimpy or fishy in the least.
I started by browning a small can of drained mushrooms:
Then flooded the pan with the usual three cups water, let it come to the boil, reduced to simmer, added two heaping tablespoons of the red curry paste, stirred to mix well, added the usual two coils of angelhair and let it soften, just stirring and turning it with a fork to get it uncoiled and exposed to the liquid. When the noodles were soft, I stirred it all up to make sure the sauce was well distributed. This paste is salty, so the dish needs no salt.
I garnished with some vicious dried chiles de arbol, sliced green onion and some pretty basil leaves. Double delish. That's my salad alongside, a sliced baby cucumber.
This ramen version achieves that spicy dish, like your Nongshim "gourmet spicy" or some of the Buldak flavors, and you could put this dish over the top by replacing some of the water with coconut milk.
For your further explorations of healthy ramen, here again is Tak Cheung's spice array for making your own flavor base:
And here again a link to a collection of variations of DIY bouillon powder recipes:
https://www.101cookbooks.com/homemade-bouillon-powder/
Your ramen, your choices.
Here's my stupendous dessert tonite.
So much color, so little time.
After lunch at a Thai restaurant yesterday for a friend's birthday party, all I wanted for dinner last night was a light salad:
Romaine, tomato, baby cucumber, jalapeno, basil. I'm showing it before dressing because it's prettier that way, but I added some crushed garlic, oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
For today's breakfast-lunch, Black and Blue salad:
Romaine, blackberries, blueberries, pecans. I'm showing it before I dressed the whole with a little mayo. The fruit and pecans don't need dressing, but the lettuce needs a little something.
Summer is a riot of colors and flavors, when produce costs less. So little time because I still have 10 lbs. organic potatoes and a pound of organic brussels sprouts to work through, not to mention still a pound of organic strawberries to go, more than two more pints org. blueberries and about half a pint left of the org. blackberries. But, no reason to complain.
Bon appetit.
After lunch at a Thai restaurant yesterday for a friend's birthday party, all I wanted for dinner last night was a light salad:
Romaine, tomato, baby cucumber, jalapeno, basil. I'm showing it before dressing because it's prettier that way, but I added some crushed garlic, oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
For today's breakfast-lunch, Black and Blue salad:
Romaine, blackberries, blueberries, pecans. I'm showing it before I dressed the whole with a little mayo. The fruit and pecans don't need dressing, but the lettuce needs a little something.
Summer is a riot of colors and flavors, when produce costs less. So little time because I still have 10 lbs. organic potatoes and a pound of organic brussels sprouts to work through, not to mention still a pound of organic strawberries to go, more than two more pints org. blueberries and about half a pint left of the org. blackberries. But, no reason to complain.
Bon appetit.
For breakfast-lunch today I had the other half of my 2 lb. bag of organic brussels sprouts. I did a little bit of "loaded" again, not as much as before. They don't need all that, though I really think the "loaded" variations for brussels sprouts are a boon to keto eaters who won't touch potatoes but want something special.
I roasted them again as before, first tossed with salt and melted butter. I didn't take new pics. I'll just recycle this one from last time.
For "loaded", I left out the cheese this time, and didn't worry about topping them with tomatoes. Out of the oven I ground on black pepper and sprinkled on red pepper flakes. Then used just a little sour cream and about 2 tablespoons bacon bits. That was enough. Very filling.
Brussels sprouts are such wonderful little veggies. They look like Barbie cabbages.
I roasted them again as before, first tossed with salt and melted butter. I didn't take new pics. I'll just recycle this one from last time.
For "loaded", I left out the cheese this time, and didn't worry about topping them with tomatoes. Out of the oven I ground on black pepper and sprinkled on red pepper flakes. Then used just a little sour cream and about 2 tablespoons bacon bits. That was enough. Very filling.
Brussels sprouts are such wonderful little veggies. They look like Barbie cabbages.
Got some beautiful spinach, then made up a turkey and cheese sammich with Hellman's mayo, brown mustard, sweet peppers, pickled jalapenos, and minced onion on wheat bread I got for free from the lobby....there's always some kind of foodstuffs for the tenants.
Simple is tasty.
Simple is tasty.
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Prepper day tacos
I found some bean dip that expired in 2022.
It made pretty good tacos, not great, but acceptable. I heated it with some fresh chopped jalapeno, then melted some grated cheese on top. Assembled the tacos using restaurant tortillas, prepper canned tomatoes with green chiles (of which there are several organic label ones if you know where to shop), chopped fresh green onion, and the last single serve cup of Wholly Guacamole organic (expiration date a couple of days ago).
No pics. I was too hungry. They're gone.
I found some bean dip that expired in 2022.
It made pretty good tacos, not great, but acceptable. I heated it with some fresh chopped jalapeno, then melted some grated cheese on top. Assembled the tacos using restaurant tortillas, prepper canned tomatoes with green chiles (of which there are several organic label ones if you know where to shop), chopped fresh green onion, and the last single serve cup of Wholly Guacamole organic (expiration date a couple of days ago).
No pics. I was too hungry. They're gone.
I made zucchini chips but they didn't turn out right, but they were pretty good anyway.
If there is anything my kitchen lacks, it's lots of equipment and gadgets for doing fancy things. I do ordinary. To do zucchini chips you need a mandoline to slice the zucchini to potato chip thickness. I sliced this one as thinly as possible, which took patience, since this mutant organic zucchini was almost as long as my forearm:
Then into a colander over a bowl, each layer salted, to sweat and drain:
I tipped the bowl toward me to show how much juice sweated out, more than a quarter cup, then I squeezed out about another quarter cup by hand. The slices are pretty sturdy and didn't tear or break with fist squeezing.
Then I painted the baking sheet with very little peanut oil, got the sheet hot to get a head start on browning, then laid out as many slices as would fit (I ate the rest raw). Roasted the slices at 375 for about 30 minutes, then tried to turn the chips over but they were too stuck, but some of the slices were browned on top, generally on one area of the pan, so I turned the pan around and roasted another 10 minutes or so, all the while nervous because criminal ERCOT is threatening rolling blackouts due to high energy use, asking people not to use large appliances (but the email notification came in AFTER my dish was already in the oven).
Hot out of the oven, I ground on black pepper and sprinkled on red pepper flakes. Some were burnt. Now I'm thinking you're not supposed to cut them so thin. Or maybe I should have roasted at 350 instead of 375, or should have used more oil. I'll have to look iit up. Anyway, I covered up all my errors with sour cream and ate them. Except for the burnt ones. Except for the ones I couldn't unstick from the pan.
And here is that most delectable summer dessert that filled in for the destroyed zucchini:
So the criminals at ERCOT say the libraries and community centers will be open until 9pm as "cooling centers" so I guess those places have backup generators that will be blasting away for 5 or 10 people who will bother to go there.
If there is anything my kitchen lacks, it's lots of equipment and gadgets for doing fancy things. I do ordinary. To do zucchini chips you need a mandoline to slice the zucchini to potato chip thickness. I sliced this one as thinly as possible, which took patience, since this mutant organic zucchini was almost as long as my forearm:
Then into a colander over a bowl, each layer salted, to sweat and drain:
I tipped the bowl toward me to show how much juice sweated out, more than a quarter cup, then I squeezed out about another quarter cup by hand. The slices are pretty sturdy and didn't tear or break with fist squeezing.
Then I painted the baking sheet with very little peanut oil, got the sheet hot to get a head start on browning, then laid out as many slices as would fit (I ate the rest raw). Roasted the slices at 375 for about 30 minutes, then tried to turn the chips over but they were too stuck, but some of the slices were browned on top, generally on one area of the pan, so I turned the pan around and roasted another 10 minutes or so, all the while nervous because criminal ERCOT is threatening rolling blackouts due to high energy use, asking people not to use large appliances (but the email notification came in AFTER my dish was already in the oven).
Hot out of the oven, I ground on black pepper and sprinkled on red pepper flakes. Some were burnt. Now I'm thinking you're not supposed to cut them so thin. Or maybe I should have roasted at 350 instead of 375, or should have used more oil. I'll have to look iit up. Anyway, I covered up all my errors with sour cream and ate them. Except for the burnt ones. Except for the ones I couldn't unstick from the pan.
And here is that most delectable summer dessert that filled in for the destroyed zucchini:
So the criminals at ERCOT say the libraries and community centers will be open until 9pm as "cooling centers" so I guess those places have backup generators that will be blasting away for 5 or 10 people who will bother to go there.
Hey @gopher_byrd
When you posted this, I knew I just had to do it:
For our supper club, it's customary to let the host know what you're bringing so she can figure out what to add to complement things. So last night I said my contribution would be fish & chips two ways. I did take some battered cod filets and homemade herbed oven fries, but I also took a bowl of of the cheddar goldfish mixed with potato chips. Couldn't resist, but I had to explain to make some people get it.
When you posted this, I knew I just had to do it:
For our supper club, it's customary to let the host know what you're bringing so she can figure out what to add to complement things. So last night I said my contribution would be fish & chips two ways. I did take some battered cod filets and homemade herbed oven fries, but I also took a bowl of of the cheddar goldfish mixed with potato chips. Couldn't resist, but I had to explain to make some people get it.
Cheezy zucchini was a one time vegan experiment, but I enjoyed it for breakfast-lunch today.
For the vegan "parmesan" hard style shaker cheese, all of the DIY recipes call for nutritional yeast, which makes me gag, and various nut flours. I don't like buying weird ingredients for just one recipe, so I bought these vegan cheddar puffs, put some in a baggy and crushed them to a powder. Very salty, so no need to salt the zucchini.
Stock photo showing ingredients
I had one more mutant organic zucchini in the fridge. I don't think they necessarily have to be peeled, but after just 2-3 days they get rotty spots you don't want to eat. This time I cut thicker slices.
I did another thing I don't often do, which is deep frying, relatively deep anyway, about half an inch of peanut oil flavored with about 1.5 tablespoons Miyokos vegan butter. It's hard to dispose of frying oil without making a mess, but I had a freshly finished kimchi jar to pour it into after cooking, to go right into the trash..
So here we begin with all the slices in the bubbling hot oil-butter mixture. It didn't quite all fit in one layer, but as some slices brown and are removed, there is room for more. It all goes pretty fast. When the tops of the slices start to get spotty brown, it's time to flip them. Use tongs.
Here they are cooling, draining on paper towels (another waste in deep frying).
And with the vegan cheezy powder on top. After taking the pics, I also sprinkled on some red pepper flakes and fresh basil ribbons (really wish I'd remembered to add the basil before photographing, so pretty).
It's hot, it's hazardous, it's greasy, and I'm never making this again, but it was delicious.
For the vegan "parmesan" hard style shaker cheese, all of the DIY recipes call for nutritional yeast, which makes me gag, and various nut flours. I don't like buying weird ingredients for just one recipe, so I bought these vegan cheddar puffs, put some in a baggy and crushed them to a powder. Very salty, so no need to salt the zucchini.
Stock photo showing ingredients
I had one more mutant organic zucchini in the fridge. I don't think they necessarily have to be peeled, but after just 2-3 days they get rotty spots you don't want to eat. This time I cut thicker slices.
I did another thing I don't often do, which is deep frying, relatively deep anyway, about half an inch of peanut oil flavored with about 1.5 tablespoons Miyokos vegan butter. It's hard to dispose of frying oil without making a mess, but I had a freshly finished kimchi jar to pour it into after cooking, to go right into the trash..
So here we begin with all the slices in the bubbling hot oil-butter mixture. It didn't quite all fit in one layer, but as some slices brown and are removed, there is room for more. It all goes pretty fast. When the tops of the slices start to get spotty brown, it's time to flip them. Use tongs.
Here they are cooling, draining on paper towels (another waste in deep frying).
And with the vegan cheezy powder on top. After taking the pics, I also sprinkled on some red pepper flakes and fresh basil ribbons (really wish I'd remembered to add the basil before photographing, so pretty).
It's hot, it's hazardous, it's greasy, and I'm never making this again, but it was delicious.
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Looks tasty! I love fried Zucchini.
Also, love the Vegan Rob's puffs...but the spicy Dragon Puffs ones. Natural Grocer carries 'em.
Me, I ran outa milk for a latte...aieee!
Too hot to walk to the dang Plaid Pantry for expensive milk, so I improvised.
I had this tin of coconut milk that'd been in the fridge...had the idea to separate all those tiny bits of coconut out leaving just the "milk". It worked.
Now, I can use the milk in drinks while still having the coconut 'mash' for cooking.
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Looks tasty! I love fried Zucchini.
Also, love the Vegan Rob's puffs...but the spicy Dragon Puffs ones. Natural Grocer carries 'em.
Me, I ran outa milk for a latte...aieee!
Too hot to walk to the dang Plaid Pantry for expensive milk, so I improvised.
I had this tin of coconut milk that'd been in the fridge...had the idea to separate all those tiny bits of coconut out leaving just the "milk". It worked.
Now, I can use the milk in drinks while still having the coconut 'mash' for cooking.
Very inventive. I haven't worked much with coconut products, which have become so popular in the last 10 years or so, the coconut milk, coconut creme, coconut sugar, coconut flour.
Nice to see the return of Caff on VU lately.
Got beans? 
Got these for free from the building's lobby....they get stuff from various places.
That's a LOT OF BEANS!!!
(Ok, some aren't actually beans...still yummy. I need some Ham now...lol...)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume
Specifically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume#Terminology
Got these for free from the building's lobby....they get stuff from various places.
That's a LOT OF BEANS!!!
(Ok, some aren't actually beans...still yummy. I need some Ham now...lol...)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume
Specifically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume#Terminology
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Brown sugar, or molasses in some sort of base, dunno if thats what bush's beans uses but thats what i like mixed in n it tastes very similar.Got beans?
Got these for free from the building's lobby....they get stuff from various places.
That's a LOT OF BEANS!!!
(Ok, some aren't actually beans...still yummy. I need some Ham now...lol...)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume
Specifically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume#Terminology
(Thats for beans in a can, like campbells, add brown sugar n it tastes like bush's, tbh, i wouldnt know what to do with a package of uncooked plain beans not already in some sort of sauce)
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Tried a new idea. Tater tots, cut up beer brats, cut up brussels sprouts, and then covered in shredded swiss cheese. Must use salt and pepper after cooking. Turned out pretty good as long as salt and pepper are used.... bland otherwise.
gopher_byrd
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Loaded tots, that's a big thing in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Yours looks healthier than what they do up north.
Fu
Funny... I was raised in Wisconsin, and never had a meal with tots as anything but a side.
I love loaded tots, fries, etc.
Like these....just some sauce and cheese, but yummy.
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Tried a new idea. Tater tots, cut up beer brats, cut up brussels sprouts, and then covered in shredded swiss cheese. Must use salt and pepper after cooking. Turned out pretty good as long as salt and pepper are used.... bland otherwise.
I love loaded tots, fries, etc.
Like these....just some sauce and cheese, but yummy.
Yumm. You both made me think of something I did many years ago, and now I want to do it again. I don't know when I'll get around to it, but you want a cool autumn day anyway, when you can open the kitchen window for browning the onions.
I used tater tots to make the crust for an onion pie for a holiday potluck. I just let the tots cook from frozen in the oven, then squashed them into pie crust in a pan and up the sides of the pan, baked it some more to get a little crunchy, while browning tons of slivered onions (tons because they lose volume when cooked). Let the onions cool a bit to avoid sogging out the crispy potato crust, then topped the crust with the browned onions, and dotted here and there with black olives.
And as Sarah said, plenty of salt & pepper.
I finally got around to making maple butter pecan brussels sprouts. The lesson is always not to buy good veg and let it sit in the fridge. Even a few days will mean the loss of more outer leaves, more oxidation, shriveling. Shame on me, but I peeled and trimmed them, and still had plenty. This time I sauteed them with a couple of chunks of butter, a little water to keep things from getting out of control, and some salt.
All the while getting my teeth set for this
And here it is done, with red pepper flakes, pecans and the maple syrup stirred in. Not too much syrup, only maybe 1.5 tablespoons.
So good, and suitable for a holiday table IMO.
All the while getting my teeth set for this
And here it is done, with red pepper flakes, pecans and the maple syrup stirred in. Not too much syrup, only maybe 1.5 tablespoons.
So good, and suitable for a holiday table IMO.
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Love it...only...even better basted and roasted... ;-)
As a braise it turned out about the same as when I oven roast them. I could have done a better pic by turning some of the sprouts over to show the caramelized cut sides.
Do it your way and let me know how it turns out. I'd be afraid of adding the maple syrup during cooking, in case it could burn.
A CFL double header today for labor day...
My friend brought me up some of the yummy freebie locally made jalapeno sourdough bread from the lobby and I made toaster oven pizza. Kind of a Mediterranean style...
Sauced the bread with a mixture of EVOO, garlic, and a green jalapeno sauce, with stoopidly good Hungarian smoked salami, fire-roasted Serrano chiles, onion powder, and green olives. With an Italian 4-cheese blend.
My friend brought me up some of the yummy freebie locally made jalapeno sourdough bread from the lobby and I made toaster oven pizza. Kind of a Mediterranean style...
Sauced the bread with a mixture of EVOO, garlic, and a green jalapeno sauce, with stoopidly good Hungarian smoked salami, fire-roasted Serrano chiles, onion powder, and green olives. With an Italian 4-cheese blend.
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We are currently canning 100lbs of potatoes...does that count?
That is awesome.
I miss canning with my mum as a kid....we had a peach tree...and a one acre organic garden.
I got a jar of pickled beets in the fridge though...lol...
Reminds me..I need to make Kimchee...
