15 minute healthy cup of noodles
Ok, don't we all have that one period of time in our lives where we practically lived off ramen noodles? I used to love bringing a cup of noodles in my packed lunch during high school. During lunch, I'd heat up a cup of tap water in the microwave in the college guidance office and pour it over those shriveled up, dehydrated vegetables (if you can even call them that) and buttery noodles and mix it up with the most artificial seasoning packet there ever was. And it was damn good.
To be honest, I usually used to skim the veggies off and toss them before the noodles even cooked. And that was one of things I loved about cup of noodles. Everyone had their own way of making them. Some people ditched the veggies, others ditched the seasoning.. some would get even more funky with it than that. My ex-boyfriend introduced me to one of my favorite ways of eating them. He would dump out the veggies, cook the noodles just like pasta. Boil them, drain them, then comes the best part... He would melt a slab of butter into the hot noodles and season them with the seasoning packet. So it wasn't just a cup of noodles soaked in the flavored broth. All the flavor was concentrated right on the buttery noodles. And they were legit. 💯
So lately, for some reason, I've been craving ramen noodles like seriously hardcore. And I almost broke down and got some of the junky ones. But then I came across these Lotus Foods Millet and Brown Rice Ramen noodles at costco. My expectations for them actually weren't too high. I've had some pretty good brown rice pasta in the past, but for some reason, I just didn't think these would hold a candle to real ramen noodles. Turns out, I was very pleasantly surprised. In fact, this recipe wasn't even one that I had planned on sharing. I just sort of threw it together with whatever I had in the kitchen that I thought would best replicate the flavor and feel cup of noodles, in a healthy way. And it ended up being such a huge hit over here (not to mention how quick and easy it was to make) that I had to share!
| Servings | Prep Time | Cook Time | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 mins. | 15 mins. | 20 mins. |
Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons avocado oil (or olive oil)
- 2 large carrots
- 1 8 ounce package cremini mushrooms (or white button)
- 1/4 teaspoon Himilayan pink salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 4 cups + 1 1/4 cups water
- 2 tablespoons mellow white miso
- 1 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon vegetable flavor
- 3 Lotus Foods Millet and Brown Rice Ramen cakes
Directions:
- Heat a dutch oven over medium heat.
- While that is heating up, dice carrots and mushrooms into 1/4 inch pieces.
- Once hot, add 2 teaspoons avocado oil to the dutch oven. Then add the carrots and cook until they begin to soften.
- Once carrots are tender, add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are tender and begin to shrink.
- Season the carrots and mushrooms with salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Stir to coat.
- Add frozen peas to the pot and cook until thawed.
- While the vegetables are cooking, heat 1 1/4 cups of water in a large glass or bowl. Add to the water the Better Than Bouillon and miso. Whisk together until completely dissolved in the water.
- Add broth, along with 4 more cups of water, to the dutch oven and stir.
- Also while the vegetables are cooking, cook ramen according to package instructions. Drain and rinse, then add to soup.
Toddler Tip:
Scoop out some broth soaked noodles and veggies for the little ones! It makes it much easier for them to eat!
