It's like $4 Ramen....

My soup and my Maneki Neko (beckoning cat!)

Today I was al Walgreens picking up a gallon of milk on the way home from class. I can never go into Walgreens without looking at something that interests me and since it was 12:30, food is what interested me the most. I usually look past the ramen noodles; even scoff. But I got to thinking about it more and more and i bought myself a 6-pack for $1. I love noodles, why not buy a whole bunch FOR A DOLLAR and just make it "my own". I decided that since ramen isn't a nutritionally fulfilling food by itself, it could be awesome if you just added stuff to it. Today I just cut up some baby bella mushrooms and some yellow onion and it was awesome. Here's what I did:

1 packet of chicken flavor ramen noodles
1 1/2 cups of water
2 baby bella mushroom caps, sliced
1/4 of a small onion, diced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dried cilantro
1 tsp basil (mine was from Dorot in a frozen ice-tray thingy)
1/4 lime

I brought the water to a boil. The packet says 2 cups but I don't like things to be too brothy if I want bunches of veggies mixed in. I added the veggies and the flavor packet before the water came to a boil. Once it was boiling i added the noodles, soy sauce, cilantro and basil. I let it cook and in 3 minutes I was done. I squeezed the quarter lime over top of the hot soup and started to chow down.

Now this recipe can obviously be modified however you would like. If I had had shitakke mushrooms and scallions I would've used those instead, but it was really good either way. If you're vegetarian or vegan, replace the flavor packet (which is dehydrated chicken granules) and use a vegetable bullion instead. It was a good lunch and I reccommend that people start using mushrooms more and more! I read in a Women's Health magazine that dishes made with mushrooms were just as filling and satisfying as those with beef plus WAY more vitamins and stuff. Well that was my ramen renaissance and I hope you try it one day!