Category: Weekday Meals

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4.18.2014 | TI8

Friday I Ate:

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice

Lunch:  leftover pizza

Mid-afternoon snack: M&M’s, chocolate Easter eggs, Coke Zero

Dinner: pork tenderloin with rice and artichokes (yeah, spring!), spinach salad

Dessert: strawberries with ice cream

Posted on

4.14.2014 | TI8

Monday I Ate:

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice

Lunch:  turkey sandwich

Mid-afternoon snack:  Only just a few M&Ms. And some chocolate Easter eggs.

Dinner: pork tenderloin (adapted from Sarah Foster’s Casual Cooking) with roasted sweet potatoes

Dessert: coffee ice cream with hot fudge

Posted on

4.13.2014 | TI8

Sunday I Ate:

Breakfast: Shredded Wheat and grapefruit juice

Lunch:  sliders at Phil’s Sliders in Berkeley

Mid-afternoon snack:  chocolate chip cookie dough

Dinner:  After eating out for three meals this weekend, I needed salad for dinner — fresh arugula, avocado, carrots, celery, and green onions with apple cider vinaigrette

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Ramen Noodle Soup

I know what you’re thinking: “You’re actually posting a recipe for ramen?”

Wait!  Don’t stop reading:  this recipe simmers up into something extraordinary.  We’re going to throw that little flavor packet away and give this ramen some serious taste and belly-filling capacity.

Get ready to go ramen gourmet.   You know you wanna.

Print Recipe

Ramen Noodle Soup

Total Time40 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 14.5- ounce cans low sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup mirin or dry sherry
  • 1 2- inch piece of fresh ginger cut into several pieces and smashed
  • 6 garlic cloves lightly crushed with skins on
  • 2 whole star anise pods
  • 4 dried shiitake mushrooms rinsed
  • 2 carrots peeled and chopped
  • 2 sticks celery chopped
  • 1 8- ounce can sliced water chestnuts strained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup snap peas
  • 12 ounces cooked chicken cut into small cubes
  • 3 3- ounce packages of ramen noodles flavor packets discarded, noodles broken as desired
  • 4 medium scallions sliced thinly
  • toasted sesame oil to taste

Instructions

  • Bring broth, water, soy sauce, mirin (or sherry), ginger, garlic, star anise, and mushrooms to boil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain broth over a large bowl and return the strained broth to the pot. Remove mushrooms from the strainer and slice them thinly and add them back to the broth. Discard remaining solids.
  • Add carrots and bring broth to a simmer over medium high heat. When carrots are nearly tender, add celery, water chestnuts, snap peas, and chicken along with the noodles. Cook, stirring frequently until the noodles soften, about 3 minutes. Serve immediately, drizzling each bowl with sesame oil and garnishing with scallions.

Notes

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated. If desired, prepare the broth ahead of time and store it in an airtight container up to two days.