i thought this was pretty interesting and worthwhile. At least, I had
never thought of it.

Make Your Own 'Instant' Cup of Noodles


In the past few years, ramen and pho restaurants have introduced the
U.S. to bowls of noodles swimming in delicious broths in a wide range
of flavors and with a myriad of real and delicious foods added,
reminding us that noodles are delicious when done right. Note, if you
make your own stock, you can use that instead of soup base and water.
Just omit the soup base/miso/bouillon. Put a cup of stock in a second
jar to take with you (or just measure it out if preparing at home).
When eating time arrives, heat a cup of stock to boiling, and pour it
into the bowl, allow to rest for a few minutes, and enjoy

So, lacking a nearby restaurant, is there a way to combine the
convenience of instant ramen (just add boiling water and wait a few
minutes) with the taste and nutrition of real food? Yes!

How? With pre-cooked noodles waiting in your fridge or freezer, that's
how.

Restaurants have been doing this for decades (didn't you ever wonder
how an Italian restaurant can serve fresh-cooked pasta in less time
than it takes to cook pasta on your home stove?). To pre-cook noodles
that taste as good and have the same mouth-feel as just-cooked
noodles, follow these simple steps.

Pre-cooked Noodles

To cook them:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the noodles or pasta of
your choice, and cook them for 2 minutes less than the directions on
the package suggest.*


Drain immediately and quickly, and pop them back into the empty pot.
Immediately fill the pot with very cold water and stir gently to help
cool the noodles, pouring some out and adding more cold water as
needed until the noodles and pot are cool to the touch.*

Drain immediately, this time getting the noodles as dry as possible,
and pop them back into the empty pot.

Drizzle in a little organic olive oil (or organic walnut oil, toasted
sesame oil, or other healthful oil of your choice)—roughly 1 teaspoon
per pound of noodles—and toss gently until every strand is lightly
coated.*

*Under-cooking the noodles allows them to soften a bit without getting
overcooked when you prepare them later; chilling them stops the
cooking to ensure they don't overcook; storing them without water or
sauce keeps them from sucking up extra moisture until they are fat and
mushy (think about canned spaghetti); and oiling them very lightly
keeps them from fusing into a solid mass. So be sure to do all the
steps!

To store them:
Store your pre-cooked noodles in an airtight container (resist the
urge to jam them tightly into a too-small jar; pack them loosely) in
the fridge for

up to a week. For longer storage, freeze them in single-serve portions
on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Tip: I coil my noodles up like
little nests and, once they are frozen, take them off the sheet and
store them in a larger airtight freezer container for up to a month
(longer than that and they start to dry out a bit and take on freezer
flavor).

To serve them:
Place as many servings as you need in a heatproof container, cover
with boiling water, and let sit for 1 to 2 minutes if refrigerated, 3
to 4 minutes if frozen, until the noodles are hot. Once they're
heated, drain, sauce as desired, and serve. Or…make a cup of noodles.

Homemade Cup of Noodles
Now that you have the pre-cooked noodles, you're all set to make your
own instant lunches (or snacks, or even dinners). You'll need a
wide-mouthed, heatproof container with a lid (a squat wide-mouthed
canning jar, the kind with a rubber-gasketed lid, works well; so does
a wide-mouthed insulated stainless soup container) for each serving
you're preparing. Put a bunch together at the same time and store them
in the fridge so that you have a few days' worth ready and waiting.

Ingredients:
Create your cup by adding:
•A dab of soup base or miso (enough to flavor 2 cups of water); look
for one without MSG that contains real food and as little salt as
possible)**
•Other seasonings, as desired
•Some chopped/grated/shredded fresh or lightly cooked veggies (a
handful of commercial frozen veggies out of the bag works well, as
they are already partially cooked and will have thawed by lunchtime)
•Some protein (cooked beans, cubed tofu, or chopped cooked meat or
fish, even crumbled cooked bacon or small bits of jerky)
•About a cup of pre-cooked noodles (put these in last).

Directions:
Cover the container and store in the fridge. Carry your soup to work
in an insulated lunch bag with a frozen ice pack or stash it in the
fridge once you're there.

When lunchtime arrives, add about a cup of boiling water, replace the
lid, and let the mixture sit for a few minutes, shaking gently a few
times to help distribute the soup base. Then sit back, pull out a
spoon and maybe some chopsticks, and enjoy!

Suggested Combos

Miso Noodles
•1 Tablespoon miso paste
•1 teaspoon chili oil or hot sauce (to taste)
•3 thinly sliced raw shitake or button mushrooms
•2 Tablespoons thinly sliced raw scallion greens
•2–4 ounces tofu, diced into ½-inch cubes
•1 cup pre-cooked buckwheat noodles (soba)

Chicken Noodles
•1 Tablespoon chicken soup base (shop for a brand containing real
chicken and as little salt as possible)
•½ cup mixed, diced frozen veggies
•2 to 4 ounces cooked chicken, diced or ripped into small bits
•1 teaspoon dried (or 1 Tablespoon diced fresh) parsley
•1 cup pre-cooked whole wheat egg noodles

Thai Curry Noodles
•1 cube vegetable bouillon (Rapunzel makes a no-salt-added bouillon)
•2 teaspoons red curry paste
•1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce
•1 teaspoon fish sauce
•1 Tablespoon lime juice
•¼ cup coconut milk (or shredded coconut; different but still tasty)
•2 Tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
•2 thinly sliced mushrooms
•4 or 5 medium shrimp, cooked
•1 cup pre-cooked rice noodles

http://www.rodalewellness.com/food/instant-noodles

Janet US