Thursday Night Noodles

Before I start I first want to say THANK YOU to everyone that reads, comments, shares and enjoys my blog. Being a new blogger the whole thing is scary and nerve racking. Will people like it, will they comment, did I use the sentence structure? All of these things go through my head after I hit the "Publish" button. This is a journey for me and I am so happy others are along for the ride.

Enough of the mushy girly stuff. ON TO THE FOOD! For those of you that read my blog often you may notice that I don't post on Thursday. The reason for this is because I am off "mommy duty". My son stays the night with his grandma so I can have at least one day of during the week. When he is gone I don't see a reason to cook big a meal so for the past few years I eat the same two things. Noodles and Spring Rolls mainly because they are fast, cheap and lo calorie. Now before anyone gets up in arms, no I am not living off of the Top Ramen you get for 10 cents at Kroger and Keithon has never had a bowl of it. The Oriental is vegan so I've been told but I've never tried it.
 

  My favorite "go to" Ramen is at the Viet Hoa called Mama. ( I love the name it fits me so well) Mama does have her flaws, aside from being processed and the one I can't get around, the MSG. It is in every processed foods but I don't eat like this everyday so I give myself a small pass on it. When people think Ramen they think noodles and a salty broth. Not Mama Noodles and not when I cook them! There are two and sometimes three seasoning packets with Mama Noodles. One packet is the spices, the other is the chili packet which I love because I love my noodles spicy and the final packet is the oil.

When I make ramen I diva it up, while the water boiling I add lemongrass and tomatoes and let them cook. I also add 5 cups of water instead of the 3 it calls for. Yes I measure water to cook ramen. Its my OCD I can't help it.  Meanwhile in my Ramen Bowl (yes I have a bowl that is just for my Ramen, it just taste better in the proper bowl) I add whatever veggies I have in the fridge, mushrooms, broccoli, bean sprouts, celery, carrots plus whatever fresh herb I have sometimes basil but mostly cilantro. I leave my veggies raw and allow them to "cook" from the broth. Hey, I'm eating one of the most processed foods so I try to get my nutrients from my raw veggies.

  My Thursday night routine is I walk my dog, put on my pj's, make my noodles and sit on my ass and watch The Big Bang Theory. It's my time just to just be and Cassi is a pj wearing, noodle eatin, Big Bang Theory watchin kinda girl. Now not all Mama noodles are vegan so make sure you flip the package over and read to make sure it doesn't have shellfish in it but most of them are. I've tried other ramen that I just don't care for but if you have a tried and true Ramen let me know what it is so I can hunt it down.

Vegan Pho

It seems like everyone around me is coming down with a case of the yuckies and Cassi can not afford to get sick but just as good as the day is long, Friday while at work I was starting to feel a little out of balance. I had to nip this in the bud quickly! I had a lot to do Saturday plus New Year's Eve is coming up! My first instinct is always to sweat it out! I remembered that I still had a few bars of camphor to use as a soak but I needed a good spicy soup to help the process. My normal go to is ramen but I've had one too many bowls this week. Then I saw a friend on Facebook post a picture of a bowl of Pho she had for lunch and remembered a few weeks ago I picked up some

Pacific Vegetarian Pho soup base from Kroger that was on clearance! Normally Pho is made with a chicken stock and now the only way I can get it is if I make it myself. When I saw this soup base I was all over it. It is a mushroom based stock so it's a extra bonus because i'm getting my Vitamin D as well.

My original plan was to use my soup base, bake a little tofu and throw in some veggies but by the time I left worked I just wanted to get home, eat my soup, soak in the tub and sleep. So cutting up veggies and baking tofu was out. I still needed to pick up bag of noodles and mung beans sprouts so I stopped off at the Viet Hoa. They have redone the market so all the vegan items are with the produce, I love this because I can go to one area, grab everything I need and leave. As I was grabbing the sprouts I glanced over at the new mock meat and spice shelf and saw a can of Lo Han Chai Vegetarian Chop Suey. Yes I know it's Chop Suey mix but it has veggies, wheat gluten and the sodium is really low so I grabbed it. It is filed with bamboo shoots, corn, mushrooms, and fried wheat gluten.

This starter base is really fast "cooking". You just measure it out, bring it to a boil with the lid on and it's done! While the Pho was boiling I placed my noodles in a warm bowl of water to soften up, cut up my bok choy and placed my basil and sprouts in the bowl. Once the broth reached a boiled I added the Chop Suey mix in to warm it up a little. After it was a bit warm I pour it into my bowl with all of the fresh veggie goodness, noodles and Pho was ready to eat! This Pho hit the spot, it made me feel so much better and it was vegan! I forgot the jalapenos and there was no way I was getting back out so I added a little crushed red pepper to give it the heat I needed.

After I had my Pho I still needed to sweat the toxins out and I remembered reading about a ginger detox bath. So I googled and found an article for a detox bath. All that was needed was half a cup of grated ginger. After about 10 minutes in the tub I started to sweat so I knew it was working. Afterwards the slight body ache and sore throat I had was gone! Success, no yuckies for me! If you choose to do a ginger bath PLEASE make sure you drink plenty of water before and after because you will sweat.

Everyone has a past life, if you ask me

  I am convinced in my past life I was a Asian drag queen. I love all things Asian from the food, clothing, and culture. I own more chopsticks than forks. I can whip up more than a few Asian dishes but can't make a soul food dish to save my life.  So Friday during my grocery adventure my asian life came out in full force. Its not abnormal for me to venture to the Asian market in my neighborhood. The Viet Hoa is like my second home but Friday I couldn't tell you what in the blue hell I went in for but I came out with more than a few new things. It may be the fact that the entire market has undergone a makeover and since I had time to burn I was able to roam the new lay out.

  When I got to the register I walked out with a smaller ramen bowl, a Chow Mein kit, tapioca pearls, water chestnuts and baby corn. Plus my normal list staples of bean sprouts, tomatoes, avocado, napa cabbage and a pineapple. Now my mission was to make bubble tea and Chow Mein. The Chow Mein wouldn't be a problem but the bubble tea was a different story. I've had bubble tea in the past but never attempted it at home. Now was my chance! I googled a few recipes but they all contained condensed milk. Vom. So after jumping from site to site I figured out the basics on what I needed to do to make it vegan. So last night I went to work.

  Like I said the Chow Mein was not a problem. The kit was like making a giant vat of ramen. The only two differences were I had to drain the water and mix the seasoning pack with water and soy sauce before adding it to the noddles. I stir fried some napa cabbage, broccoli, water chestnuts, baby corn, bean sprouts and mushrooms and of course I added crushed red pepper. ( I need my spice)

  Like I said I've never tackled bubble tea but what makes it bubble tea or Boba Tea are the tapioca pearls. So I couldn't screw that part up. The directions seemed simple enough boil the water, SLOWLY add the pearls, stir softly, cover reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes. This was the most nerve racking process, I was terrified that I would screw it up and they would explode or something. For the tea part I decided to go the fruit route. I added two cups of vanilla soy milk, the whole pineapple plus two cups of ice to the blender and let the good times roll! After tasting I added a teaspoon of sugar, just for good measure. Since Keithon was home I had to share so I added pearls to his cup and to my birthday glass and SLOWLY poured the smoothie mixture over the pearls. Bubble Tea Success! I even had the correct straws to use. The Viet Hoa didn't carry them so I had to venture to Great China Food Market on Summer Ave. It isn't much of a market but they have all the cooking knick knacks I need. They even have porcelain sake cups for a buck! I have to go back!

As I am posting Keithon has requested more bubble tea so back to the kitchen I go. Plus I want more too. I may not have made the perfect bubble tea but by George I tackled it!