CTTVCC: Ramen Holiday

This recipe is on page 131. This is a simple go-to recipe that is perfect for rainy days. I don't know about you, but when the weather is nasty outside, I always want soup. From tropical storms to snow storms, it's my bad-weather panacea (cure-all.) This is similar to how my mother used to always fix ramen noodles when I was a kid. It adds more volume to the soup, but I am not sure whether she did so because it would give the soup more nutritional value, or because then she wouldn't have to use as many packs of ramen to feed me and my three sisters, plus my parents. Well, that was a nice trip down memory lane. Reminiscing time over now.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 package ramen
• 1 cup frozen mixed Italian veggies

I used McDougall's Pad Thai Noodle Soup, and generic frozen veggies. Unfortunately, all I could find in my freezer was Normandy-style veggies not Italy-style veggies. To be perfectly honest, I prefer French to Italian anyway. The veggie mix had broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and squash. That's some pretty high-class stuff there.

Here's my finished soup:

Well, I really liked this recipe, especially my Normandy-style veggies. And my Pad Thai. I would definitely recommend adding veggies to ramen for the exact two reasons my mother used to use. If you are trying to get by on a small budget, we all know ramen is cheap. But you can stretch your ramen and get some extra nutrients into your meals by adding frozen vegetables, which also tend to be pretty cheap. Now, what would be super-great, would be combining this recipe with the Rent's Due "Cheezy" Ramen, and throwing a little bit of nutritional yeast in there. That would really be perfect. Hope you all enjoy this recipe!