no-more-ramen:

I saw the recipe online and made a few changes, and holy moly did this come out delicious. Definitely not healthy or light, but delicious.

What you’ll need:

• Butter or margerine – 4 tbsp
• Olive oil – 3 tbsp
• Minced garlic – 2 tbsp (I bought the stuff that already comes pre-minced, it’s cheap and keeps in the fridge for a really long time)
• Heavy cream – 2 cups
• Grated parmesan cheese – ½ cup
• Mozzarella, also grated or chopped – 1 cup
• OPTIONAL: Mushrooms – 2 cups (I used the Paris ones, dunno how good this would be with other kinds. IF you’re not using the mushrooms, you can reduce the butter and the oil to 3 tbsp and 2 tbsp respectively)
• The pasta of your choice – 12 ounces (about 300g or a regular box)
• Milk to thin it out if it gets too thick

How to make the thing:

• Boil some water and add in the pasta once it’s consistently boiling. Leave it in for about five minutes, then drain and set aside. Yes, you absolutely can do this while you’re preparing the sauce.
• Cut up the mushrooms.
• On a separate pan, melt the butter and the olive oil. Add mushrooms. Stir it all together for about a minute, then take out the mushrooms and set them aside.
• Add the garlic and the cream. Stir and let it simmer until everything is well incorporated.
• Add the parmesan and simmer until it’s thick. For me that took seven minutes.
• Add mozzarella. Stir until it’s all combined.
• If the sauce is thick and gloopy, you can add milk little by little until it’s thinner, stirring thoroughly each time you add a bit of milk. I added about a cup.
• Put the mushrooms back in, then the pasta. Stir it all together.
• Enjoy!

no-more-ramen:

No slicing, no dicing, just a little stirring and some pasta-boiling for this huge multi-serving recipe. Best served cold, so a great meal for when you don’t have the time or energy to reheat your food. Keeps in the fridge for about 2 weeks .

Equipment needed:

• Large pot to boil your pasta (be sure the recommended water amount for your pasta only fills the pot about halfway, no one likes dealing with pasta water boiling over)
• Strainer or colander to drain your pasta
• Large bowl or large resealable container to mix all the goodies together in

Ingredients needed: 

• Pre-cooked Chicken pieces or shredded chicken (you can find these at Costco or other stores in the deli-section, be sure to get unseasoned or lightly seasoned only)
• 1 small bag frozen deshelled soy beans
• 1 small bag frozen diced onion or pre-diced onion from the produce section (I prefer yellow onions, but white or red work just fine)
• 1 small can chopped, slivered, or sliced water chestnuts, drained (OPTIONAL)
• 1 cup sour cream, plain yogurt, or mayonnaise (choose your favorite creamy flavor)
• 1 standard bag or box of penne, macaroni, rotini, bowties, or whatever your favorite small chunky pasta is
• ¼ lemon juice (in a pinch, a tablespoon of powdered instant lemonade dissolved in a ¼ cup of water will get the job done just fine)
• Salt, black pepper, and garlic powder to taste (feel free to replace the salt and garlic powder with garlic salt if that is what you have)
• A bunch of salt (kosher salt works awesome, so does iodized table salt if it is all you have)

Instructions:

1. Fill your pot with enough water to boil your package of pasta. Most pasta has cooking instructions on it, so just check there. Usually for a whole package of penne, the suggested water amount will be 4 quarts. If you can’t find the suggested amount on your package, just try 4 quarts.
2. Salt that water. Using your “A bunch of salt”, start stirring in a bunch of salt into that water. Pasta is harder to season after cooking, so seasoning during cooking solves the problem. The goal is to get that water tasting as salty as the sea (feel free to ease off on the salt or omit it here if you are sodium sensitive).
3. Once your water is good and salty, put the pot on your stove or hot plate and crank the heat up to get it boiling! Once your water is bubbling away nicely, toss your pasta right in and give it a stir or two and wait the length of time suggested on the package (if no time is listed, give it 10 minutes then check to see if it is done enough to your liking).
4. In your big bowl or resealable container, dump in your pre-cooked chicken, frozen onion, frozen soy beans, and water chestnuts if you are using them. Add in your lemon juice and stir once or twice to coat your veggies and meat in lemony goodness.
5. Once your pasta is done to your liking, drain your pasta of pasta liquid. If your can, rinse the the pasta in cold water using the strainer or colander you used to drain it. If you can not, simply let the pasta cool for a little bit.
6. Dump your pasta into your container of veggies and meat. Spoon in your choice of creamy ingredient. Now give that container a few good stirs to coat everything in lemon and creamy and yum. 
7. Now is the time to season to taste. You know what you like best, so don’t let my suggestion of just salt/pepper/garlic stop you. Add the flavors you like, stir it up, and see how it goes.
8. It’s ready! Serve yourself some now, or seal it up in the fridge for later!

Feel free to swap the pasta for a gluten free version.
This tastes just as good with a vegan mayo and chopped tofu, tempeh, or seitan
Make any change to the recipe you want, you should never feel like you need to be tied down to a recipe to make good food. Recipes should often times be treated as inspiration rather than rules.

no-more-ramen:

So, you like lasagna but it’s a little too heavy for you, not to mention kind of a pain in the butt to prepare? Here’s something my mom makes that’s ridiculously delicious, easy to make, and there isn’t a lot of cleanup afterwards, which is a big plus.

What you’ll need:

– Sliced bread (you can buy the crust-less kind or cut off the crusts yourself)

– Ham

– Cheese

– Tomato sauce (for yummiest results, make it nice and thick, but you can definitely just use the stuff from a jar if you don’t feel like making your own sauce. Just don’t buy the chunky kind)

How to make it:

– Heat up your sauce. Yes, you can do it in the microwave, just make sure it’s in a microwave-safe container.

– Preheat your oven.

– In an oven-safe dish, pour a thin layer of sauce, just enough to cover the bottom of it.

– Add in a layer of bread slices, then a layer of ham, then cheese, then sauce. (if it sounds confusing, I’m adding a picture for reference!)

– Repeat. Finish with bread and a generous scoop of sauce on top of it.

– Cover with tinfoil and stick it in the oven for about 10 minutes, just enough for the cheese to melt.

– Enjoy!

(to mods: I’m submitting the image as a separate submission, if that’s okay? Tumblr is very annoying about this.)

no-more-ramen:

This is a recipe for baking your own bread. Note, this will not give you “toast” bread, but a proper loaf of bread – which is why I call it European-style, as AFAIK most US-Americans think of toast when they hear the word bread. This ain’t that! It’s better. 😀
Baking bread can seem intimidating, but it’s actually very straightforward. It’s about 15min of work in total and 3h of waiting. There are actually only three steps (mix, rest, bake) but I detailed them as much as possible below, because I prefer very detailed recipes with clear instructions.

Ingredients:
– 660g flour or about 23,3oz. (I use white flour specifically for bread, which is cheap where I live; you could try with other kinds, it should work fine, but I can’t vouch for it)
– 12g or about 0,42oz. salt
– 8g or about 0,28oz. dry yeast (or one of the small packages, depending on what you buy)
– 35g or about 1,23oz. oil (I use olive oil, other kinds can work too) + additional oil for your baking form
– 350g or about 12.34oz. warm water (not hot, warm; the yeast likes warmth)

Tools:
– a bowl large enough for mixing in
– a scale for weighing
– cloth for draping
– a kneading device if you can’t knead it manually (optional)
– an oven
– a baking form
– a knife (optional)

Instructions:
1. Measure ingredients in the bowl, dry first, wet last.

2. Mix well with your hands or your kneading device (I have never tried this but in theory it should work; DO NOT USE A BLENDER! The dough will not mix in that! It’s way too sticky and heavy). You don’t even need to put a lot of strength into it; just keep mixing the dough for ten minutes and it should be fine. Don’t pull it apart while mixing, but rather squish it together and roll it over; you want it to be a dense mass. After about three to five minutes you should have one solid lump of dough, and after ten minutes it should be smooth. If it’s silky smooth and does not stick to your hands anymore, you are done. Note, do not put flour on your hands before mixing, and do not mix it on a floured surface; this adds more flour to the mix and makes it too dry. Just mix it in the bowl you measured the ingredients in.

3. Rest the dough in the bowl for an hour in a warm location (e.g. on top of or nearby your heater), covered with a cloth. Make sure it is warm but not too hot; the yeast can’t stand too much heat. During this hour the dough should about double in size.

4. Knead again after the time is up to get rid of the air bubbles inside the dough. Just a minute or two will be enough, you only want to get it back down to its original size.

5. Prepare the baking form by oiling the inside so the bread won’t stick to it while baking, then transfer the loaf into the baking form. Make sure there are no air bubbles left inside by squishing down on it a bit.

6. Rest again for another hour in a warm location, again covered with a cloth. It should once more double in size.

7. Preheat the oven to 170°C (about 340°F) if using circulatory air and 180°C (about 355°F) if using upper and lower heat at least 10 minutes before the resting time is up.

8. (Optional) Slash the top of the bread diagonally or along its length, about 1cm or half an inch deep just before you put it in the oven. This makes for a nicer crust that is easier to cut in my opinion, but it’s not absolutely necessary.

9. Bake for 40 minutes, then let it cool. Would recommend eating the first crust piece when it’s still warm, though, for maximum awesome.

And bam, you just made bread! And bread that keeps pretty well, too. Enjoy your air hole-free, tasty bread.

no-more-ramen:

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 6 croissants (or bagels, or biscuits…any breakfast food bread really!)
• Cheese (I like mozzarella, personally)
• Meat (optional, I like prosciutto but any breakfast meat will work)
• Milk (optional)
• Salt and pepper, to taste (optional)

Preparation:

Prepare time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray 6 molds of a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Crack an egg into each mold and whisk gently with a fork. Add a splash of milk and salt/pepper if desired. (Milk will make the egg fluffier)
4. Cook in oven for 15 minutes or until firm.
5. Immediately remove and let cool on plate.
6. Refrigerate the cooked eggs for later use.

Assembly:

Assembly time: 2 minutes

1. Cut open your croissants (or other breakfast foods) and add cheese and egg puck.
2. Microwave for 30 seconds or until cheese is melted.
3. Add meat if desired.