There seems to be an endless number of ways to make ramen

True

never done that myself but yeah that should work

Good to know.

Note for microwave cooking if you reduce the power to 50% and cook longer theres less chance of it tasting bad

A good high-protein 1 spoon snack I like to make is microwave cheesy beans.  Get a small microwave safe bowl, spoon some refried beans into it, and crumble some cheddar cheese on top.  Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, microwave again for 30 seconds.  Tasty and easy!

Not sure if this has been submitted before, but for some low effort meals I buy a whole rotisserie chicken and several different of the Birdseye Steamfresh Chefs Favorite microwave veggies. I pull off the amount of chicken I want while the veggie package is in microwave. When veggies are done, then I put the chicken chunks in the microwave (30 secs), I mix both together and there’s my meal. There are several different combos, so you aren’t eating the same thing every time unless you choose to do that. :)

Wanted to share a simple peanut sauce and noodle recipe that I make all the time. I use rice or pea noodles that I get from the local Asian grocery store, but any kind of thin rice vermicelli type noodles than can be cooked using water from a kettle work fine. I like this recipe because its fast and only uses one pan since you can use the same bowl to prepare your noodles and eat your meal. Can be made vegan and gluten free. 

Ingredients:

1 portion noodles

½ tablespoon soy sauce or gluten free tamari 

1-2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

small pinch (about ¼ teaspoon or less) powdered ginger

¼ cup water (add a little more water for a thinner sauce)

¼ cup peanut butter

optional; a little brown sugar will make a sweeter sauce, some sriratcha will make a spicier sauce.

Directions:

Put noodles in a bowl and pour boiling water from kettle over them until covered. You can put a plate or lid over them to keep in the heat. If you dont have a kettle put noodles in microwave safe bowl with cold water covering, and heat in microwave for long enough for water to boil (3-4 mins for me), then leave them in there to soften while you make your sauce. They should be ready in about 5-10 minutes.

For the sauce combine everything except the peanut butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat until its simmering a little.This should only take a few minutes. Then add your peanut butter and stir it in. The peanut butter will melt a bit and should be easy to incorporate. Turn off the heat and you’re done!

Check your noodles then drain and combine with the sauce. Its ready to eat this way, or if you have some extra energy you can do some add-ons to your noodle bowl such as alfalfa sprouts, fried tofu, cooked veggies, cucumber slices, avocado, green onion, sesame seeds, chopped peanuts, or anything else you want to add. 

Yummy couscous with broccoli

Here’s something I make a lot when I have low spoons but desperately need a vegetable!  It can be done on a stovetop or in a microwave, the microwave is a little easier.  It’s probably a 2-4 spoon recipe depending on whether you use pre-chopped frozen broccoli and the microwave.  If you don’t know what couscous is, it’s a sort of pasta-like thing you can usually find in the middle eastern section of a grocery store.

Microwave version:

You will need:

- 1 cup of water

- 1 cup of couscous

- about ¾ of a cup chopped broccoli, fresh or frozen

Put the broccoli and water in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it for about 2 minutes.  Add the couscous and a little tiny bit more water and microwave it for another minute and a half.  The couscous  should have sucked up all the water and be soft and fluffy.  If there’s water left, put it back in for 30 seconds at a time until the water is gone.  If there’s no water but the couscous is still dry, add more water and cook it for 30 seconds at a time until the water is gone.

Stovetop version:

Same ingredients.

Bring the water to a boil in a small pot.  Add the broccoli and boil with the lid on for two or three minutes.  Add the couscous and turn the temperature down low, stirring almost nonstop until the couscous sucks up all the water and gets fluffy.  This should take no more than a minute.  Dump it all in a bowl and garnish.

To garnish:  pour a generous helping of olive oil into the dish (I use a tablespoon of EVOO but you don’t need that much) and sprinkle some dried oregano and basil on if you have them.  Salt to taste. Stir and enjoy!

Quick egg tips

Don't add salt to eggs before cooking them and, if you can help it, don't scramble them in a bowl. Instead, do the scrambling in the pan on medium-high. If you're wanting to add things like tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, etc, saute them before you put the eggs in. Don't cook them with the eggs. Try to cook your eggs in butter, too, and throw in a dollop of sour cream and some cheese while they're halfway cooked to make them extra tasty! For something heavier, cook chopped up corn tortillas and some chorizo before and mix the eggs in. For something lighter, take out the yolk and cook it in the microwave with some milk. happy egging!!

Simple and Quick Microwave Pasta

[Image Caption: Bowl of orzo pasta dressed with marinara sauce and grated parmesan cheese]

I use this method of cooking pasta when I don’t have enough spoons to deal with using a pot. It was a real life saver in college and hopefully this can make pasta more accessible for spoonies with physical limitations. Be warned that the texture will probably not match what you’re used to with pasta cooked on the stove.

My Pasta Recommendations:

The most ideal pasta for this cooking method is something that’s grain-shaped like orzo. I find that with orzo I /never/ have to worry about straining out water. If anything an excess of water gives the pasta a more soup-like consistency that helps me eat the pasta when my mouth is dry. (A 16oz box of orzo will get me about 4-5 bowls of pasta.)

If orzo is too cost prohibitive or doesn’t fit your dietary needs you should choose a pasta that fits together densely in the bowl. If there’s a lot of air pockets between the pasta pieces you will end up with excess water most of the time. Pastas like elbows, shells, penne, and rotini work well enough.

Pastas to avoid would be anything long like spaghetti or linguine. Using long shape pastas will most certainly result in needing to strain water. If you break down these pastas they will work better. Personally if I’m really craving spaghetti I will take the time to cook it traditionally.

Warm Spinach Salad

(3-4 spoons)

What you’ll need: 

The steps

You can also use commercial bacon bits if you’re lower on spoons, substitute any other dressing or add any other toppings you like! I use Newman’s Own honey mustard, and creamy balsamic. 

Grits (low spoon)

If you're a bit tired of cereal and oats for breakfast, I highly recommend malt o meal/grits! It's incredibly cheap, at about 11¢ an ounce, is high in iron, is vegan and is easy to make! Just follow the instructions, which is generally just putting the wheat and some water in a bowl, and then microwaving it for a minute or two, checking to make sure it doesn't overflow. You can add all kinds of stuff to it, too! Its just like rice. Butter, sugar, eggs, milk, jam, apple slices, cheese, bacon/sausage, salsa, salt or pepper are some common ones. There's also chocolate grits for some variety.