Asian-Inspired Granola Bars

And now for something, completely different: Granola Bars!

It *is* okay to eat something other than ramen from time to time, so I picked up some black sesame and shredded coconut at the grocery store and decided to do something interesting with them.

I ended up with these rockin' coconut-sesame-peanut butter granola bars!

Ingredients:

[wet]

1 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 - 1/2 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, I happened to have smooth so that's what I used, but I bet crunchy would be big ballin')

sprinkle salt

1 tbs water

[dry]

1.5 cups regular rolled oats

1 cup rice crispies or other puffed rice cereal

3/4 cup shaved coconut

2.5 tbs sesame seeds

handful of either regular or white chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

Put everything under "wet" into a small pot and let it simmer for about 4 minutes. Meanwhile, mix everything under "dry" -- except for the chocolate chips -- together in a bowl. After the wet stuff has been simmering for a few minutes, pour it over the dry mix and stir it all together. Let it sit for a minute or two, and when it has cooled a bit put in the chocolate chips. You don't want to put them in too early and melt them!

Which I did.

Line a 9x9 pan with wax paper, and dump the granola mix onto it. Press it all down and smooth it out, then put it in the fridge to chill - don't cut it till it's cold! After about an hour it should be ready to ENJOY!

Love Ramen!

Created by: Hack College

Chili-Lime Ramen (with carrots, which makes it healthy, right?)

This is one of my new favorite ramens to make because it is *so easy* and so much more delicious than just a regular package!

Let's meet the contenders:

Ingredients:

1 pack chili ramen

shaved carrot to taste (and yes, it would be easier to use actual big carrots but I only had baby ones on hand and was too lazy to go out and buy other ones)

2-3 tbs lemon juice

1 tbs peanut sauce (or more, if you want it!)

Directions:

Shave your carrot (or carrots if you have multiple baby ones) and place in your bowl of choice. Top with the lemon juice, like so:

After the ramen is done cooking, drain the pot and add your noodles to the carrot party. Mix with the entire chili flavor pack and then top that awesomeness with some peanut sauce. The finished result looks a little something like this:

... And if you're like me, and horribly vegetable deficient, this helps get in at least some sort of veggie serving to your day! Also it's delicious.

See, told you it was easy!

Better Know a Seasoning: Sriracha Sauce

Those of you who are already familiar with Sriracha sauce I'm sure love it and use it all the time. If you don't already have multiple bottles stocked up in your pantry (like me), I highly recommend you go out and get at least one (you can find it at your local grocery store).

This ubiquitous sauce originated in Thailand but is amazing on foods of all nationalities. The #1 brand in the USA (and my personal favorite) is this one pictured above with the giant rooster from Huy Fong Foods.

Huy Fong Foods is so proud of it's sauce that it has a page on its site dedicated to "letters from satisfied customers". Some of my favorite comments include: "I could almost eat a napkin that was dotted with it", "It brings tears of joys (sic) to our eyes!", and "May the eyes of the Heavens be with you and the Spirits guide you!!!".

Fellow Sriracha sauce lovers: I challenge you to submit a hilarious letter of satisfaction & praise to the Huy Fong Foods site! Let me know if your comment is published -- the best/most chuckle-worthy comment will win a RAMEN NOODLE prize! :)

Spicy Buffalo Ramen

This is one of my new faves! Half this recipe if you only want to make one bowl.... but it's too delicious not to be shared with a friend so you might as well make two!

Ingredients:

1 pack chili ramen

1 pack chicken ramen

1/2 diced yellow tomato (red is ok too)

1/2 diced onion

2-3 sliced medium mushrooms

1 1/2 tbs diced fresh cilantro

2 oz. ground bison (regular beef may be substituted but it's not as exciting)

salt

pepper

olive oil

white wine (cooking or otherwise, whichever you have on hand) (drinking wine is more fun)

Sriracha sauce

Directions:

Cook the ramen and set aside. Don't use those sauce packets yet! Add a little olive oil to the pot of noodles and season with salt & pepper to taste. In a different pot (or pan), cook all of the other ingredients together until the bison is browned and cooked through and the veggies are au dent. Add in half of each ramen flavoring pack (chicken & chili). Deglaze with a little white wine and toss with noodles until ramen is well coated. Finally, serve and top bowls with Sriracha sauce.

Try it for yourselves and let me know what you think!

Better Know a Seasoning: Soy Sauce

Soy sauce is one of my favorite ubiquitous sauces that has always been a staple in our kitchen - and every time we buy soy sauce, we buy Kikkoman (are you brand loyal?). They have a nifty & informative website, too:

http://www.kikkoman.com/soysaucemuseum/index.shtml

However, despite my love affair with Kikkoman over the years, it was only recently that I noticed this on the back of my beloved bottle....

Does anyone actually refrigerate soy sauce? Does it really improve the quality? Also, what the heck is a "sase"?? (Top right hand corner of the label)

3-Mushroom Ramen

Ingredients:

1 pack chili flavored ramen

3 mushrooms

green onions to taste (optional)

sesame oil (or butter or olive oil or whatever you like to sauté things in)

soy sauce

mirin

** Note - ingredients are for a single serving.

Pro Tip: if you want to make 2 servings, double the recipe. Then you can change the name of this epic dish to 6-Mushroom Ramen.

Directions:

In one pot (or in the microwave) start making ramen. In a deep sauté pan or another pot, simmer 3 mushrooms & green onions in sesame oil on med-high heat for about 4 minutes (roughly the same amount of time it takes to cook your bag-o-noodles).

Add to mushrooms a 50/50 soy sauce/mirin mix - about 1/8th cup of each.

Simmer for roughly 30 seconds.

Your ramen will be done by now. Drain those noodles so they don't get soggy.

Add (drained) ramen and stir vigorously.

Add 1/2 pack of chili flavoring.

Mix well & enjoy.

Let me know how this turns out for you, and feel free to post your own ramen pix!