The best breakfast I ever made myself was most likely the Ramen noodles I used to cook when I was the self proclaimed chief chef of the universe in sixth grade. I used to make Ramen for myself everyday before school. When I say everyday I mean everyday. I would wake up at six in the morning just so I could shower, get dressed, eat my Ramen, and catch the bus at seven. I didn’t mess around with it either. Everything was perfectly timed. I was a god for ten minutes every morning when I put those dehydrated noodles into the boiling water. I soon realized that my god stature in the Ramen universe was nothing more than an illusion. People do so much more than simply make a soup. Some people cook the noodles, drain the water, and then add the flavor packet. It became apparent that my knowledge of Ramen was dwarfed immensely compared to the rest of the world. I quickly set out to fix that. I did research and experimented. You can only say that a Ramen recipe is bad when you have added so much curry powder to your broth that it makes doing the cinnamon challenge look like child’s play. 

My quest may not be over to find the best Ramen recipe but it has brought me to very interesting places in the Ramen universe that I may never venture to again. I have done unimagineable things to Ramen noodles that I am pretty sure violated the Geneva convention or the Ramen rights equivalent. 

So you want to make macaroni and cheese but all you have is Velveeta and Ramen noodles? No problem. While being textually interesting it is easy to make and requires little materials. All you need is half a block of Velveeta, mix it with some milk, butter, and of course the cooked noodles. All you need to do is prepare the Velveeta, milk, and butter in the microwave until it is gooey then add it to the cooked noodles. If you want you can add more cheese on top then broil it to get a browned and bubbly top to your Ramac and Cheese.

So it is early in the morning and you want some eggs. You can’t think of what else to add to your eggs and all you have is Ramen. Fret not! You can add eggs/Ramen to your Ramen/eggs in a number of fantastic ways. 

This is probably one of the easiest methods to add eggs to your Ramen and all you need to do is add the eggs to a pot of water, boil the water, then add your noodles and cook it as you want. 

To soft boil an egg in your Ramen you bring water to a boil, add the eggs. You can cook them for 3 minutes if you want them to be soft or for 5 minutes for a fully white and semi liquid yolk.

To do this method you need to lightly beat an egg, once your noodles are cooked swirl the noodles and hot broth gently around the pot. While the broth is moving slowly drizzle the beaten egg. 

To add fried eggs to your Ramen you simply need to fry an egg in another pan then add the fried egg to your Ramen after you have prepared the noodles. I am rather fond of this method because I love frying eggs and eating fried eggs. 

So you can add eggs to your Ramen now but what about vegetables or meat? The easiest type of veggies that you can add to your Ramen are frozen veggies which you should run under hot water for thirty seconds to thaw them. Quick cooking veggies such as baby spinach can be stirred into the soup right before serving because they cook so quickly in the hot broth. 

You can add meat to your Ramen simply and easily. Thinly sliced meat can be cooked in a matter of seconds directly in the soup. Chicken breast, pork tenderloin, and flank steaks are wonderful to add to the soup. To cook you can just add the meat to the hot broth until it is cooked, you should do this while the noodles are simmering. 

Use your imagination. You have just found out about three extra ingredients to add to your Ramen. No one said that they are only able to be done by themselves. Through the sheer number of vegetables, meats, egg cooking methods, and flavors of Ramen there are over 9,000 different ways for you to prepare your Ramen. So get cooking and enjoy!

-Brady