Family-Friendly Ramen Bowls

These easy, customizable ramen bowls are a great weeknight meal for the whole family

Welcome to my first “Family-Friendly” (FF) recipe post! When I was brainstorming this blog, I really wanted to find a way to make meals more interesting for everyone in the household. Before I being, full disclosure: my kid is a good eater. At 7 she will still try almost anything at least once, and she does like quite a few healthy and delicious veggies that she will gladly eat and not just push around her plate. But like many kiddos, that enthusiasm has limits. She happens to love broccoli, but not raw veggies. These types of posts will focus on what works for my family’s tastes (I mean, I gotta test what they will eat!), and hopefully it will work for yours. Remember substitutions are easy to make, and I will give tips to make recipes adaptable. Ultimate goal is to make meals in these types of posts as family-friendly as possible without sacrificing taste or nutrition (I don’t like to say “kid-friendly” because there are plenty of adults that are picky eaters. I see you, Dad).

If you have kids (or a picky partner), you’ve inevitably been in the position of having to cook multiple meals or renditions of meals to suit each person’s quirks. Because you love them, and you show your love through food sometimes. But let’s be real; ain’t nobody got time to make multiple meals every time. Let’s all admit that’s crazypants. I’m going to show you ways to create meals that everyone in the family can enjoy without having to spend so much extra time in the kitchen. I also like to highlight food options that have different cultural and ethnic origins because I feel like most Americans will eat “typical” American meals like pizza, burgers, tacos, pasta. But let’s face it, dinner can get boring for everyone, and you wouldn’t be reading this unless you wanted to literally spice things up. With these things in mind, let’s dive into our friend FF meal!

Recipe Notes:

1) Miso paste may not be something you regularly keep in your house, but I highly recommend you do. It’s available at Whole Foods, or can be ordered online. Its umami flavor is a great addition to almost any Asian-inspired meal.

2) I don’t shy away from more shelf-stable options for some ingredients, such as using ginger paste (which you can find in a tube in the produce section), or jarred, minced garlic. I LOVE that s**t. It keeps so long in the fridge, and it saves me the tedious task of mincing tiny garlic cloves. It’s also easier to measure, since garlic cloves can vary so much in size.

3) For this recipe, I recommend not cutting your veggies too small. I also challenge your family to try chopsticks for this recipe, and larger pieces are easier to pick up!

Ingredient List:

2 TBSP sesame oil (can sub olive or sunflower but sesame gives a distinctive Asian flavor)

1 8 oz package of shitake or bella mushrooms

1 TBSP minced garlic

2 TBSP miso paste

2 tsp ginger paste

4 cups chicken or veggie stock

4 eggs, in shells

8 oz of rice noodles

Optional add-ins: cabbage, carrots, snap peas, baby corn, broccoli, cauliflower, hearty greens such as nori (seaweed chips) kale, collards or mustard greens.

Step 1: Make Your Miso Broth

Add oil to a saucepan and heat to medium. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook for 5-7 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally. Add miso and ginger and cook an additional minute, then add stock and bring the whole broth to a boil.

Step 2: Cook Your Soft Eggs

Prep an ice bath for your eggs. Now turn broth down to medium, then carefully add your eggs with a slotted spoon, laying them gently on the bottom so they don’t crack. Cover and cook for 6 minutes, then remove and immediately plunge eggs into ice bath. After about 5 minutes in the bath, they should be cool enough to peel and slice in half (carefully, because they will still be a bit oozy on the inside — perfect for mixing into ramen! My kid loves to scoop some of the yolk out with her fingers, which I don’t discourage because becoming familiar with food color, smell, and texture is a GREAT way to make kiddos comfortable with different foods).

Step 3 (Optional): Cook Additional Add-In Veggies!

To quote a famous musician, “let’s go crazy!”. I like to cook a variety of veggie options and set them out buffet style, then let everyone pick which and how much to add to each other their bowls. Here’s an easy go-guide for quickly cooking those veggies:

• Greens: sauté for about 3-5 minutes with a touch of oil and salt.

• Broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrots, cabbage: steam or boil for about 5 minutes (maybe a little longer for broccoli or cauli and make sure you break your cabbage down into individual leaves) — you don’t want to overcook them because they will fall apart in the broth and turn into a mushy mess.

• Nori should be added directly to bowl when serving. It doesn’t need to cook first.

Step 4: Cook Your Noodles

Return broth to a boil and add rice noodles. Cook for 2 minutes, then remove pot from heat.

Divide broth into 4 bowls along with one egg each, and allow your guests to build their bowls with veggies and voila! A yummy meal that’s ALSO fun to eat if you’re will to try chopsticks! (See pic above, my kiddo’s “cheating” chopsticks — so fun!)