Book Review- Ramen to the Rescue

Ramen to the Rescue : Over 100 Creative Recipes for Easy Meals Using Everyone's Favorite Pack of Noodles by Jessica Harlan is a cookbook filled with recipes for everything from appetizers to dessert using ramen noodles.

There are no finished food photos in the book, so it's not a cookbook for the people who love cookbooks filled with full colored photos. It's recipes. Lots and lots of recipes.

I've done a lot of what I thought was creative ramen cooking. This book showed me how much more could be done with these noodles.

When you're in a hurry, when you know you want to have a real meal but don't want to spend too much time cooking, when you're just saving money by eating at home, this is a great go-to book for recipes.

My son tried this one out for me. He went through the book and marked all the recipes he wanted to try. Then he made up a shopping list and made the family dinner.  He picked a beef and mushroom stew for the first recipe he tried. Doubling the recipe and using minute steaks instead of the flank steak called for, he made stew for the 4 of us for under 10 dollars, and it was so good that my husband went back for seconds.

We've tried a few more of the main course recipes since then. Most of the recipes take under a half hour to prepare and lots of vegetables and small meat servings make them economical.

A lot of Asian style recipes make this book absolutely delightful for my family, especially my son. The Spicy Peanut Noodle Wraps can be made with ingredients we usually have on hand, and he likes those so much more than peanut butter sandwiches.

There are also many salad recipes that would make great summer lunches.  Since most of them have minimal cooking, they won't heat up your kitchen too much.

Clear, easy to follow instructions, wonderful variety of flavors and ideas. It proves that while ramen is still a very inexpensive choice for meals, it can also be used in a lot of ways for more grownup meals, even many things you could serve to guests at a dinner party.

Recommended for anyone who is looking for cookbooks with quick and easy cooking, and as a gift to young people going off to college or to follow their dreams.

You can get this book from directly from the publisher, Ulysses Press  My reviews are always my personal and honest opinion. You can read more about my review policy here.