I’m sick. Scratchy throat. Headache. Chills. Gut rot. Bloated. Zero energy. Plus a mild case of Seasonal Defective Disorder.

I’m jacked up on Sudafed, Vitamin D, Emergen C, Halls Echinacea + Zinc throat drops.

The only thing that gets me going when I’m absolutely useless is soup.

Just the thought of it gave me enough juice to concoct a batch of Shrimp Udon yesterday. I defrosted some shrimp in the microwave, cooked it on the skillet with a touch of olive oil and pepper. Boiled 6 cups of water, added 2 batches of shrimp udon noodles with its seasoning, added chopped spring onions, a handful of bean sprouts, mushrooms, crushed red pepper, the cooked shrimp and waa-la! It sounds like a lot of work, but it took about 20-25 minutes. Though, it was nice that I had everything on hand.

I’m basking in the glory of leftovers as I type this, er, between pauses. (I would’ve snapped a quick pic, but it’s nearly gone.)

Two of my favorite places to go during the winter is Boom Noodle, a trendy asian noodle restaurant (Do they have one in San Francisco?) and Saigon City – our local, dive-y Vietnamese pho joint. But I love that you can easily make these soups on the cheap at home, if not authentically, than closely enough.

And it’s fairly healthy. Made from whole wheat flour, with 1 g of fat, 8 g of protein, 0 cholesterol, per Udon package. You can decrease the amount of sodium by not adding as much seasoning from the packet or watering it down. I found the noodles over by the refrigerated section of salad stuffs, looking for tofu – which I’m trying to stubbornly add to my repertoire of recipes. I have 2 more packages of chicken flavored udon on deck. Mmm, mm, Udon!

 

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