Comfort Food

Today was a cold day here in Maryland, so I decided to prepare a quick beef noodle soup with vegetables.  It hit the spot.  When I was a college student and funds were low, I used to fix Ramen Noodles for dinner.  Ramen Noodles made the best comfort food.  The noodles were easy to prepare in my little red hotpot at Michigan State.  Also, I could create other noodle dishes using the noodles only, or I could add vegetables, eggs and/or meat to create a more filling soup. Well, I am no longer 20 and I don't have the body of a 20 year old, so the Ramen Noodles had to go, but the craving for comfort food, did not go away.  I found an economical replacement in Shirataki noodles.  Usually when you hear someone mention these noodles, it is in reference to a carb replacement or as a low calorie food.   That is the original reason I discovered them.  Shirataki noodles are all fiber  and they have no calories.   Yea, I said it, no calories.  Also, the Shirataki noodles have no fat, Sodium, cholesterol and they are gluten free.  Just think of how many calories I would have saved in college, if I had known about theses noodles.  The Tofu Shirataki noodles have about 20 calories per serving and of course you get some protein with your fiber.   But now, I am looking at the price.  1 pkg of Shirataki is about $1.50, so it is higher than Ramen, but the noodles are more filling, economical and healthy.  Also, because they are all fiber, they can handle being cooked for a longer period of time.  So, I can be make longer cooking noodle creations.  It sounds almost too good to be true, but it is the truth.   The good news is that because of its health popularity, Shirataki can usually be purchased at Asian Markets or Health Food Stores.  They are also still available at some low carb internet sites, Amazon (www.amazon.com) and my favorite online Asian store, Asian Food Grocer (www.asianfoodgrocer.com).