When you have picky eaters, you lean into the ways your kids enjoy food. My children happen to enjoy various soup, and this delictable, ramen-inspired soup with a delectable mushroom broth is no exception. And, with the weather getting colder, few things are as comforting as a warm bowl of healthy soup.

You will notice I don’t have ramen noodles in my ingredients list. Honestly that is because I can never seem to find them as a stand-alone item. Unfortunately, I do not have the skills to make my own noodles, so I work with what I can find.

I believe any Japanese-style noodle would work well in this recipe. If you are only able to find (or prefer to use) dry pasta, just boil the noodles in the broth following the instructions on the package.

Ingredients:

Half Onion Peeled
3 to 4 Cloves Garlic Peeled
1 Oz Bag Dried Shitake Mushrooms
16 Cups Water
2 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
2 Cups Fresh Shitake, Roughly Chopped
1 or 2 packs of Pre-Cooked Udon or Soba Noodles
Optional: Hardboiled Eggs, Corn, Bamboo Shoots, Carrots, Meat

What To Do

In a large soup pot combine onion, garlic, dried mushrooms, water salt and pepper and simmer on low heat for about an hour.

Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for at least 3 hours.

Strain the solid foods from the liquid, and return remaining broth to the pot.

Add the fresh shitake and noodles, and simmer on low until ready to serve (about 15 minutes).

I enjoy my soup with a hardboiled egg and a splash of soy sauce.

You may prefer to add more veggies, chicken or other animal protein.

Like most soups, this one gets better after staying in your fridge for a day or two.