Quickest Chicken Noodle Soup

Bring water to a boil in a soup pot. While water comes to a boil, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Saut chicken until browned on all sides and cooked through.

Once water comes to a boil, add sauted chicken, carrot, cabbage, garlic, and ginger to pot. Cook 2 minutes, then add ramen noodles along with only 2 of the flavor packets that come with the noodles. Cook 3 minutes and not a second longer ramen is best when not cooked to death. Taste, then add a slosh of soy sauce if you like. (I like.) Note: My kids love the taste of ramen noodles, and I love how quickly they cook. Several of the recipes in this book show you how to jazz up a simple package of ramen to add more nutrition and better flavor. One hint: Never use all the seasoning packets if you're using multiple packages of ramen. You'll probably find that you can get good flavor using half as many of the packets as you have packages of ramen. But don't throw away the unused packets; I set them aside and use them to make broth for other recipes.