Big Lots Obsession of the Month

Alright guys! It's time for my latest Big Lots find! A couple of weeks ago I ran in there real quick during my between-work-and-school break. I needed something really fast for lunch, that wasn't refrigerated, and I knew that that day was going to be my lucky day! Thank goodness I was right because I only had about $5 and 45 minutes so there wasn't any back up plans in case the Big Lots idea didn't work out...

Anywho, one of the first aisles I walked in had a bunch of different, brightly-colored, cup-o-noodle looking things. I picked one up and I was surprised to find out that it was completely vegan. Even better, there wasn't a whole lot of weird, convenience-food ingredients in there either (there were a few, but not many). Way less than ramen, that's for sure. There were about six flavors and half of them were accidently vegan. The ones that weren't vegan contained eggs, but they were all vegetarian and none of them contained dairy. I bought one of each vegan flavor: Spicy Sesame Paste, Savory Shoyu, and Spicy Tofu. The sesame paste one isn't pictured before. It had already been nommed. Also, two words: A dollar-fifty. It's two words because one is hyphenated. Also, that's what I paid.

So it's basically just a cup of bean-thread (or cellophane) noodles with a dehydrated block of vegetables and spices. The spicy tofu one also has a packet of spiced oil and the sesame paste one has a packet of sesame paste. You just dump everything out, add boiling (or really hot) water to the line, cover it, and let it sit there for like, five minutes. I usually do ten but that's just whatever. 

Dehydrated block of whatchusay?

I didn't like the sesame paste flavor, but that's honestly just a personal preference thing. I like a touch of tahini, but this one had bold flavor. A little too much for me. I LOVE the spicy tofu flavor. It's hot. Hot and spicy. And delicious. If I had more adjectives, I'd throw them out there as well, but alas, it's late and my brain is tired.

And you know me, in order to make my "cup-o-noodle" a little more satisfying, I toss in some leftover tofu cubes (simply pressed and sauteed until golden, then tossed with a touch of Bragg's Liquid Aminos), sprinkle on some sesame seeds, and throw in a green onion or two. This is way better than ramen and it actually rekindled my love of cellophane noodles. I thought I didn't like them, but I guess it's all about preparation and they sure were tasty prepared like this:

Ha-ha! I found black sesame seeds! Yay for contrasting garnish!

I can't guarentee that you'll find them at a Big Lots near you, but they're a California based company so you might be able to find them at a regular old grocery store. They're called "Crystal Noodles". I think I literally went this entire post without mentioning what they were called...

Anyway, that's about all I got for now. I've got six weeks of school left, so bear with me! I promise I'll be a little more regular with my posts since I've finally just gotten over my midterm hump. It's all downhill from here baby!