• Cooking Time: 70 minutes
• Servings: 2
• Preparation Time: 15 minutes
• 1 Acorn Squash
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• Sprinkles of salt and pepper
• 1 package of ramen noodles
• ¼ cup daikon radish (about 5 quartered slices)
• ¼ cup carrot medallions (about the size of a US nickel)
• 1 small broccoli floret shredded into small florets
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
• ¼ cup firm tofu cubes
• 2 scallion bulbs, chopped

1. Spilt an acorn squash vertically. Rub the oil and soy sauce on and into the two halves of the squash. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 1 hour.
3. Into a pan of boiling water place the noodles, daikon radish, carrots and broccoli florets for 5 minutes. Or until you can gently separate the noodles and the veggies are no longer hard. (Make sure all the ingredients are covered in water.) Do not add the seasoned soup packet.
5. Drain the water from the pan with noodles and veggies. Sprinkle the oil and soy sauce over the ingredients. Continuously (gently) stirring, fry the noodles and veggies over medium heat.
7. Divide the noodles and veggies into the acorn squash bowls. Garnish with tofu and scallions, if desired. Enjoy with additional soy sauce, black, chili or togarashi pepper to taste.
9. Ninja Note: Soy sauce eliminates the need for salt. (Unless you are using low sodium soy sauce.)
11. Lovely plain with or without additional soy sauce. The acorn squash stands alone in yumminess. Baked for an hour, the acorn squash meat is soft but not mushy. The squash meat also blends well with the not-too-soft, not-too-hard, just right (hello Golidlocks!) ramen noodles, veggies and soy sauce. Scallions add a pleasant bite.

Ramen noodles were one of the first things I learned to "make" as a child in Japan. While my cooking skills have improved as an adult in America, the sight of ramen noodles in US supermarkets floods my mind with images: Japanese salarymen slurping noodles after a late evening at the bar, countless Mom-and-Pop shops with plastic replicas of the variations of ramen served; skiing down the mountain in Shiga, Japan and stopping for a Cup O' Noodle. A tad bit fancier than ramen out of a cup, my acorn squash ramen happily is filled with flavorful Asian ingredients readily available in most US markets.