Tonight I made Thai Shrimp Noodle Pouches and No-Bake Granola Bars from the October 2006 issue of “Everyday with Rachael Ray.” I bought a copy of the magazine while we were at the beach, and I found at least seven recipes I wanted to try, which is pretty good for a single issue. That made me think I might want to subscribe. I think I’ll try a few more recipes first, though.

The noodle pouches were good, with a few caveats. The recipe says to break the noodles up into small pieces; I thought I had, but they apparently weren’t small enough. Some of them stayed crunchy. I didn’t have a red onion, so I used a standard-issue white onion. It was much too strong. Next time, I’ll use red. And probably a little less than the recipe calls for, because I’m not crazy about onion.

Thai Shrimp Noodle Pouches
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 scallions, thinly sliced, dark green slices set aside
1/2 red onion, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound frozen peeled baby shrimp, thawed
Two 3-ounce packages ramen noodles

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup water with the lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, white and light green scallion slices, onion and red pepper flakes. Add the shrimp and marinate for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, break the ramen noodles into small pieces and divide evenly among the centers of four 16-inch-long sheets of heavy-duty foil. Top with equal amounts of the shrimp mixture. Pull up the sides of the foil and pour 1/3 cup water over each of the shrimp-and-noodle mounds. Crimp the sides of the foil to enclose, and transfer the pouches to a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the shrimp and noodles are cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to individual bowls and top with the dark green scallion slices.

I’m trying to be a proper housefrau, so I made the granola bars for Rockford’s lunch tomorrow. They were quite easy to make, but they’re not quite as easy to get out of the pan. It might be a little easier once they warm up a little. We’ll see.

Oh, and they’re really sweet.

The recipe included half a cup of raisins, too, but we’re currently raisinless.

No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 cups granola
1 cup rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies
1/2 cup thin pretzel sticks
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar with the honey and butter. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Add the granola, rice cereal, raisins and pretzels to the saucepan and fold the ingredients to evenly coat with the sauce. Transfer the granola mixture to a 9-by-13-inch ungreased baking pan and press firmly to evenly fill. Gently press the chocolate chips onto the top of the granola. Let the granola mixture set in the refrigerator until firm, about 15 minutes, then cut into 2 1/4-by 3-inch bars.