Earl Cooks Ramen? Really!

Most of my adult life I have shunned RAMEN. It was just salt and flour with a bit of artificial flavorings and dehydrated vegetables. In the last few years, RAMEN has taken a position of status in various Asian cuisines and recipes. Dedicated RAMEN restaurants are even popping up all over. My father-in-law loved pasta and his quick comfort food was RAMEN with chunks of baloney thrown in, neither of which are foods I eat. But by grandboys and daughter #1 like RAMEN and occasionally rely on it as a full meal. I recall, while working at Wal-Mart that, several associates when it was close to payday and their funds were low, would use it to survive to another paycheck. Live to eat, not eat to live. It is rare indeed for me to eat something because I NEED it, so this would never have been an answer for my own hunger but...
With all of the recent attention, I started to consider recipes for RAMEN. I noticed that they look good, are complicated, and take a LOT of time. I didn't want an experiment of that magnitude but I knew 3 things

1. I had cheap RAMEN noodles I had purchased for my grandboys
2. I had a few Lit'l Smokies in the fridge and
3. All the recipes I had seen used an egg as a topping

I decided to use these 3 ingredients and try to approximate something that it was not...REAL RAMEN. I didn't know if it would work, and I don't know if it is at all comparable, but I wanted to do it.
First - I cooked the noodles in the microwave per package instructions.
Next - While the noodles cooked, I steamed an egg for the topping, leaving the yolk very runny.
Finally - I added the smokies to the hot broth and noodles and stirred them. The broth warmed the smokies and the smokies cooled the broth. I gingerly place my perfect egg on top of the noodle/broth/smokies mixture and my experiment was almost complete. I pierced my egg, allowing the yolk to mingle with, and flavor the broth. I added fresh cracked pepper and attacked it with a fork. I was quite pleased, and it was such a success that I may try to make a more difficult version. Even my grandboys would have approved!

Earl Cooks Lit'l Smokies & Refried Beans with Eggs

I don't think I need to say how much I love breakfast...again, but here goes—I LOVE BREAKFAST! Any time of day, or night, and anything but cold cereal can be made into a good breakfast, but I always go back to something with eggs. Fried, scrambled, omelet, hard boiled, soft boiled, poached, and coddled (well, I have never had coddled, but I am willing to try them). In a frittata, on a salad or in a nog. And any meat goes well...fish, seafood, pork, beef. Smoked, roasted or fried. I will say here that I don't consider continental breakfast, breakfast. 

Today I wanted a nice breakfast and I had eggs, refried beans and lit'l  smokies in the fridge and I knew breakfast would be tasty. All I had to do was heat a pan, add the refried beans into the pan, add a few of the smoked sausages and heat everything through, and then add a couple of eggs to the pan and breakfast was served! All I needed to do was top the beans with a bit of my favorite salsa and sour cream and finish with fresh ground pepper. It totally made me want more!