Pho Sure

Pho is delicious, no doubt.  But I'm vegetarian, so the usual beef broth is a no-go at our house.  However, I've had two great developments on that front:

1. First, I impulsively bought this pho "soup starter", to which I added my own noodles & veggies.  It was delicious.
2. More importantly, while eating the soup I made from that, I had the leisurely tasting-and-eating time to figure out that if you add Chinese five-spice powder, ginger, garlic, and maybe some lemongrass to regular old veggie broth, it's a pretty good approximation to pho broth.

When packing pho and other brothy soups (especially noodle ones) for lunch, I prefer to pack two containers: one contains the broth and cooked or semi-cooked sturdy vegetables, the other contains cooked noodles and raw or semi-cooked wimpy vegetables.  I just combine everything when I'm ready to eat and then microwave it. That way the noodles don't get soggy and the vegetables don't get overcooked.