Above is a photo of real Pho I found on the internets.

I have never made real Pho. We go to Pho restaurants for this and it is DELICIOUS! However, at home, I make a reasonable facsimile with cooked beef, based on a recipe from the Racheal Ray Everyday magazine. It’s from way back in 2006, and I’m pretty sure it’s part of how Jonathan fell so deeply in love with me (and my cooking).

Here you go:
5oz of rice noodles (I have NO IDEA how much this is because we don’t own a scale, so in my house this equals two handfuls of noodles.)
2 cups of bean sprouts or 3/4lb-um, they’re sold in one pound packages at the store here so we go with the whole pound. If you hate the crunchy goodness of bean sprouts, you can probably find them in bulk somewhere and purchase fewer of them.
1 pound deli roast beef, cut into strips and then cut the strips in half crosswise (I buy the nitrite free stuff from Trader Joe’s for two reasons: nitrites can be scary and it is cheaper than the deli meat at TOP foods).
1 Tbsp veggie oil
1 jalepeno pepper, cut the white part and the seeds out of the middle and then sliced them into little half moons. DO NOT touch your eye at any point during this process.
3 scallions, thinly sliced
One 14oz can beef broth (we are not picky with our broth around here, when I made this last week I used chicken broth because that’s what we had open)
1/3 Cup cilantro leaves (um, it’s more like one full cup of cilantro around here because it’s Jonathan’s favorite)
Lime wedges

Alright, start with a pot of water and add the rice noodles. Get them boiling together and boil for three minutes until they’re cooked. Don’t be too picky about this because you’re adding hot broth to them later. Drain and rinse the noodles with cold water twice. Divide the noodles into four bowls and heap the bean sprouts and roast beef on top of the noodle piles.
Using the same pan you used for the noodles, heat some oil over medium heat.
Toss in the jalepeno and the green onion. Cook until soft, usually about two minutes. 
Add the broth and two cups of water and bring to a boil. Cook for ten minutes (uncovered-this is key, it allows the broth to get nice and spicy).
Season the broth with salt if you desire.
Pour the broth over the noodle/sprout/meat nests in the bowls.
Serve with more bean sprouts, cilantro and lime wedges.
Devour.