Cooking dinner for one

[Biciclista]

Sorry, i wasn't sure how you'd take what i wrote.
I really love to cook and so does DH; but i'm the one who does the most cooking. The hard part for me is buying enough stuff so that i don't have to go back to the store every day! So when there's just one of me, it seems easier because the food lasts longer. On the other hand, I remember way back when - in the 1970's - some lonely nights when I ate melted mozzarella cheese on toast for my dinner with a carrot.

[ny biker]

From the perspective of someone who can't cook worth a darn:

Pasta

Giant baked potato (cooked in the microwave, or a I guess you could cook it in the oven in advance and refrigerate until you're ready to eat it?) topped with vegetables, cheese, whatever you like

Cereal

Omelette (or eggs your favorite way) with toast, english muffin, etc.

A giant salad. I generally add some kind of beans for protein. Hard boiled eggs would work for that, too.

Some frozen prepared foods are not too bad for you, so it's handy to have some in the freezer for days you really don't have time/energy. I like some of the Amy's Organic stuff, and occasionally I'll have a Weight Watchers pasta meal with added frozen vegetables.


Think carefully about the quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables that you buy. If you're not sure you will eat them before they go bad, don't buy them. Frozen vegetables are better than rotten fresh vegetables.

[Cataboo]

I keep around a reasonable amount of frozen stuff - if I make soup, I will usually freeze some. So I've got lots of spinach soup, eggplant soup, and butternut squash soup in the freezer currently. Those can be thawed whenever.

I have a bunch of frozen wild salmon in the freezer, frozen raw shrimp. Both defrost relatively quickly. If I go to the grocery store and chicken or pork are on sale, I take some cook it - and slice the rest up and freeze it to use later.

If I have a week where I know I'm going to be home and cooking regularly and I don't have any food from my mother (she likes to cook big batches of food and give it to my siblings & I ... )...

I'll go to costco, get a big bag of spinach (5 lb), a thing of mushrooms, bell peppers, cucumbers, pineapple, mango, kiwis, carrots. i usually'll get hummus and their ciabata bread. When I get home, about half the ciabata bread gets frozen. All of the fruits & veggies above - I make a big salad that I eat for lunch. Maybe half a ciabata with hummus & cucumbers.

While I've got fresh pineapple & mango, I usually will make a pineapple mango salsa with ginger out of it, then cook the salmon in olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper... put the salsa on top of it. Couscous cooks very quickly, so I usually have a box of that around. Also have a rice maker, so there's always a pot of rice in the fridge... if not, then I eat couscous 'cause it cooks in 5 mins.

The bell peppers & mushrooms make a nice pasta, I pretty much always keep tomato sauce and pasta in the cabinets (well, if you shop at costco & you're one person... it's not hard to keep that stuff around shopping like once a month or two) So I might have a couple of days of those.

Or shrimp can always be stir fried with stuff, and I usually have rice noodles to add to that. (also cook quickly)

But anyways, after a week or so my 5 lb bag of spinach is at the point where i don't wanna pick through the bag looking for nice leaves to make my salad, at that point... all of the spinach and whatever vegetables that I haven't finished from my costco run go into a big pot and I make a batch of spinach soup... So the 2nd week I'm having spinach soup for lunch with half a piece of ciabata (the frozen stuff thaws well...)


The other thing I like making is a big pot of curry, if you like spicy - basically you get a can of curry paste and a can of coconut milk (local asian store)... and cook whatever meat & veggies you want in it for a long time... I usually have thai basil growing to add to this. I usually do potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, onions, pork, and if I've been on a costco run, bell peppers & mushrooms go in... Put a little bit of rice in it when eating.

[Biciclista]

great ideas Catriona.
Eggplant soup??? what is in it? how do you make it i mean.

[Cataboo]

great ideas Catriona.
Eggplant soup??? what is in it? how do you make it i mean.

I do a curried creamy eggplant soup.

Mostly when I make soup lately, I just throw everything in and use whatever's in the house... Instead of chicken stock, I usually mix milk & water and use boullion cubes... I use the milk instead of adding cream. I tend to put in whole cumin, coriander, and black pepper seeds, but I like things spicy. They cook into the soup, and then when I use my little blender stick thing to liquify everything, they get chopped up and cook in longer...

There's a little farm stand that I often pass on my bike rides, that whatever's ripe I will take a few of and that usually gets incorporated into some soup or meal... hence why my back hurt so much last week biking around with 2 butternut squashes in it.

But my eggplant soup is something like this:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Roasted-Eg...gine-Soup-4897
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/04...lant-soup.html

[ny biker]

Sorry, i wasn't sure how you'd take what i wrote.
I really love to cook and so does DH; but i'm the one who does the most cooking. The hard part for me is buying enough stuff so that i don't have to go back to the store every day! So when there's just one of me, it seems easier because the food lasts longer. On the other hand, I remember way back when - in the 1970's - some lonely nights when I ate melted mozzarella cheese on toast for my dinner with a carrot.

Melted cheese on toast does not necessarily equal a lonely night.

[malkin]

...my dinner with a carrot...

I'll bet the conversation was more accessible than in My Dinner with Andre.

I'm quite a fan of anything in a tortilla.