Cooking for one

[cjsmith]

I just realized that one of the reasons I struggle so much with cooking for one is that I'm making completely different stuff than I know how to do.

I make a meatloaf I happen to love and I can do a lasagne I find absolutely scrumptious, but c'mon, raise your hand if you make one-person versions of those! If I have a quarter pound of ground beef it's a BURGER. Conversely, who makes omelets for thirty? I sure haven't.

The feed-a-dormitory or feed-a-family recipes can be broken down into neat little piles of Tupperware, but multiply helpings by desirable variety and I'm out of freezer space. Thus my main storage facility is the freezer aisle at Safeway. Shrinking the recipes, on the other hand, multiplies the labor and prep time and also increases waste (ingredients are much more perishable before they get frozen as meals). No wonder a restaurant is such an easy choice for me.

What's your favorite thing to make for one person? Preferably quick. (Bonus points for no leftover ingredients.)

Comments

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

When I cook, I end up eating whatever I made for the whole week. Or until I get tired of it, whichever comes first. I cannot make meatloaf for one--but I make a kick-ass meatloaf for 6. Ditto lasagne, stew, chili, fricasee, etc.,etc.
I don't know how to cook small, never have.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Mmm, chili... y'know, I'm starting to want a second freezer!

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmmmmeatloaf! Yum! Crazy lady Rachael Ray took a regular meatloaf recipe and flattened it out in a cookie pan. She put some provolone, arugala and proscutto (yeah, I can't spell it, but I can eat it!) ham on it in layers. Rolled it up and cooked it. It looked yummy!


And on an unrelated note, what's the kitty in your icon from?

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I'll share your meatloaf or lasagna sometime.

My favorite thing to make for myself is either scrambled eggs w/ cheese (not really an omlette) or tuna salad. Neither very complicated.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Cool! Five or eight more people and we've got it. :-)

I aim to get better at the "scrambled eggs with" concept. That's an easy enough way to get a bit of protein, and eggs keep a lot better in the fridge than meats do.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

A grilled tunafish sandwich. Small can of tuna, and add mayo, lemon juice, and sliced almonds to taste. Randy taught me to use mayo instead of butter on the outside of the bread, for an extra-yummy crispy outside.

One small can of tuna is exactly enough for one sandwich.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I bet I could do this with those little cans of chicken, too, right? I've never made chicken salad but I bet it's no more difficult than the tuna salad I learned as a kid.

The only leftovers here are the bread, mayo, lemon juice, and almonds -- and of those, lemon juice keeps forever and I eat bread fast. Not bad!

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Fajitas!! I buy those bags of frozen chicken tenderloins and those are perfect. You can pull out one or two and not have to cook lots.

But my favorite one person thing to make doesn't really involve much cooking. Tyson has frozen buffalo chicken tenderloins. I like to nuke a couple of those and shred them up. Then I rip up a ton of romaine (or cheat and use the bagged stuff.) Add some cheese of some sort, add something crunky. I usually like croutons, but I also like this rainbow slaw stuff. It's jullienned broccoli, cauliflower, carots and red cabbage. Add some green bell pepper if I have it and add some ranch dressing. (If you are weird like me add a touch of french dressing to add some tang.) Stir it all up and go.

It's what I have been having lately because it has a lot of bulk and it's not too horrid for you, especially if you use the dreaded light or fat free dressings. And it's cool. Well hot with the buffalo chicken, but cool in that it doesn't heat up my house.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I have never ever made fajitas! That sounds like a fun thing to try. I also like your salad with spicy chicken concept for hot summer days. So far my salads seem to be "open up a bag of spinach and throw in some nuts". That could expand a bit. (O'course half the bag is waste unless I have the discipline to eat it twice in a row. Maybe I need to outgrow this variety fetish.)

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Oh. And it's a two-mealer for me now, but ... a quick chili mac can be made from (1) package of instant lunch soup noodles (no flavoring), and (1) aseptic package (the little boxes) of your favorite no-beans chili.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Are you and I the only people who are not at all fond of those instant noodle flavorings? I like the idea of pulling that thing out and doing something else with the noodles.

[harpwolf.livejournal.com]

Likewise. Cook & drain 1/3 lb. pasta, stir in 15-oz can chili -- that's a two-mealer for me now too.

Another fave: Cook pasta using chicken broth instead of water. Don't drain, let pasta absorb broth.

Polenta with beans, melted cheese and salsa

[zpdiduda.livejournal.com]

Polenta, in mush form. Either from scratch or from one of those rolls of polenta -- cut off what you want, turn it to mush in a small pot with a little water added.

On top of that: black or kidney beans.

On top of that: shredded cheese.

On top of that: fresh salsa.

Nuke till beans and cheese are heated through/melted (about a minute).

Eat. Swoon.

Re: Polenta with beans, melted cheese and salsa

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

OK, I need to learn about "those rolls of polenta". This sounds soooooo yummy -- and easy! (I guess it could be done with nachos as a base, too, right?)

[jtidwell.livejournal.com]

Stir-fry. With vegetables just bought at the farmstand or wherever -- you buy enough just for the one dish. The meat can be bought in advance and frozen (you thaw just enough), or you could use half a small package of already-frozen shrimp, or bypass the meat altogether and just throw in some cashews or peanuts.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Do you do that in a wok? I don't have a wok, but I do have skillets.

[janigrey.livejournal.com]

1 can of cream of chicken soup - do not add water.
1 carrot peeled and cut into thick chunks
1/4 of frozen pearl onions
1 potato - or more depending on how you like your carbs
1 breast of boneless chicken

toss in a soup pan and heat on medium low until chicken is cooked...maybe 45 minutes
take chicken out add 1/2 cup frozen peas
cut chicken into small chunks - and toss back into pot for 10 minutes.

This is my quick and easy chicken stew - add it with the frozen - you choose your portion biscuits.

[janigrey.livejournal.com]

oh..and if its too thick add a little water - but not any more than 1 soup can worth

Cooking for one

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Salads. When it's just me I eat lots of salads. I have dried fruit and nuts and bags of lettuces and tomatoes and avocados and onions and radishes and hard-boiled eggs and small cans of pickled beets and olives and beans, and maybe I'll broil a chicken breast or a piece of fish to put on top, or buy 1/4 lb of bay shrimp. There is an infinite variety of stuff you can use to make a salad.

Sandwiches, especially since I got the panini grill.

A small pork tenderloin makes a great meal with some roasted potatoes and some kind of green veggie. Leftovers can be used for sandwiches or as a bit of meat in a salad.

Fish can be bought in small portions, and is one of the easiest things in the world to cook. A good piece of fresh fish with a bit of salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon or lime, and some dill or thyme can be grilled or poached or broiled or baked or pan-fried. A fruit or vegetable salsa is wonderful with fish.

Re: Cooking for one

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I buy stuff for salads and I make one or even two and then I get busy and... um... all the rest of the fresh fixins end up as brown goo. :-( :-( Maybe I should leave the stuff out on the counter. It wouldn't last as long but I'd SEE it sitting there, and maybe it would guilt me into eating more of it.

I definitely do sandwiches. Not fancy ones :-) but hey, peanut butter's good.

Can you buy pork in one-person batches or do you buy it in foursies and divide it up before freezing? Wait, I'm thinking of chops, aren't I?

[firecat]

a jar of Trader Joe's tomato garlic soup with tofu and cheese melted in and tortilla chips on top (that would have some leftovers unless you were very hungry)

cold noodles with cottage cheese and cashews

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I think I've had this at your house! Yummy! There's something about tomato soup and cheese (or cream). Tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich was a childhood staple meal for me. Fancy places do a swirl of cream in a bowl of tomato soup. I gotta do some of this combo.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

A variation on sandwiches are quesadillas -- with jack or cheddar. Or a "Schneider Special" (named for the student center at Wellesley): tuna spread on a split pita, topped with tomatoes, then with cheese -- havarti is wonderful, as is muenster -- put in a toaster oven or broiler until the cheese is melted. You can also make it without the tuna.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yes, I've made quesadillas. I like them enough that I probably wouldn't let the ingredients rot. Thank you for reminding me of those!

[karenbynight.livejournal.com]

Thai curries are easy and fun. It's possible to make the curry paste yourself, but I don't bother because you can buy it pre-made in re-sealable plastic tubs that last forever in the fridge (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EICJWA/qid=1153099842/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/102-3075670-5804948). You just mix a bit of the curry paste with canned coconut milk and then cook whatever meat and veggies you like in it, then serve over rice.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh man. I had no idea you could buy that stuff. Oh man. Thanks!

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Rondo used to make omelettes for hundreds -- he'd do the line cook thing at breakfast in a restaurant. Stuffed french toast and fried eggs and pancakes, in between omelettes.

Just sayin'. He's *damned* fast at rolling omelettes, as you might imagine.

Anyway, here's my favorite thing to make for one person. In fact, it's so much my favorite thing, I make it even when I should be feeding five sometimes. (It goes like this: "Hey everyone! It's a 'get it yourself' dinner tonight!")

Lisa's pasta
Serves one.

Boil up some pasta -- whatever you've got in the pantry. I did elbow macaroni, last time I did this. Do about a serving's worth (though I often over estimate, which makes Jacob very happy).

While the pasta boils, chop up a small-ish tomato into a small dice. If you've got fresh garlic around, mince a clove (otherwise, add powdered when you add the spices, or even skip it).

Drain the pasta, return to pan. Put the tomatoes on top of it, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with basil and salt and pepper, stir and cook until tomatoes just barely start to soften (about two or three minutes).

Parmesan the whole thing, if you want to.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ah, I just knew I'd hear from someone who had done it professionally! That would, however, not be me. :)

Pasta is great because it's almost immortal. All those annoying things like meats and veggies and eggs all go bad in weeks or months, but pasta just keeps on keepin' on. If it were healthy for me to live on pasta alone, I just might.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

Either rice and curry (I've gotten really good at making one person's worth) or rice and stir-fry (easy to estimate one person's worth by eye)

[harpwolf.livejournal.com]

You've seen my turkey sausage and lentil crock pot recipe (http://harpwolf.livejournal.com/136328.html). Usually I make 2 full recipes in 2 crock-pots, meter into Lock & Lock containers (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/202-7143309-6913409?search-alias=kitchen&field-manufacturer=Lock) and throw most into the freezer. I love the containers, they stand up to abuse and Target sells them.

[harpwolf.livejournal.com]

I want to emphasize the method "Go ahead and feed-a-dormitory, then store single servings of what you made." I like the Lock & Lock containers because they are very tolerant of the abuses such cooking inflicts... and they never leak!

However, like any plastic container -- if you microwave reheat, they will pit, stain and leach toxins into your food. Don't. Pop the contents out into a glass container, Pyrex bowls (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004SZ7H/wolfharper-20/002-7133210-9621655?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=1789&link%5Fcode=xm2) are my fave as they're a respectable serving bowl too.

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

I wish I could help, but I can't cook. At all. Mostly I just eat out until I can't stand it any more or, better yet, somebody invites me over to eat all of their food.

Hey, this could solve both our problems....

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA good one! (Mostly I eat out too. It tastes better.)