Cooking for one can be fun!

When cooking for one we all have those moments where we wonder, “what are we going to fix to eat?” So, I went into my freezer and found a chicken cutlet, some gnocchi, and half and half that I froze a while ago. When I freeze leftover items, I ensure they are just the right amount for one so that I don’t have to divide them again. I love that I make something and then freeze half of what I don’t use and can come up with something fun and different. Also, I found some sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, an onion and feta cheese in the refrigerator. This meal takes about 30 minutes to prepare. It is a bit fattening but sometimes comfort food just makes you feel good. Even though I had pulled out of the freezer one serving of each item, it did make a meal that I could not finish, so I had it for dinner the next night too. Cooking for one can be fun.

Ingredients: 1 chicken cutlet, 1 serving Gnocchi, 1/2 container half-and-half, a handful of smoked sundried tomatoes, 1/2 jar marinated artichoke hearts, 1/4 onion, 1/4 cup feta cheese, fresh basil, flour, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, basil, black pepper, olive oil, white wine.

Directions: Place a couple of tablespoons onto a plate. Sprinkle the poultry seasoning, garlic powder, basil, and black pepper into the flour. Mix together. Place the chicken cutlet in the flour and coat the chicken on both sides. Place some olive oil into the pan and heat. Place your chicken cutlet in the frying pan. Save the flour in a small bowl and add a little olive oil and mix making a roux. Save that for later. While the chicken is browning, chop your onion and peel your garlic. Cut some fresh basil from your garden or buy some fresh at your local supermarket. Remove the chicken from the pan when brown and cooked through. In the same pan add a little more olive oil and saute your onions and garlic. Add a little white wine and reduce. While that is reducing, chop your sundried tomatoes and artichokes and slice the bail. Add this to your pan. Mix it all together. Pour in the half and half. Add your feta cheese and stir. Add your roux to thicken the cream sauce. Bring to a boil and add your Gnocchi. Remember, Gnocchi cooks in 3 minutes. Stir. Place your cooked chicken in the pan to reheat. Serve and enjoy with a nice glass of Chardonnay. Cooking for one can be fun.

Recently I had friends come and visit, which was terrific, so I decided to make us all a quiche. Then I realized how easy they are to make and how perfect they can be to make for one. Quiches are so easy to make and you can put anything in them. I used artichokes, smoked sundried tomatoes, green onions, and mushrooms making my quiche vegetarian. I also used Swiss cheese, cream cheese, and parmesan cheese. You can add anything to a quiche such as spinach, bacon, ham, or sausage. You can also use any type of cheese. Making this quiche for one will give you either 4 servings if you quarter your pie or 8 servings if you make them smaller. The fun thing about quiche is you can have it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Pillsbury frozen pie crusts are so easy to use and I always keep a package in the freezer. You can always make yours from scratch or buy the already-made frozen pie shells. Make it easy on yourself and remember that cooking for one can be fun.

Ingredients: 1 frozen Pillsbury frozen pie shell, 6 organic brown eggs, 1/2 jar marinated artichokes, handful of smoked sundried tomatoes, 3 green onions, 2 mushrooms, 2 cloves garlic, 1 cup half&half, 1 cup Swiss cheese, 4 oz cream cheese, sprinkle parmesan cheese

Directions: Take your thawed pie crust and place it in a pie dish. Scallop the edges and pierce the bottom with a fork. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake your crust for 20 minutes. While the pie crust is baking, take the half&half and cream cheese and blend them together. In a large bowl add the cream cheese mixture with the eggs. Cut the green onions into the bowl. Chop the mushrooms into very small pieces. Chop up your sundried tomatoes and artichokes and place them in the bowl. Press the garlic cloves into the bowl. Add the Swiss cheese and whisk all together till nice and fluffy. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture into your prepared pie crust. Top with parmesan cheese. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. The middle should be set firm. Check with a toothpick to make sure. Slice and serve. Cooking for one can be fun.

I used a pork loin wrapped in the freezer and was ready for one serving. When cooking rice for one I always make half the amount and I can use the leftover rice for another meal during the week. You can always just make 1/4 of the rice for this one meal. Usually, the rule is 2 cups water and 1 cup rice and cook covered on simmer for 20 minutes. This pork loin was so big that I only used 2/3 of the pork and saved the other 1/3 to serve with eggs for breakfast in the morning. I like using pork loin as breakfast meat because I try not to eat packaged foods since they are loaded with sodium. So I try to avoid bacon, ham steak, or sausages, even though I love them. Going back to the sweet pork dish that I made, the onions, peppers, and carrots really complimented that pork and was delicious over the rice. I hope you enjoy making this and find it really easy to make. Because cooking for one can be fun!

Ingredients: 1 pork loin, 1/2 red bell pepper, 1 carrot, 1/2 onion, 4 cloves garlic, a large spoonful of Kona pineapple teriyaki marinade sauce, 1 tbls Bragg coconut liquid amino, 1/2 cup Basmati rice, olive oil

Directions: Rinse your rice thoroughly. Start your rice by bringing 1 cup of water to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, add your rice and reduce the heat to simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. While the rice is cooking, heat some olive oil in a pan and add 1/2 of chopped onion. Slice the red bell pepper into bite-size pieces, and add them to the pan. Cut 2/3 of the pork loin and brown in the same pan. Add a little water to steam the veggies and pork. Chop 4 cloves of garlic and add that to the pan. I added a generous spoonful of the Kona pineapple teriyaki marinade and stirred that in. Add 1 tablespoon of the Bragg coconut liquid amino and stir. Bragg coconut liquid amino is better than soy sauce and is lower in sodium. Let that reduce a little and add 1/2 cup brown sugar and let it cook and thicken and crystalize by bringing it all to a boil. Serve this sweet pork over your basmati rice and enjoy. I served this dish in a bowl and used chopsticks. Cooking for one can be fun.

Recently I barbecued some organic chicken and had one leftover chicken breast and decided to make a tarragon chicken salad. I added red grapes, sweet and spicey nuts, and organic mayonnaise to whip up a quick and easy salad. You can make a sandwich, or serve on French Baggett, or stuff an avocado, or make a green salad. It is also good straight out of the bowl. It is fun to cook for one and make this tarragon chicken salad in 10 minutes.

Ingredients: 1 organic chicken breast, a hand full of red grapes, some sweet and spicey mixed nuts, 1 tbls tarragon, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, lemon pepper to taste, one generous spoon of organic mayonnaise

Directions: Cut your chicken into bite-size pieces, slice your red grapes in half, chop your mixed nuts and add all of these to a mixing bowl. Add your seasonings. Add a generous spoonful of mayonnaise and stir. It’s that easy. Serve. Cooking for one can be fun. Enjoy.

I had half a container of the organic chicken bone broth and knew I had to use it before it expired so I made up some soup. I’m calling it egg drop soup because I will add an egg and that is what Ginniewho does. I make things up as I go. So, I found some items to add to the soup, which I came up with. The egg drop soup turned out so yummy. This made enough for two servings so I had it for lunch the next day. The soup was easy to make and took about 15 minutes altogether. Leave a comment and let me know if you added something different to your soup.

Ingredients: 1/2 container of organic chicken bone broth, Argentinian red shrimp from Trader Joe’s, 2 green onions, 1 asparagus, 3 mushrooms, 1 carrot, and 1 egg.

Directions: Heat the bone broth in a saucepan. I used a vegetable peeler and peeled the carrot into the soup. Chop the mushrooms and asparagus and add them to the soup. Let this simmer for 5 minutes. Cut the shrimp into bite-size pieces. Add to the soup. Whisk the egg and add it to the soup. Thicken your soup a little by making a roux using cornstarch. Take a cup of the broth, add 1 teaspoon corn starch and whisk till mixed and smooth. Add this mixture to the soup and keep whisking till it thickens. Cut the green onions and top them on the soup. Serve and enjoy. Cooking for one can be fun.

My hydroponic garden is so much fun. I plant herbs and lettuce and arugula. The arugula that I planted was getting really big and time to harvest, so I was thinking it would be good with lemon and pasta and shrimp. I pulled some other ingredients that I had in the kitchen and made a deliciously flavorful dish. All together this took about 20 minutes to make or as long as it takes to cook the pasta. The flavor of the arugula with the lemon is amazing. This dish went well with a nice Sauvignon Blanc. If you pair this dish with a different wine, leave me a comment below and let me know. Cooking for one can be fun.

Ingredients: 1 handful of Pasta, I used a french egg noodle, 1 bunch of arugula, 3 green onions, 6 mushrooms 4-7 shrimp, 1 lemon, 1tbls capers, 3 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup goat cheese, olive oil, 3 tbls butter, 1tbls Old Bay seasoning.

Directions: Start your water for the pasta and bring it to a boil. While the pasta water is coming to a boil, chop your green onions and mushrooms. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan. Add the veggies and garlic and saute on low. Once the water comes to a boil, add the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, add the butter to the pan and the Old Bay seasoning. Let the butter melt then slice the arugula saving a few leaves for the end and add it to the pan. Let this all saute together. Zest a little of the lemon and add it to the pan. Add your capers and stir. Stir your pasta noodles. Juice one lemon into the mixture. Cut up your shrimp into bite-size pieces add them to the pan and saute. Add your goat cheese and let this melt. Drain your noodles when it is finished cooking. Add a little of the pasta water to the frying pan and then the noodles. Toss all together. Cut a few remaining arugula leaves and the parmesan cheese and serve. And remember cooking for one can be fun.

The other night I watched HBOmax and caught this cute cooking show with Selena Gomez and she had chef Ludo Lefebvre as her guest showing how to make a French omelet. It looked like fun, so I had to try it. It was just a little tricky. It helped that I watched them do it first. Mine wasn’t as pretty as theirs, but it was delicious. The trick is to keep cooking the eggs on low and stir. When cooking for one you can eat half of the omelet for dinner and the other half for breakfast the next morning. I hope you have as much fun making this omelet as I did because cooking for one can be fun.

Ingredients: 4 organic eggs, Boursin cheese (I used herb garlic), 4 TBL butter, chives, or green onions.

Directions: Melt the butter in a 9-inch frying pan on low. Whip your eggs till fluffy. Slowly add your eggs to the frying pan. The eggs should not sizzle if they do, turn down your heat. Keep stirring gently until the eggs start to thicken. Once they are nicely cooked and still soft, shape them into a square. Add generous spoonfuls of the Boursin cheese on top, in the middle. Carefully fold the eggs over the cheese and fold once more. Place on a plate and take a damp kitchen towel over the omelet and shape. Add chives or green onions and enjoy. Cooking for one can be fun.

I have enjoyed sharing fun, healthy, easy recipes to make for all of us solo cookers. Then I realized I had not made any desserts. So, I thought about showing you my favorite cookie recipe that is gluten-free and super easy to make. You only need 5 ingredients. I used organic sunflower butter, however, you can use whichever peanut or almond, or cashew butter you would like. Use the mixed type nut butters not the kind you have to stir. I have been making these cookies for years. These cookies are soft and chewy and fun to make. You can share them with your friends or co-workers if you want or you can freeze half of them to enjoy later.

Ingredients: 1 cup organic sunflower butter, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla.

Directions: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Add the sunflower butter to your mixing bowl. Add the sugars, egg, and vanilla and mix thoroughly with the beaters in your mixing bowl. Once the butter is blended nicely with the sugars and egg, it will be a nice firm ball, use a small scooper and make little cookie balls. You can make them bigger if you would like bigger cookies. Place the cookie balls on your prepared cookie sheet. Take a fork and crisscross the cookie balls flat. Bake for 10 minutes. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing them to your rack. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy and remember, cooking for one can be fun.

I love Stroganoff and thought I would throw together a healthy version of this rich, creamy dish. I made zucchini noodles using the Cooking Light noodle maker I found at a thrift shop, brand new in the box. You can make this with light sour cream to help with the fat, however, I used regular organic sour cream. It is a bright idea to pull out all the ingredients you will use for any recipes and have them ready to go. This saves time on searching for each item as you are cooking. My other tip is to clean and put each item away after you use them. The dish or recipes usually need to saute or heat and while that is happening you can put away the items you just added and wipe down the surfaces you were using. This way when you are done cooking your dish you won’t have a pile of dishes to clean. All that should be left is your final pan and plate. By doing this you will find it is fun to cook for one!

Ingredients: Steak, (I used tri-tip but any steak will do), 1 zucchini, 1/2 container organic chicken bone broth, 3 cloves garlic, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon steak seasoning, pepper to taste, a pinch of dried basil and oregano (I used my dried herbs from my hydroponic garden), olive oil. I suggest you add mushrooms if you have them.

Directions: Add a generous amount of olive oil to your pan and heat. Cut your steak into bite-size pieces and add to the heated oil. Press 3 cloves of garlic into the pan with the steak. Season with pepper and steak seasoning. While the steak is browning, heat half of the bone broth in a separate pan. Make your spiral zucchini noodles. The noodles come out in one long piece so cut them with your kitchen shears to the desired length. Add the zucchini noodles to the bone broth. Cook until they are soft unless you want to have the noodles firm. Either way is good. Add a pinch of the dried basil and oregano and mix all together using tongs. Heat through reducing the bone broth. Once the noodles are soft, add them to your meat mixture. Heat them all together then stir in the sour cream. Stir till mixed all together and creamy. Once it is all mixed in together, add the parmesan cheese. Give it a nice stir to blend and serve. Cooking for one can be fun and delicious!

One of my favorite go-to summer salads is this simple watermelon, cucumber, feta cheese, and fresh mint salad. If you buy one of the mini watermelons, it won’t be too much for all you solo cookers out there. However, if you love watermelon go for the large one. This is a refreshing salad on those hot 100-degree summer days. I used half of the mini watermelon and half a cucumber. I always save the juice from the watermelon. It is so good on its own or you can use it in your green juice and it makes a great cocktail, just add some vodka and ice. I am sure you will enjoy this easy-to-make summer salad.

Ingredients: 1 mini watermelon, 1 cucumber, feta cheese, fresh mint, balsamic vinegar.

Directions: Cut your watermelon in half. Slice one half and place in a container and put in the refrigerator for later to enjoy. Using a mini scooper, scoop watermelon making little mini watermelon balls. Place the watermelon balls into a medium size bowl. Cut the cucumber in half, and save one half for a salad later on. Peel and dice the other half and add to the watermelon balls. Sprinkle some feta cheese and add some fresh mint. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the salad and mix. So easy and fresh. Enjoy and remember cooking for one can be fun.