Cooking for one - please share recipes and tip

Dance-with-me · 10-21-2012, 11:52 PM

I am used to cooking for a family. Right now I'm pretty much not cooking for anyone, but soon I'll have my house back and want to start cooking for myself.

Except. I have the bad habit of cooking (and shopping) as if I'm feeding an army.

I'm looking both for meals that can be fixed quickly as well as those that take a little more prep but that can be frozen to be eaten later. And I personally want ideas for things that based primarily on minimally processed fresh or frozen ingredients.

I'm also looking for suggestions on how to make it easier to shop for one -- in particular, how to make fresh or unusual ingredients that are sold in family-sized not go to waste

I'll start with sharing a few things of my own.

Dinner recipe:
Wasabi-almond crusted baked mahi with roasted asparagus and mushrooms
Prep time: 10 minutes (plus time to defrost fish). Cooking time: 20 minutes. Two servings (dinner plus leftovers)
Heate oven to 350
Toss some asparagus spears (snapped in half) and some baby portobellos (quartered) in a little bit of good olive oil with some salt and pepper and stuck them in the oven
melt a tbsp or so of butter squeezed in some lime and mixed in
take about a half-cup of wasabi seasoned almonds and chopped them fine in a food processor
cut defrosted mahi filet into two single portions, and dipped the filets into the butter
Coat the filets with the almonds, put into baking dish
pour remaining butter over them, squeeze on the rest of that half lime, stuck it into the oven (stirred up the veggies while I was at it)
Stirred veggies up again in ten minutes, then took it all out in ten.
Total prep time: Maybe 10 minutes. Total cooking time for fish: 20 minutes. Used that 20 to clean up and fix me a grown-up beverage.
Dinner was delicious and I had leftovers.

What to do with the extra ingredients:
I made an omelet with some of the remaining asparagus and mushrooms and used the rest in a salad. I used the other half of the lime in a grown-up drink.

The almonds are a staple for me - I eat them as a snack and use in salads.

Cooking for One Tip:
I've found that vacuum sealing makes a HUGE difference in how well things freeze and how they taste after freezing. I used to have a cheap hand-held vacuum sealer but it made so much of a difference that I'm considering buying one of the ones that are pricier but that are much better at sealing -- the cheap ones seal what's basically still a ziplock baggie and too frequently lose their seal. I know some folks cook larger meals and just have leftovers throughout the week but I'd rather cook a larger meal and have the leftovers over the next few weeks with no loss of quality, plus I'd like to have several meal options in the freezer that let me just come home and heat something up without it being junk.

10-21-2012, 11:52 PM	#1
Dance-with-me Member How Do You Identify?: Femme Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: earth Posts: 419 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 264 Thanked 1,926 Times in 378 Posts Rep Power: 21474848	Cooking for one - please share recipes and tip I am used to cooking for a family. Right now I'm pretty much not cooking for anyone, but soon I'll have my house back and want to start cooking for myself. Except. I have the bad habit of cooking (and shopping) as if I'm feeding an army. I'm looking both for meals that can be fixed quickly as well as those that take a little more prep but that can be frozen to be eaten later. And I personally want ideas for things that based primarily on minimally processed fresh or frozen ingredients. I'm also looking for suggestions on how to make it easier to shop for one -- in particular, how to make fresh or unusual ingredients that are sold in family-sized not go to waste I'll start with sharing a few things of my own. Dinner recipe: Wasabi-almond crusted baked mahi with roasted asparagus and mushrooms Prep time: 10 minutes (plus time to defrost fish). Cooking time: 20 minutes. Two servings (dinner plus leftovers) Heate oven to 350 Toss some asparagus spears (snapped in half) and some baby portobellos (quartered) in a little bit of good olive oil with some salt and pepper and stuck them in the oven melt a tbsp or so of butter squeezed in some lime and mixed in take about a half-cup of wasabi seasoned almonds and chopped them fine in a food processor cut defrosted mahi filet into two single portions, and dipped the filets into the butter Coat the filets with the almonds, put into baking dish pour remaining butter over them, squeeze on the rest of that half lime, stuck it into the oven (stirred up the veggies while I was at it) Stirred veggies up again in ten minutes, then took it all out in ten. Total prep time: Maybe 10 minutes. Total cooking time for fish: 20 minutes. Used that 20 to clean up and fix me a grown-up beverage. Dinner was delicious and I had leftovers. What to do with the extra ingredients: I made an omelet with some of the remaining asparagus and mushrooms and used the rest in a salad. I used the other half of the lime in a grown-up drink. The almonds are a staple for me - I eat them as a snack and use in salads. Cooking for One Tip: I've found that vacuum sealing makes a HUGE difference in how well things freeze and how they taste after freezing. I used to have a cheap hand-held vacuum sealer but it made so much of a difference that I'm considering buying one of the ones that are pricier but that are much better at sealing -- the cheap ones seal what's basically still a ziplock baggie and too frequently lose their seal. I know some folks cook larger meals and just have leftovers throughout the week but I'd rather cook a larger meal and have the leftovers over the next few weeks with no loss of quality, plus I'd like to have several meal options in the freezer that let me just come home and heat something up without it being junk.