I really love to cook, but I never used to cook a lot. Instead, I spent a lot of time lamenting how I didn't have anyone to cook for. I would sulk around and wish I had a husband or a boyfriend so that I would have someone to feed (yes, this sounds very stupid, but it is very true). Then, it dawned on my just how flawed my thinking was. Obviously, I had friends I could invite to dinner. But more importantly, I could cook for myself. The biggest problem in my line of thinking was basically a belief that I wasn't worth the effort but a guy would be. And that's just lame.
So since I've finally moved into my own apartment and have a kitchen of my very own to make messes in, I've started figuring out what it looks like to cook for just me. There are, however, several problems with cooking for one person. The first is leftovers. Most recipes are designed to make more than one or two servings, so usually I end up with leftovers that could last for a week. One, I'm not super in love with leftovers in general. Two, I'm not super in love with eating one thing for lunch and dinner every day for a week. The second is that most things are sold in packaging designed for a family. Those things together meant that I basically ended up wasting food...most of the time a lot of it...either because I threw away leftovers or because I used half of something and didn't use the rest before it went bad.
Now that school's back in session, which means I'm on a schedule and have to pack myself lunches everyday, I've been working on fine tuning exactly how to shop and cook for one person. Basically that means trying to come up with multiple recipes that make 4 servings or less and that use the same basic ingredients but taste different enough so that I don't get bored with my food. And that don't cost so much that I blow my grocery budget. And that don't take forever to make since I'm back at school. That's essentially what this new blog feature will be...in case you are either cooking for 1-2 people or are just curious about what I eat.
So, here's what I bought and cooked this week: (It's just for Monday-Thursday lunch because Thursday is Parent Night at school, so I'll be grabbing something between the end of school and the start of Parent Night and because Friday as soon as school ends I'm going to Athens for the weekend...where I will be eating really great food from some of my favorite restaurants!)
Shopping List:
pork tenderloin (because I usually eat chicken and was starting to get tired of it...also Publix had it on sale)
bbq sauce (I got Sticky Fingers because it was the only mustard-based sauce at the store.)
lemon herb seasoning
asparagus
broccoli
garlic
white wine (to cook with...and drink)
*I also got myself some snacks to eat while watching football, orange Hi-C because it's all I want to drink when I'm sick, and string cheese because I love taking it for lunch...but none of those things are in the recipes I used this week. So in the future, just know the shopping list isn't all-inclusive.*
Stuff I had from last week:
milk
butter
small red potatoes (I used half of a small bag last week to make roasted potatoes with Italian seasoning when I had people over for dinner, so I used the rest this week.)
cream cheese (from making apple dip!)
What I Made:
Pulled Pork BBQ: I took half the pork tenderloin, put it in my crock pot, poured in around 1/2 cup white wine, and cooked it on high for 4 hours. You can cook also cook it on low overnight if you want to. After it's cooked, pull it apart with 2 forks and pour in some sauce--whatever kind/however much you want (I use mustard-based sauce because it's really the only acceptable option in my opinion. I also buy it....I guess you could make it from scratch, but the only time I've ever done that is when I lived in Russia and it wasn't available for purchase.) It made 4 servings, so I ate if for lunch and dinner on Monday and Tuesday, which I didn't mind because a) I think it's really good and b) I changed up the sides. But if I had to eat it for another day, I would probably be sick of it, so it's a good thing I finished it tonight.
Roasted Pork Tenderloin: I covered the other half of the pork tenderloin with lemon herb seasoning and baked it at 375 for around 25 minutes.
Mashed Potatoes!! I love mashed potatoes, and I have a serious cold so I figured I deserved them this week. Since I only had half a bag of potatoes left, it didn't make that many (3 servings), so I didn't feel bad for putting butter and cream cheese in them. Here's what I did. Cut the potatoes in half but left on the skin (because I like them that way and since I'm just cooking for myself, I can do whatever I want!). Boiled them until they were tender. Then I just mashed them with a fork, added 1/4 a cup of softened butter, around 1/4 a block of cream cheese, one clove of crushed garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper, and a splash of milk. That's it, but they're pretty delicious.
Vegetables: One thing that makes cooking for one great is cooking vegetables. It's so easy to cook 1 serving at a time because I just steam them. Usually I make enough to eat for dinner and take some for lunch the next day. This week I alternated between asparagus and broccoli.
Just a few notes:
You might be wondering about dessert. Well, I eat it sometimes, but this week I haven't been because, like I said, I have a cold, so I haven't been super hungry. But don't worry, future weeks will have dessert recipes too. I'm a pretty avid baker, so making mini versions of some of my favorite desserts was kind of a summer project. Starting this week, I'll be getting my produce from the produce co-op that delivers to my school, so my recipes will be partially based on what I get from that, which should be fun and exciting! So next week you can look forward to that and a fun ode to ramekins, which in my opinion are a must for cooking for one.
