Cooking for one

With a slow Friday afternoon ahead of us, my coworker R and I took a quick trip to the Borders near our office. My intention was to look for a couple textbooks for the upcoming semester—I’m taking math and history courses—but I came away empty-handed. While we were on the escalator, R points to one of the end-caps. “Oh, The Pleasures of Cooking for One“, she sighed. I boldly stated that we would just have to go back upstairs.

I picked up the hefty volume and paged through. The Pleasures of Cooking for One is filled with all kinds of recipes for single cooking. Each recipe is divided into sections: main directions first, then suggestions for second and third rounds. A good way to fix up leftovers? Brilliant!

While I was definitely intrigued, it seemed a bit meat-heavy for me to justify spending $30. I may pick it up again on sale, or if I can get it as a shared resource with my friends.

We browsed around the cooking section for a while, but I couldn’t find a comparable vegetarian cookbook. Most books, it seems, are aimed at parents cooking for households filled with children, or people entertaining friendly dinner parties. Now I am on a mission: to find a vegetarian-friendly “cooking for one” recipe book filled with yummy food.

A few books I dug up on Amazon:

• Going Solo in the Kitchen
• The Pleasure Is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life
• Serves One: Simple Meals to Savor When You’re on Your Own
• Solo Suppers: Simple Delicious Meals to Cook for Yourself

Those books aren’t specifically vegetarian, but I think there may some recipes in there that don’t include strips of steak or chunks of chicken.

Honey BBQ wings with sweet corn

I remember the last time I (actively, knowingly) ate meat. It was Easter Sunday 2007, and my parents served ham, kielbasa, pork and beans, plus loads of other sides and salads. I’d been weaning myself off meat for the past few months, and when I got home with a terrible stomach ache, I knew my meat-eating days were over.

In the three-plus years since, people have asked me many times “Do you miss eating meat?” and I always answer “No, not really.” For the most part, it’s true. Being vegetarian is now so much part of my life that I don’t miss meat in any of my dishes.

Except… I kinda lie. There is one small, shameful thing I miss, and I feel pretty guilty admitting it here.

KFC honey BBQ boneless wings.

I remember the last time I ate those, too. I was driving home from my grandfather’s house on January 6, 2007, and stopped by the KFC at the intersection of Dekalb and Germantown Pikes in Norristown. Not wanting them to cool on the drive home, I seated myself inside and played solitaire on my mobile phone.

Actually, it’s pretty creepy that I remember it so clearly. Let’s move on.

With going on vacation this weekend, I didn’t want to keep too much food in the house, but I did have a package of Lightlife Smart Wings Honey BBQ, just waiting for the right moment to quickly cook up while doing other busy things, like cleaning and packing. I heated up some of the leftover sweet yellow corn from making salsa for our dinner on Saturday night (more on that after vacation) and sat down for a quick dinner break.

These are tasty! I cooked them for one minute in the microwave, but next time I’m going to toss them in the electric skillet. They don’t taste exactly like chicken, naturally, but these wings are perfectly textured little nuggets (tempeh?), covered in a delightful honey BBQ sauce. It’s enough to satisfy my craving.

Vegetarian mix-up beans

This weekend I’m heading down to Maryland on vacation with Matt and his family. His brother’s girlfriend and I decided that we would make dinner for the family on Saturday night: fajitas! I would bring the beans. So the other day I gathered up my resources and hit the grocery store for ingredients.

But I made a mistake.

My plan was to use vegetable broth in place of half the water when cooking the beans, but instead of buying vegetable broth mix, I picked up vegetable soup mix. I couldn’t find the little box of bouillon cubes that I always get, and the store was open for just 15 minutes more. In my frustration picked up Knorr Vegetable Recipe Classics, thinking it was what I needed and neglecting to check the packet.

I got home, unpacked my bags, and groaned. Not one to throw in the towel when it comes to a recipe, I thought I would use it anyway. I reduced the amount of spices, since the Knorr mix already included some.

I ate some for dinner Wednesday night. For science. I couldn’t bear to bring an entire dish for my boyfriend’s family that I hadn’t already experimented on myself, now could I? I don’t think it’s anything like the traditional Mexican frijoles refritos, but I must say, these beans are pretty effing tasty.

Ingredients

• 1 lb dry pinto beans
• 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 packet Knorr Vegetable Recipe Classics
• 8 cups water
• 1/4 cup shredded Mexican-style 4-cheese blend

Prepare

1. Empty the beans into a colander. Sort through them, removing any stones or broken bits.
2. Rinse the beans under cold water.
3. Add beans to a large pot, and cover with enough water, about an inch above the beans.
4. Cover and soak overnight, or about 8 hours.

Directions

1. Rinse soaked beans under cold water. Drain and add to crockpot.
2. Mix in tomatoes with chilies, pepper, cumin, and the vegetable soup packet. Slowly pour in the water, and stir to mix.
3. Cover and cook on low about 8-10 hours. Beans are done when they are tender but not mushy.
4. Remove the beans from the crockpot and strain them, saving the liquid and setting it aside.
5. Place the beans in a large mixing bowl and smash them with a fork or potato masher. Slowly add back some of the reserved liquid.
6. While the beans are still warm, mix in the shredded cheese while smashing the beans.
7. Add other seasonings to taste.

You’ll probably not need to add back nearly as much of the liquid! When adding back the strained liquid from the cooked beans, keep adding until you feel it’s just enough. The beans should be creamy yet smushy, not runny or too lumpy. I added back less than one cup of the bean broth, with a couple dashes of seasoned salt and a pinch more cumin.

I ate a serving just as is, but we may end up frying them on the stove-top, in a little bit of olive oil, before dinner on Saturday. There will be more on that after vacation.

Eggplant, tomato, and cheese pizza

I love pizza, in all varieties, shapes, and forms. When Matt and I were looking for someplace to eat last Saturday night, I suggested Stella since we were walking right by it. “Didn’t you just have pizza the other night?” he asked. I glared at him. “Yeah, so?” my raised eyebrow said. He retracted his question.

Last night I had pizza again. Tuesday is my regular knitting night at Higher Grounds and I almost always just eat dinner while I’m there. As soon as I saw this pizza on the daily menu board, I ordered it. No questions. I wanted that pizza.

Oh man, this pizza did not disappoint. I opted for the whole wheat flatbread, and I think I’ll stick with that again. It was wonderfully nutty and grainy. The tomato sauce was slightly sweet, and cheese perfectly melted. The eggplant and diced tomatoes had just the right amount of crunch to them.

It took me just a little longer to pick out a beverage, but I settled on the daily iced tea: chamomile with peppermint. I added one pack of Sugar in the Raw, plus a bit of honey. It was absolutely lovely.

Dinner for me

I live in a studio apartment. After my ex and I split up, I lived with a variety of roommates for a few years, in lovely houses that were owned by those roommates. While they were great, and I loved those houses and their many home animals, I wanted my own place. I’d lived on my own just once, not counting college, for a few months before my ex moved in with me.

Just this July I finally found my own place—coincidentally, my ex-husband’s old apartment! He fell in love and moved to Arizona, and I got to take over his lease. For the first week I felt like I was house-sitting for him, but now it’s starting to feel more like my space.

One thing I’ve always been terrible with is dinner. I tend to graze; usually I have something to eat every 3-4 hours or so, and meals are haphazardly thrown together with things I find in the fridge. What better idea than to chronicle those unplanned dishes for all of the internet to see?

Each day I’ll post about my meals, whatever I end up eating, whether it’s in my house or at a restaurant. Expect a lot of “mac and cheese” posts—it’s easy and it’s one of my favorites. I love to bake, and those treats will not be withheld from the blog.

Mostly, I’d just like to have fun by documenting my food. I already take enough food photos, I might as well post them to the internet, right?