Cooking

[Erinesque]

Since my husband has started his new job, and is traveling, he's only home once a week, for Saturdays and Sundays. I've been researching new recipes to really surprise him with new meals when he comes home.

Funnily enough, I've been watching "The Worst Cooks in America", and learning new and different techniques that I've never tried before. This week, I made a chicken and broccoli teriyaki stir fry, making the teriyaki sauce from scratch (which turned out beautifully!), and as dessert, a homemade apple crisp with creme Anglaise on top. Although the creme tasted fine, it wasn't as creamy as it should have been, so I may have to practice more with that.

Learning more and improving my techniques is certainly a great way to pass the time that I'm home by myself each week.

[Teefies2]

I'll trade recipes with ya! I'm now living alone, but love to cook and having a hard time learning to cook for one. What are your coping strategies to make the tried and true recipes work for one without a ton of leftovers (that you have to eat ad nauseum because you hate to throw out food)?

[Seanette]

I'm cooking for two, and prefer to do big batches and freeze. That way, more meals for not that much more prep/cleanup, and I can get better unit prices on my ingredients.

[Seshat]

Sometimes, a single-person saucepan or frypan can be surprisingly useful. Instead of having the food shallowly spread across the bottom of a family-size saucepan, it's at the same depth you'd normally expect.

Along the same lines, bake in a ramekin, not a cake pan.

If you want a quarter of an egg, try looking around to see if you have a local chicken farmer who has chickens who lay small eggs: half of a small egg might be about the same as a quarter of a normal (or large) egg. And you can scramble the other half and have it with toast for a snack.

I have a halogen oven, which is a small benchtop oven (lives in a cupboard), and is perfect for baking or roasting for one or two people. It's a little small for baking/roasting for three (three of us live here) but it's manageable.

Basically, my advice is to play with using smaller containers so the heat is more appropriately managed for the amount of food.

[Erinesque]

I lived on my own for 10 years, and became quite good at cooking for one. I like to get boneless, skinless frozen chicken breast, where you can cook one at a time without wasting the others. I find it too easy to make big batches of soups, so I don't make those for myself, and tend to go for simple dishes rather than the more intricate. I love cooking for others, and so it is a struggle to only go for one, and like the others said, freezing meals is great too.

[Aria]

Have you tried doing curries? They're easy when you get the hang of it. I can bang out a wicked curry in thirty minutes. Also, bone broth is just great to have around in general. I use it as a base for almost anything saucy.

[Teefies2]

Thanks for the suggestions! I do buy family size portions and then break them into smaller packages, which I then freeze. I'm just having a hard time figuring out things like lasagna for one or a roast beef for one. To the OP, sorry to threadjack!

[Erinesque]

That's ok - we're still talking about cooking!

[Jester]

I've been watching "The Worst Cooks in America"

I love that show. I DVR it religiously.

I made a chicken and broccoli teriyaki stir fry, making the teriyaki sauce from scratch (which turned out beautifully!)

Would you care to share the teriyaki sauce recipe? I've always just bought my teriyaki sauce, but I'd love to make one from scratch, especially with my girlfriend coming to visit in February.

...with creme Anglaise on top. Although the creme tasted fine, it wasn't as creamy as it should have been, so I may have to practice more with that.

Creme Anglaise is generally of a thinne texture, actually, if I'm remembering correctly.

[Food Lady]

I used to cook lots of things from scratch and eat them all week. But now I lack time to cook (gone 10-12 hours a day). I do recommend a crockpot if you can get home in a reasonable time. Well, actually, if you use a programmable one you can have something cooking for 8 hours and then hold warm for up to 4 without breaking food safety protocol.

[Kittish]

I made Uncle Khiras' Homemade Teriyaki Sauce. It smells a bit worrisome as it cooks, all you can smell is the vinegar. But it turns out very tasty!