Cooking For One

Baked Eggs in Spicy Sauce

So… winter’s here, huh? When I went out to my car yesterday morning, it was 3 degrees. Three! And that was before the windchill. Unacceptable.

I made these baked eggs last weekend, and they’re perfect for this time of year. The eggs are poached in spicy tomato sauce and garlicky spinach until the yolks are deliciously creamy and the sauce is piping hot, then topped with just enough feta to add a little saltiness. Be sure to have plenty of warm bread on hand, because you’ll want to sop up every last drop of sauce.

wilted spinach salad with goat cheese and pecans

Wilted Spinach Salad with Chevre & Pecans

I’m not typically a fan of spinach salads, but this one is different – and I’m obsessed! To make it, you sautée onions and the throw the spinach into the hot pan. The heat from the pan gently wilts the spinach just enough to soften it up a little and take some of the bitter edge off it. Then it all gets tossed with toasted pecans and crumbled goat cheese. The contrast between the sweet onions, crunchy pecans, and creamy goat cheese (which melts a little from the residual heat) is amazing!

How to Make Grilled Cheese on the Grill!

Have you ever made grilled cheese on the grill? Shawn and I were joking around the other day and randomly came up with the idea when I was trying to decide what to make for Kitchen PLAY’s “30 Days of Outdoor Dining” event and, honestly, I’m not sure why it isn’t done more often! It was surprisingly uncomplicated, super fast (literally one minute!), and really, really good. The bread gets nice and crispy, and the slight smoke flavor that infuses the sandwich and gives it an undeniable summer-like taste.

Smoked Salmon and Potato Frittata

Lately, I’ve been using up a lot of my culinary creativity on freelance projects. One of my favorites are these potato and smoked salmon pancakes with creamy dill sauce that I created for Eat Better America last month. I ate them every day for a week and still wasn’t tired of them. They were crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and the smoked salmon went perfectly with potato.

When I found myself with extra egg whites after making a batch of grapefruit curd the other day, I decided to make a frittata using the same flavors as those pancakes. While it was a little less elegant than the potato pancakes, it was just as luxurious. Plus, it was quick and easy – a combination that can’t be beat!

Ginger Sesame Chicken Wrap …For One

As soon as I started doing research on the Marzetti Simply Dressed product line, I knew that I wanted to create a recipe with the ginger-sesame dressing. As I read the ingredient list and saw that it included ginger puree, my mouth immediately started watering. (Yes, I’ve clearly been a little obsessed with ginger lately.)

When I opened the bottle and took a sniff, I knew that I had made the right choice – this stuff sounds, looks, smells, and tastes amazing! It was so good that I actually went back and tweaked my recipe to include more of the dressing than I had originally planned for. Even after that, I was tempted to dunk my wrap in even more dressing. (I didn’t though. The dressing is good, but I didn’t want to put on so much that it would overpower the fresh and delicate flavor of the vegetables.) This one is definitely a keeper!

Roast Honey-Chipotle Chicken with Sweet Potatoes & Black Beans… for One

A few weeks ago I didn’t feel like cooking dinner so I unearthed a bag of Alexia chipotle roast sweet potatoes and a veggie corn dog from the depths of the freezer and called it a night. (I know.)

It was good, but considering both elements of the meal were already prepared it was awfully fussy. The potatoes required me to stand over the stove for longer than I would have liked to and by the time they were done, my corn dog was cold. It also made me feel lazy – especially considering this meal of sweet potatoes, black beans, and roast chicken with a honey-chipotle glaze requires less energy, tastes fresher, and is cheaper to make. You don’t even have to stand over the stove while it cooks.

Zero Calorie “Nooodles” with Spicy Peanut Sauce… For One

Shawn got a new job earlier this year. Its great, but his schedule kind of stinks and I’m on my own for dinner a few nights each week. At first it was kind of nice. Those nights give me the chance to make all of my favorites that he doesn’t really like. But it can also get kind of old. Cooking just isn’t as much fun when there’s no one to share the completed meal with, and a lot of nights I end up eating something fast and simple like pasta or eggs.

In an effort to motivate myself to cook real meals even on nights where I’m alone, I’m going to try something new: a “Cooking for One” series here on Healthy. Delicious. featuring the meals that I cook for myself. These pared-down recipes will be super simple, quick to make, and full of the bold flavors that you expect to find in my recipes. Some of the recipes might make enough for leftovers, but none will be more than a single person can eat in a 24 hour period. (Of course, you can always double or triple these recipes if you want to feed a larger group with minimal effort!) For now, I’m planning on dedicating the first Sunday of each month to this series. We’ll see how it goes!

Shaved Asparagus Salad with Bacon & Havarti

This simple shaved asparagus salad is one of my favorite meals lately – I’ve been making it about once a week and I never seem to get tired of it!

The first time I made this dish, I had actually planned to use the ingredients in a croque madame inspired asparagus tart. However, looking at the delicate spring asparagus, it seemed like a shame to subject them to the long roasting time required by that recipe. I had seen shaved asparagus salads before and figured that I’d give that a try instead. I’m so glad that I did! Shaving the asparagus into thin ribbons and cooking it just long enough to make it tender is the perfect way to highlight asparagus at the peak of its season. Combined with salty bacon, buttery cheese, and a quick vinaigrette makes this some of the best asparagus you’ve ever tasted.

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